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DAYS INN HOTELS TO BECOME MORE ACCESSIBLE UNDER
AGREEMENT REACHED WITH JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The world's largest hotel chain has agreed to implement a nationwide initiative designed to make hundreds of its new hotels across the country more accessible to persons with disabilities, under an agreement reached today with the Justice Department.
The agreement, filed in U.S. District Court in Pikeville, Kentucky, resolves five lawsuits filed by the Justice Department in February 1996. The suits allege that Days Inns of America, Inc, and its parent company, Cendant Corporation (formerly HFS, Inc), violated the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by constructing new Days Inn hotels that denied equal access to persons with disabilities. The ADA requires that those participating in the design and construction of places of public accommodation and commercial facilities, including hotels, motels, inns, and other lodging facilities, to comply with specific architectural guidelines known as the ADA Standards for Accessible Design to ensure that the facilities are readily accessible to and usable by persons with disabilities.
"We are pleased that Days Inns will initiate a program to make its recently-built hotels across the country accessible," said Attorney General Janet Reno. "I hope that other hotels and hotel franchises follow Days Inns' example and implement systemwide changes to make each of their facilities fully accessible to persons with disabilities."
Under the agreement, Days Inns will:
- require new hotels to certify that they are in compliance with the ADA Standards before they open for business as Days Inns;
- pay for an independent survey program designed to identify ADA problems at newly constructed hotels;
- establish a $4.75 million revolving fund to provide interest-free loans to franchisees of newly constructed hotels to finance repairs and renovations required for ADA compliance; and,
- pay $50,000 to the United States.
The cases against Days Inns were part of groundbreaking litigation brought by the Justice Department to challenge the failure of some companies to design and construct places of public accommodation and commercial facilities to be readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, as required by law. Today's agreement ends four years of litigation that followed an 18-month investigation of newly constructed Days Inn hotels across the country.
The investigation revealed that the hotels did not meet the ADA's accessibility requirements. Similar accessibility problems existed throughout the chain, including, for example, insufficient accessible parking, inaccessible entrances and walkways at the facilities; inadequate space for persons who use wheelchairs to maneuver in guestrooms and bathrooms; insufficient visual alarm systems for persons who are deaf or hard of hearing; inadequate signage for persons who are blind or have low vision; inaccessible routes throughout the hotels; and guestroom and bathroom doors that are not wide enough to allow wheelchairs to pass inside.
"Everyone who participates in the design and construction of a building shares responsibility to follow the law," added Bill Lann Lee, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. "Today's agreement is the result of more than a year of mediation and is an excellent example of how the Civil Rights Division is using mediation to resolve civil rights disputes."
The owners, contractors and all but one architect for each of the five hotels named in the lawsuits have already entered into Consent Decrees or settlement agreements with the Department. The agreement announced today resolves the remaining claims against Days Inns of America and Cendant Corporation.
To help hotels and hotel chains comply with the ADA, the Department has published three new documents designed to assist hotel owners, franchisors, architects and contractors gain a better understanding of ADA requirements for newly constructed hotels. The publications are: Common ADA Problems at Newly Constructed Lodging Facilities, the ADA Checklist for New Lodging Facilities, and Five Steps to Make New Lodging Facilities Comply with the ADA.
Individuals and businesses who are interested in learning more about the Americans with Disabilities Act or obtaining the documents listed above are encouraged to call the Justice Department's toll-free ADA hotline at 1-800-514-0301 (voice) or 800-514-0383 (TDD) and visit the ADA home page at: http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm.
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