I spent three nights at the Harrison Hot Springs Resort in British Columbia, Canada while my wife attended business meetings there. From an accessibility standpoint, I would give this facility a grade of C+. It was obvious that the hotel has made some improvements in terms of accessibility since I was last there about ten years ago, but it still has a long way to go.

Hotel Access

On entering the hotel you are met with a flight of stairs between the front desk and the elevators. Wheelchair access to the elevators is through another door at the far end of the hotel. The main doors automatically open, however the doors at the top of the wheelchair ramp do not and it is a bit awkward to get them open and avoid rolling back down the ramp.

There are three restaurants on the property. The Lakeside Café is open for breakfast and dinner. The copper Room is only open for dinner and dancing (although friends who attempted to go dancing said the band was the first one they had seen that could make Mustang Sally sound like elevator music!) The only restaurant open for lunch was the Islands Bar, which had very limited accessible seating.  (One day we sat in a corner with a low coffee table between us and our meals in our laps.) Prices in the restaurants were generally expensive.

Hot Spring Pools Access

Access to the hot spring pools was not very good. There was a flight of stairs down to the pool area. An elevator took you to a level below the pool area, and you then had to use two very steep ramps (one without handrails) to get back up to the pools.

The family pool has ramped access making it not too bad to get into. The adult pool area for those of us who may wish to avoid screaming, and jumping children was accessible but the pool itself was a regular pool with no lifts or ramps.

Room Access

Our room was quite large with easy access on both sides of the bed. We had a lovely view of the lake from our balcony, although we did not use it because of a warning not to open the door because sand flies were a problem and they could even get through the mesh of the screen door.

The bathroom was spacious. The sink was elevated giving it easy access from the wheelchair. The toilet was quite low and positioned right beside the counter making transferring to and from the wheelchair a bit difficult. There was no roll-in shower, although they did provide a shower chair, and the grab bars around the tub were very good. The shower head could be lowered.

0 0 votes
Post Power