Very good apart from getting in and out of the building
3.5
3.5
Date of visit: June 2016
I am a disabled person. I have experience of challenges around: accessing toilets and moving around.
I use or have experience of: disabled toilet
Overall Rating
Good
This is a good hotel for wheelchair users to stay at. The hotel consists of two major wings, and only one of them is fully step-free. Some rooms (even in the step-free wing) are not wheelchair-accessible because the gap between bed and wardrobe at the doorway is far too narrow for a wheelchair to pass. Some rooms are accessible to wheelchairs but their en-suite bathrooms are NOT, because the doorway into the bathroom is too narrow. Wheelchair users: ensure, when you book, that you make it very clear that you use a wheelchair. Staff are aware of which rooms are wheelchair-friendly and which are not.
Disabled Access In and Around
Average
There is a large flight of steps at the main hotel entrance, so a wheelchair-accessible entrance has been provided at the side of the hotel, in the small courtyard linking the hotel to the station. It is best to approach this courtyard from inside the station. Annoyingly, the wheelchair-accessible entrance doubles up as a fire-exit, so it cannot be opened from the outside. There is a sign on the door, and another sign near the door, telling you to phone a particular number to get hotel staff to open the door. This is completely unsatisfactory, because it incurs wheelchair users in extra expense to gain access to the hotel, which is discriminatory, and therefore unlawful, according to the terms of the Equality Act 2010. Once you're inside, though, and provided you've been allocated a room in the step-free wing of the hotel, and a room you can get into, and a room whose en-suite bathroom is wheelchair-accessible, then everything is absolutely fine, and there are lifts to all floors.
Parking & Transport
Excellent
The hotel is a kind of gigantic annex to Newcastle Central Station. This station is fully step-free, and ramp assistance is available for train services arriving and departing. In addition there is the Central Station Metro stop, which - like the rest of the Metro system - is fully step-free, and several buses stop right outside. I don't know anything about parking in the area.
Accessible Toilets
0I used only the toilet in my room, so I don't know what the public area toilets are like, and I don't know whether any of them are wheelchair-accessible.
Staff
Excellent
All the staff we dealt with were extremely friendly and helpful. Full marks.
Additional Information
The hotel retains a lot of its original Victorian magnificence (see my photos). The rooms are plain and modern. I certainly recommend this hotel to wheelchair users, but as I mention above, do be careful when booking to ensure that you get a fully accessible room, and an en-suite bathroom you can get into. I strongly recommend to the management of this hotel that they get a doorbell for the wheelchair-accessible side entrance. Asking people to incur expense by phoning to gain access is completely unacceptable.
