Holiday helpers

Taking holidays at home or abroad can be difficult or even impossible for disabled people because the destinations do not cater for their specific needs. But as operators see the potential of offering specialised holiday options to disabled people, the market is growing.
So this month, Disabled Motorist garages the car and checks out which holidays are meeting the mark. Donning shades and applying plenty of sunscreen, we investigate holidays abroad. Next month's follow-up looks at holidays in the UK.
Any holiday starts with getting the information on the preferred destination and, specifically, facilities that the destination offers to disabled people. Research is an important pre-requisite for a successful holiday and you could try Cruise Club Inter, an independent travel agent with a telephone-based call centre which supplies advice and information about destinations catering for the special needs of the disabled holidaymaker.
Once you have an idea about destinations, it's time to check out the travel companies. Access Travel, based in Lancashire, offers services to its clients which include arranging flights,
in-flight catering needs, free baggage allowance, transfers from the destination airport to the resort or self-drive cars, overseen accommodation, meal service, airport taxes and VAT.
The company is also involved in the increasingly popular promotion of weekend breaks. The firm offers 12 holiday locations around the world for including the Algarve, Cyprus, Florida, France, Lanzarote, Majorca, Malta, Rhodes, Spain, Tenerife and most recently Patagonia and Tierra De Fuego.
“All the properties we hire out are well known to us. They have either been personally inspected by our representatives or they have been recommended by a wheelchair user,” an Access
Travel spokeswoman said. The company says it can therefore discuss a client's needs and make recommendations for its suitability to the holidaymaker. “We offer a personal contact to all our clients which the larger tour operators are unable to provide,” she added. “This we consider essential to provide for the individual needs of each of our clients.” Access Travel also offers other facilities for disabled people.
These include aids such as hoists and shower chairs. The company can provide nursing and care services at certain destinations.
Some resorts provide vehicles which can accommodate travellers in their own wheelchairs and have hoists or ramps to assist in loading and unloading, the spokeswoman said. Access can organise car hire for the client, with different models of cars including automatics. The firm says it offers competitive rates. Self-drive cars with hand controls are also available at a supplementary charge in some resorts.
The consumer is protected for air holidays and flights, as all are ATOL-protected by the Civil Aviation Authority. Protection extends primarily to customers who book and pay in the UK.
Access Travel does not sell its products through local travel agents, so does not have to be a member of ABTA. For those people not covered by the ATOL scheme, (accommodation only and self drive) the consumer protection is provided by a trust account.
Gloucester-based Accessible Travel and Leisure (ATL) is another travel company offering a
one-stop solution. In particular, ATL offers a range of holiday options to those who regard accessibility as a basic requirement for their enjoyment and not as a luxury. ATL has sought out accessible accommodation at destinations around the globe, from Cairo to Cuba, Majorca
to Melbourne, Vancouver to Venice.
ATL says it majors on “mainstream” destinations, with hotels and apartments identified and inspected to provide accessible rooms and amenities for its travellers.
ATL selects accommodation for the more “care-orientated” client that features facilities such as pool hoists, shower chairs, and specialcare services. ATL says it seeks out “easy pushing” destinations worldwide for its patrons, which cater not only for disabled people but those with very young families. To minimise problems, ATL offers advice on the best way of travelling via its specialist travel service catering for the needs of disabled passengers. In planning, ATL has a fivepoint checklist for those flying:
• The full details of the person's disability.
• What assistance is required for the passenger to board the aircraft?
• The type of wheelchair used – manual or electric.
• The assistance a passenger may need during the flight.
• The special dietary requirements a passenger may need, as well other special considerations, such as an oxygen supply or a ventilator, etc.
ATL also supplies advice on the checking-in procedure, boarding the aircraft, on board itself and on arrival at the destination. ATL will talk to wheelchair users about the correct procedure for storage. It also informs passengers of the seating etiquette for disabled passengers on board the aircraft.
Consumer protection is again supplied by the ATOL scheme.
Enable Holidays was formed in 1995 as a result of one of the executives having first-hand knowledge of the problems that wheelchair users face at holiday destinations. Following a
motorcycle accident, Enable director Suzanne Wardle used a wheelchair for six months followed by a further four months of recuperation.
“It wasn't until I was planning a holiday that I fully appreciated just how difficult it was to find an ordinary holiday and not one that was exclusively aimed at disabled people,” Wardle said. “This inspired me to set up a holiday company that would be dedicated to providing holidays for people with mobility impairments, their family and friends.”
The Enable Holidays brochure includes more than 60 hotels in nine resorts in Spain, Portugal, the Greek and Canary Islands and Florida. Enable uses its own 150-point accessibility audit to test the suitability of resorts for its clients. Several hundred prospective properties were visited by Enable's representatives to assess their suitability for the mobility impaired, says Wardle.
The audit covers access to and usability of bedrooms and bathrooms, the pool and leisure areas. Also considered are client access to the hotel apartment and the accessibility of the surrounding location. Other information available to clients includes information on door widths for wheelchair users, the gradients of the access and exit ramping. The audit also looked at the number of steps that might need to be negotiated or where they can be avoided. All of the audit criteria are converted into a grading system for each property, be it a hotel or apartment complex. The accessibility information is available to clients on application.
Enable Holidays has been endorsed by the national disability charity, Scope, and is covered by the
ATOL scheme for consumer protection.
The burgeoning holiday market for disabled people encompasses more than “package” standard
for hotels, self-catering apartments or cruises.
Increasingly, disabled holidaymakers wish to set their own agenda by renting out a vacation home, be it a house, villa, or apartment. But even when “doing your own thing” the prerequisites are the same as for any other destination. Doing the homework allows the disabled person the freedom to enjoy the holiday.
Kingdom State Villas, a UK/US venture, specialises in holiday properties either for rent, sale or management in the US state of Florida and on the Gulf Coast. The primary reasons for the establishment of Kingdom State Villas were the problems encountered by two British businessmen, Lee Worth and Mike Weatherall, when they bought holiday villas in Florida.
Both directors experienced numerous local problems and setbacks during the purchase process. Both felt that these problems could have been avoided had they taken a hands-on approach to the process. By combining with a US licensed real-estate broker they feel they can offer prospective users/ buyers a way to avoid prolems.
Kingdom State Villas have also negotiated discounted carhire and travel insurance through their working partners. Car hire deals for disabled drivers encompasses economy models, compacts, mid-size, convertible, 4X4s and seven-seat people carriers. Their website currently offers 70 properties, ranging from three to seven bedrooms; all come with pools. The brochure contains complete descriptions of the room layouts and amenities available. The information also includes places of interest, tourist attractions, availability of shops, supermarkets and restaurants.
The company will search out for the exact vacation home required by the client.
So far the holiday destinations have been on terra firma, but disabled holidaymakers are increasingly taking to cruising the world. Enable Holidays offers an extensive range of
affordable cruises around the fjords of Scandinavia, the Mediterranean, the far reaches of the South Pacific, the Caribbean and the Americas.
Disabled access on the cruise ships includes adapted bathrooms, wheelin showers and good access all around the vessels.
All P&O's ships have cabins which are accessible by standard size, non-motorised wheelchairs.
On P&O's Arcadia, Aurora, Oriana, Oceana, Adonia and Artemis cruise liners they offer cabins
specially designed with wider doorways and ample grab handles.
P&O offer numerous world destinations from the Baltic to the Pacific.
The archetypal cruise is a summer or winter break, taken for a week or more. However, there is now the increasingly popular use of the mini-break and weekend break abroad. There are three ways to get to mainland Europe: by air, sea, or the Channel Tunnel.
In a first for the DDMC, it has negotiated with P&O Ferries to act as its agent for arranging travel requirements for disabled drivers on its ferry services to the Continent. This will also offer significant reductions in fare prices for drivers booking through DDMC. Full details in next issue.
• Next month Disabled Motorist investigates holidaying at home, looking at organisations like the John Grooms national charity which works with the disabled community, enabling them to have greater independence, choice and freedom in all aspects of their lives including recreation and holidays.
Whether you are planning to un-garage the car, or are checking flight and rail timetables, we hope
you will enjoy seeing what the opportunities are available on the home front.
Access Travel 01942 888844; Enable Holidays 0871 222 4939; Accessible Travel 01452 729739;
Cruise Club Inter 020 8466 7000; Grooms Holidays 0845 658 4478; Kingdom State Villas 0113
2893738.
The opinions on the products and services mentioned are those of the manufacturers, and not those of Disabled Motorist magazine.