An Analysis of the Concept of Accessibility in the Common Areas of Urban Hotels from the Perspective of Wheelchair Users: Three Hotels in Pendik

Accessibility in Urban Hotel Areas

Abstract

Urban hotels are easily accessible and ideal structures for business meetings, congresses, and social activities in regions where population is dense. Moreover, they offer comfort with their many facilities and have the equipment with the potential to meet all needs of each customer. The services and opportunities provided by such hotels should have the qualifications that will ensure fair accessibility for all individuals, whether they are disabled or not. In order to ensure accessibility in urban hotel buildings, it is necessary to design the physical conditions of the environment where the hotel is located and to provide all products or services offered by the hotel to disabled users in a way that would not make them need any assistance. In the study, three selected disabled friendly urban hotels were analyzed in the context of interior spaces (all areas inside the buildings) under the headings of access routes to the usable areas of the building, ground levels at the entrances, width and layout of the entrance door, width of the corridors, stairs, platform raisers, and elevator size and controls. Within the scope of the study, the accessibility of the three disabled friendly 5 stars hotels that offer accommodation services was investigated within the national standards developed. Along with the standards, previous studies on the subject in the literature were examined and the results were presented. As a result of the study, the suitability of these three urban hotels for wheelchair users was analyzed on the basis of accessibility standards in question and presented in tables. By evaluating the data obtained, certain recommendations were made regarding the points that were determined to have deficiencies in terms of accessibility for wheelchair users.