Effective March 15, 2011, owners and operators of lodging facilities must comply with new or revised requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Title III regulations (the “2010 Regulations”) regarding effective communication with individuals with disabilities, service animals, mobility devices, and event ticketing. Here we will describe the most significant changes.
EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION
The ADA and its existing effective communication rules require lodging facilities to provide, free of charge, “appropriate auxiliary aids and services” to ensure effective communication with individuals with speech, hearing, or sight disabilities. The 2010 Regulations make several clarifications to the existing effective communication rules including, but not limited to: identifying the appropriate process for assessing and responding to requests for auxiliary aids and services; explaining how and when auxiliary aids and services must be provided in order to be effective; and explaining how to handle calls from individuals with disabilities who use relay services. In addition, the 2010 Regulations expand the existing effective communication rules by requiring effective communication for companions of lodging facility guests (if those companions are individuals with disabilities), and providing additional examples of auxiliary aids and services that lodging facilities may utilize to ensure effective communication with individuals with speech, hearing, or sight disabilities.
SERVICE ANIMALS
The ADA and its existing service animal rules require owners and operators of lodging facilities to make reasonable modifications to their policies, practices, and procedures to permit individuals with disabilities to be accompanied by a service animal (defined as “any guide dog, signal dog, or other animal individually trained to do work or perform tasks for the benefit of an individual with a disability”) in all areas of a lodging facility that are normally open to guests or the general public.
Under the 2010 Regulations, only dogs and miniature horses qualify as service animals under the ADA. Pets and animals that only provide emotional support, well-being, comfort, or companionship (as opposed to animals that perform actual work or tasks related to an individual’s psychological disability) are not service animals under the new regulations. However, lodging facilities should be aware that certain states may allow animals other than dogs or miniature horses to be service animals, and some may even consider emotional support animals as service animals. Therefore, service animal policies must take into account state and local laws.
The 2010 Regulations also provide guidance on the questions that can be asked if an animal’s status is unclear. They also make clear that if a lodging facilities asks an individual with a disability to remove a service animal from the facility because (a) the animal is out of control and the animal’s handler does not take effective action to control it, or (b) the animal is not housebroken, the lodging facility must still offer to provide service to the individual with a disability unaccompanied by that particular service animal.
EVENT TICKETING
Under the ADA, assembly areas are required to provide a certain number of accessible wheelchair spaces and companion seats (accessible seating). However, the 1991 Regulations do not specifically address ticketing policies or procedures as they relate to accessible seating.
The 2010 Regulations contain very detailed rules about the sale and distribution of tickets for accessible seating designed to provide more information about the location and availability of accessible seating, to ensure that the process for buying tickets for accessible seating is the same as the process for non-accessible seating, and to increase the availability of accessible seating for people who need it.
POWER-DRIVEN MOBILITY DEVICES
The ADA requires lodging facilities to make reasonable modifications to their policies, practices, and procedures to allow individuals with mobility disabilities to use manually operated or power-driven wheelchairs, and other manually operated mobility aids (such as walkers and canes) that are designed to assist those individuals with locomotion, in all areas that are open to the public.
The 2010 Regulations adopt a two-tiered approach to mobility devices that requires lodging facilities to accommodate both traditional mobility devices (i.e., wheelchairs), and “other power-driven mobility devices” (OPMDs). OPMDs include a range of devices not specifically designed for individuals with mobility impairments but which are often used by individuals with disabilities as their mobility device of choice, such as Segways and golf carts.
The 2010 Regulations make clear that lodging facilities may not inquire about the nature of an individual’s disability in connection with a request to use an OPMD. If the reason for an individual’s use of an OPMD is not obvious, lodging facilities may ask whether the OPMD is required because of a mobility disability.
WHAT’S AHEAD IN 2010
The 2010 Regulations also contain a number of requirements that take effect on March 15, 2012. They include: (1) new rules governing hotel reservations; (2) new standards for barrier removal, alterations, and new construction of lodging facilities (the “2010 Standards”). In addition, existing facilities such as swimming pools, spas, saunas, steam rooms, exercise rooms, and ATMs, must be brought into compliance with the 2010 Standards by March 15, 2012, to the maximum extent feasible.
For more detailed guidance about the new requirements that took effect on March 15, 2011, please visit AH&LA’s website (www.ahla.com).
Minh Vu is a partner and Karen Stephenson is an associate with the law firm Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
