Version 1.2 trips Making bookings for travellers with accessibility considerations Crown Team 01274 726424 Corporate Team 03300 082000 Scottish Government 01274 750650 Shire House 2 Humboldt Street Bradford BD1 5HQ www.redfern-travel.com
Contents About this Guide... 1 What s New?... 1 Feedback... 1 Need Further Assistance?... 2 Assisted Rail Journeys... 4 Requesting passenger assistance... 4 After the request... 4 Accessible Hotel Rooms... 5 If there are no compatible room types showing on trips... 5 Can I request proof of the accessibility request?... 6 When the hotel cannot accommodate your request... 6 Interpreting the DDA... 7 Visit our Blog for details of our Accessible Day in London... 7 2013-2016.
About this Guide About this Guide The first version of this user guide was released in 2013. It was last updated July 2016. It is designed to show you: How to book passenger assistance for rail journeys; Specify accessibility needs for hotel bookings. Please note that for the purposes of this document this guidance assumes the bookers/travellers have no challenges booking through trips. Use of Dragon & Jaws software is not covered in this document. It is always recommended to use the most up-to-date version of the guide where available, as the system is updated periodically with new features and enhancements. The latest version can always be found at https://feedback.redfern-travel.com/userguides. This guide is available free of charge and we encourage you to use and share it, but please do not make any modifications to the guide without asking us first. Thank you. What s New? Updated layout Feedback If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about the guide, or about future releases of trips, we would love to hear from you. Please use our online Feedback Hub (https://feedback.redfern-travel.com). Thank you. Page 1
Using This Guide: Need Further Assistance? Using This Guide If you are reading this guide on a computer, you can navigate around by either: Using the Contents Page Press the Ctrl key and click on a section. Pressing your Ctrl key and left-clicking links in the text these will be underlined and highlighted, for example: Using this Guide Colour-coding of important information is done throughout the guide: This indicates an important point, or a tip to help you with your booking. This indicates a link to an external website with useful information. Need Further Assistance? If you are still having difficulty making a booking after reading the guide, you can use the Feedback Hub to direct your query to the appropriate department at Redfern for further assistance. After clicking the Feedback Hub link you will see a form. If you have a hotels query for example, select Hotel from the drop-down. Please fill out the form as completely as possible; this will help us process your feedback or complaint more efficiently. Special characters such as spaces can cause problems when entered in to the telephone field, so please try not to use them. Page 2
Using This Guide: Need Further Assistance? Once you have sent your form you will be given a reference number; keep this in a safe place as you will need if you contact us about the feedback you have submitted. Reporting trips errors If you encounter any error messages while making bookings, please screenshot the message(s) and send to Redfern s Technical Support team as soon as possible after their occurrence. You can take a screenshot by pressing the PrtScn key on your keyboard. Alternatively, you can copy and paste the message you see displayed on screen in to an email with a note on where the error message occurred. Booking requests cannot be guaranteed in absence of any screenshots or supporting information on the problem encountered. Page 3
Assisted Rail Journeys: Requesting passenger assistance Assisted Rail Journeys Requesting passenger assistance When the traveller has identified the required dates, times, and destinations of travel, the booker/traveller should email Redfern s Rail team: north.rail@travelctm.com. It is best to allow at least 24 hours before the intended departure date for assistance requests; this will give the rail operator time to make the necessary arrangements. After the request Redfern will call the relevant train company and check that the required service is available for the chosen dates of travel. Redfern will email the booker/traveller back to confirm the assistance has been booked on these trains (attaching the confirmation from the supplier) and request the booker/traveller goes ahead and books the train journey as required on trips. The booker/traveller books the tickets and arranges for them to be dispatched as required. Assistance requests have a four hour turn-around time. If you have not had a response within this period, please email rail@redfern-travel.com or dial 01274 726424 and select option 1 (bookings) then 1 again (rail). Page 4
Accessible Hotel Rooms: If there are no compatible room types showing on trips Accessible Hotel Rooms Through our continuous communication with hotels about usability and accessibility, increasingly we are seeing more hotel chains loading rates against accessible room types, so they can be booked without having to step outside generic booking protocols in trips. Therefore we recommend the following approach to booking accessible hotels rooms, taking in to account user preference and confidence. In the first instance, we recommend the user should try to locate accessible room types via trips and book online. If there are no compatible room types showing on trips It may well be that the hotel has the room type available, but has not loaded any rates against that room type, favouring to allocate manually instead. To request the accessible room, type - accessible room required in the special requests box on the cost centre screen during the trips booking process (see screenshot). Page 5
Accessible Hotel Rooms: When the hotel cannot accommodate your request The special requirements field was introduced in to trips to enable travellers to make direct requests to hotels without having to call or email Redfern for assistance. The field is used to capture individual traveller needs, whether an accessible room, or room near the lift, or with vibrating alarm. Can I request proof of the accessibility request? Should the booker/traveller seek additional assurances (beyond just requesting this via the special requests box), the confirmation should then be emailed to Redfern (North.hotels@travelctm.com). Alternatively, you can call 01274 726424 and select option 1 (bookings) then 2 (hotels) and request that Redfern seeks confirmation of the accessible room from the hotel on your behalf. We will need your confirmation number to do this (the CN/XXXXXX reference). When the hotel cannot accommodate your request If the request cannot be accommodated at that hotel, Redfern will look for alternative hotels for the dates required and endeavour to secure suitable alternative accommodation and confirm this back to the booker/traveller. Page 6
Interpreting the DDA: Visit our Blog for details of our Accessible Day in London Interpreting the DDA The DDA requires all hotels to make reasonable endeavours to accommodate a series of recommendations; however hotels are not legally obligated, and can be exempt from some recommendations due to the age/location/nature of the building. This can make it very difficult to determine the interpretations that can be relied upon when selecting a suitable hotel. In light of this, Redfern tried to offer some insight into how extensively some of the hotels in London made provision for guests with mobility impairment. A day of hotel site visits was planned. Visit our Blog for details of our Accessible Day in London The objective of the day was to envisage getting around London if you have mobility constraints. Redfern identified some hotels that seemed to demonstrate desirable attributes and visits to these hotels formed the itinerary for the day. These attributes were:- Central London locations Proximity to step-free access Tube stations Only a short taxi ride from Westminster/Petty France/Whitehall Nightly B&B rate as close to 115 as possible, but up to a maximum of 150 per night Good quality hotels; recognized brands Sizeable properties Built/sympathetic to wheelchair use i.e. all amenities on ground floor and lifts to all bedrooms Lessons learnt from the day From the day we learnt some useful information:- The rail network (incl. Tube) has pockets of reasonably hassle free access, but this can be disjointed, i.e. the whole journey usually encompassed pockets of obstacles. In 2010 building legislation changed from a requirement to have 5% of bed stock taking the form of accessible rooms, to 10%. So hotels built after this time tended to offer a higher number of accessible rooms. Some hotels definitely placed great focus on accessibility, and this was reflected through the entire guest journey in the hotel. Page 7
Interpreting the DDA: Lessons learnt from the day Park Plaza is a great example of a high quality product, just over budget, but a very high standard of thought and finish into their accessible offering. A full overview for each of these hotels, the facilities available and also the ease travel can be found in the attached documents and also via our Blog on the Redfern Travel website: http://www.redfern-travel.com/blog/ Page 8