36 CFR Parts 1190 and 1191 ADA and ABA Accessibility Guidelines - Preamble (Discussion of Comments and Changes)

Section 224.5 requires dispersion of accessible rooms among the various classes of rooms provided, including room type, bed count, and other amenities to a degree comparable to the choices provided other guests. When complete dispersion is not possible due to the number of rooms required to be accessible, dispersion is to be provided in the following order of priority: room type, bed count, and amenities.

The proposed rule required communication access in half of the accessible guestrooms in addition to the number required in section 224.4. The Board considered removing this requirement and stipulating that there be no overlap between the dispersion of accessible rooms and communication accessible rooms, as indicated in the draft of the final guidelines. The Board sought to prevent such overlap to maximize the availability of each room type and proposed that a similar change be made in the IBC. This change was not adopted into the IBC, in part due to consideration of persons using wheelchairs who may need accessible communication features. The IBC does not require or prohibit overlap between both types of rooms. In the final rule, the Board has revised the dispersion requirement to allow some overlap (10% maximum) between rooms and to ensure that at least one room provides both wheelchair access and communication access. Thus, no more than 10% of the accessible rooms can be used to satisfy the required number of rooms providing communication access. Communication access can be provided in a greater number of accessible rooms, but the amount in excess of 10% cannot count toward the number of rooms required to provide communication access.

Comment. Comments urged that dispersion should be based on bed count, instead of bed type. People with disabilities, especially those who traveled with attendants, felt that bed type or size was not as important as the number of beds.

Response. The criteria for dispersion is also modified. In the list of factors that define various classes of rooms, the Board has replaced "types of beds" with "number of beds."