Hotel industry leader Accor is ensuring that its disabled guests are welcome for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games which will be held in Paris from 26 July to 11 August.
Accor chairman and CEO Sébastien Bazin stated that the Games have been “a catalyst to improve the way we cater for disabled travellers.”
380 Accor brand hotels have received or are in the process of receiving "Tourisme & Handicap" government certification, managed by Atout France (the France Tourism Development Agency). On 5 June 2024, the Accor Group received Atout France’s Gold Award for accessible tourism.
The certification recognises the commitment of tourism establishments to ensuring and improving the accessibility of tourist destinations and addresses all four types of disability: auditory, cognitive, physical and visual.
The company has also accelerated its rollout of "Smart Room" features which seek to end the demarcation between PRM (Persons with Reduced Mobility) rooms and other room types.
Smart rooms include an adaptable wardrobe (low or high position), adjustable bed, curtains and washbasins, as well as a sliding door to the bathroom.
All Accor hotels have access to a catalogue of features to improve the accessibility of its guestrooms and new filters have been added to the group’s reservation platform, ALL.com, to highlight available accessible rooms.
The group has also upgraded its digital solutions to facilitate access for guests with disabilities before, during and after their stay.
For the 2024 Olympics, Accor will distribute 1,000 remote controls to visually impaired athletes and travellers staying at the Paris 2024 Athletes' Village or branded hotels. These remote controls connect to voice-activated terminals in hotels, in the Paris 2024 village, and at pedestrian crossings to facilitate safe travel for blind and visually impaired people.
Accor employees have also attended training modules on accessibility which will be extended to other countries after the Paris Games.
Hotels in France have seen high demand since Paris was announced as the host of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.
