Easily accessible
5
5
Date of visit: February 2020
I have experience of challenges around: moving around
Overall Rating
Excellent
Everything went very smoothly, no problems re accessibility.
Disabled Access In and Around
Excellent
Ramp and large doors to get in and out of the hotel. There’s a narrow corridor to the lifts with doors at each end which was a wee bit tricky to navigate with a mobility scooter - definitely needed help to hold the doors open. The lifts are large enough for a scooter and there’s lots of room to manoeuvre outside of them on the upper floors. Corridors are roomy enough too. My bedroom was fully accessible and roomy enough to park my scooter in. It also had a nice roomy wet room shower/loo. My one complaint is that the bed was a bit low and, strangely, lower than the beds in the non-accessible rooms. Also, only zipped together twin beds are available in the accessible rooms, not double beds. I guess they assume most people with accessible needs want to share their room (but not their bed!) with their “carer”!
Parking & Transport
Average
There are parking bays on the street that can be used for free with a Blue Badge. However, being the city centre, it’s very busy and they were often all taken up. There is discounted (via the hotel) parking in the NCP Glasshouse car park in Glassford Street a block or so away. Glasgow City Councils own website says Blue Badge users can park on double yellow lines but fails to say NOT in a no loading area, which this part of Queen Street is. As a result we got a parking ticket! Currently appealing!
Accessible Toilets
Excellent
In the cafe/bar, there’s a manually operated lift to the lower floor for the accessible loo. All good.
Staff
Excellent
All very helpful and accommodating. I hired my mobility scooter and they let the hire company deliver it 3 days ahead of our visit, and let me leave it with them when we left for the company to pick up the next day.
Additional Information
Being in the heart of Merchants City, this hotel is great for access to the city centre. The St Enoch Centre, which is fully accessible, is a short distance away, as is the also fully accessible Princes Square with its Everyman Cinema, not to mention the busy Argyle Street and Buchanan Street. I had no problems on the streets or crossing the roads with my mobility scooter and many shops and restaurants are fully accessible too.
