16.
(a) After the Effective Date and continuing during the term of this Consent Decree ( i.e. the four years after the Effective Date), when
(1) entering into a new franchise or management agreement to convert an existing hotel constructed for first occupancy after January 26, 1993 to a Post-1993 Franchised Hotel or Post-1993 Managed Hotel; (2) renewing or extending for more than six (6) months an existing franchise or management agreement (other than unilateral renewals or extensions by the other party to the agreement) for a Post-1993 Franchised Hotel or Post-1993 Managed Hotel; or (3)consenting to a change of ownership at a Post-1993 Franchised Hotel or Post-1993 Managed Hotel: HWI will require the hotel owner to conduct a survey, using a survey instrument provided by the United States (the “Survey Instrument”), to determine whether
(i) The hotel has the required number of accessible rooms for guests with mobility disabilities required by ADA Standards § 9.1.2, the required number of accessible rooms with roll-in showers as set forth in ADA Standards § 9.1.2, and that each roll-in shower complies with ADA Standards § 4.21 and Figures 57(a) or (b).
(ii) The hotel’s inventory of accessible rooms required under ADA Standards § 9.1.2 ( i.e., rooms with features for individuals with mobility disabilities and hearing impairments) complies with ADA Standards § 9.1.4 requirement to disperse accessible units among the various classes of sleeping accommodations. The hotel complies with this requirement if it includes at least one suite (if the hotel has more than one suite), one room with one bed, one room with two beds, and one room with a premium view (if the hotel offers more than one room with a premium view at a higher cost), one room on the executive level (if the hotel has an executive level), and one smoking room (if the hotel offers smoking rooms). At hotels where there are two or more premium views offered, the hotel shall not be required to provide an accessible room in a particular view category if fewer than 5% of the rooms at the hotel fall within that particular view category; however, at least one accessible premium view room must be provided in the hotel. Nothing in this subparagraph requires a hotel to have more accessible guest rooms than are required under ADA Standards § 9.1.2.
(iii) The hotel has the required number of rooms for guests with hearing impairments, as set forth in ADA Standards §§ 9.1.2 and 9.1.3, that comply with ADA Standards § 9.3. Compliance with ADA Standards § 9.3 may be achieved by either providing (1) visual alarms that are connected to the building emergency alarm system, and visual notification devices for incoming telephone calls and door knock or bell, or (2) portable visual notification devices for the alarm, incoming telephone calls, and door knock or bell. If the hotel uses portable devices to meet these requirements, it shall have at the property a sufficient number of portable devices to ensure that it can fully equip the number of rooms for guests with hearing impairments required by ADA Standards §§ 9.1.2 and 9.1.3 ( i.e., permanently installed telephones that have volume control and an accessible electrical outlet within 4 ft. of a telephone connection).
(iv) Post-1993 Managed Hotels and Post-1993 Franchised Hotels constructed for first occupancy after the Consent Decree Date have the required number of rooms, as set forth in ADA Standards §§ 9.1.2 and 9.1.3, that provide visual alarms that are connected to the building emergency alarm system, and visual notification devices for incoming telephone calls, and door knock or bell and comply with all other requirements of ADA Standards § 9.3.1 (i.e., permanently installed telephones shall have volume control and an accessible electrical outlet within 4 ft. of a telephone connection).
(v) The accessible rooms for individuals with mobility disabilities have the maneuvering clearances for beds specified in ADA Standards §9.2.2(1), to and within the bathroom (ADA Standards § 9.2.2(6)), thermostat and other controls (ADA Standards § 9.2.2(5)), and desks (ADA Standards §§9(1), 4.32), that are required under the ADA Standards.
(vi) The accessible rooms for individuals with mobility disabilities have accessible bathrooms that comply with ADA Standards § 4.23.
(vii) Any non-valet parking facilities owned or operated by the hotel have the number of accessible car and van-accessible parking spaces required by the ADA Standards and comply with the accessibility requirements of the ADA Standards. For parking facilities owned and operated by third parties, HWI will require the hotel owner to send a letter to the owner or operator of that hotel’s parking facilities requesting the owner/operator confirm that the hotel’s parking facilities provide accessible parking as set forth in ADA Standards §§4.1.2(5), 4.6.2-4.6.5.
(b) The United States will provide HWI with the Survey Instrument referenced in subparagraph 16(a) within 15 days of the Consent Decree Date. HWI will have the right to review and approve the Survey Instrument within 15 days of receipt. After the Parties reach agreement on the Survey Instrument, HWI will work with an ADA Consultant mutually agreeable to the Parties (the “ADA Consultant”) to create a training video to educate hotel owners on how to complete the Survey Instrument (the “Survey Video”). The United States will provide its approval or disapproval of ADA Consultant(s) proposed by HWI within 7 days of HWI submitting the name and resume of such consultant(s). HWI will submit the script for the Survey Video to the United States for its review and approval no later than 30 days after the date on which the Parties reach agreement on the Survey Instrument. The United States will approve the Survey Video script within 15 days of its receipt. The Survey Video shall be produced and available for use no later than 30 days after the United States approves the Survey Video script. If the Parties are unable to agree on any of the items set forth in this subparagraph 16(b), then the dispute resolution mechanism of Paragraph 35 will be followed.
(c) When one of the events in the first sentence of Paragraph 16(a) occurs between the Effective Date and four years after the Effective Date, HWI will require the hotel owner to complete the Survey Instrument and to document conditions with photographs where indicated by the Survey Instrument within thirty (30) days of receiving a notice from HWI of a need for a survey (the “Survey Notice”). HWI will not be required to send Survey Notices to any hotel owners until the Survey Instrument and Survey Video have been created and approved. HWI will send a copy of the Survey Notice to the ADA Consultant at the same time that it is sent to the hotel owner. The hotel owner shall be required to send, within 90 days of receiving the Survey Notice, copies of the completed and signed Survey Instrument and photographs to the ADA Consultant, who shall review it for completeness. At the same time, the hotel owner shall be required to send to the ADA Consultant the information required in subparagraph 16(f) below. A hotel owner may apply to the ADA Consultant for a thirty (30) day extension of time to submit the Survey Instrument and photographs for good cause. The ADA Consultant may grant only one extension. The ADA Consultant shall document all requests for extensions and whether they were granted or denied. If a hotel owner fails to timely submit to the ADA Consultant the documents set forth in this subparagraph 16(c), the ADA Consultant shall notify the hotel owner within ten (10) days so that the hotel owner can take corrective action within twenty (20) days from the date of the notice. The ADA Consultant will provide HWI with a copy of the notice at the same time as it is sent to the hotel owner. If, at the expiration of twenty (20) days, the ADA Consultant determines that the hotel owner has not submitted the documents required under this subparagraph 16(c), the ADA Consultant shall notify the hotel owner and the Parties to this Consent Decree in writing and shall provide supporting documentation to the Parties if either of them requests it.
(d) Any Post-1993 Franchised Hotel or Post-1993 Managed Hotel may opt to submit to the process set forth in this Paragraph 16 without regard to the occurrence of any event described in subparagraphs 16(a)(1)-(3). If any event described in subparagraphs 16(a)(1)-(3) later takes place with respect to such a hotel, it will not be required to go through the process set forth in this Paragraph 16 again
(e) If any Post-1993 Franchised Hotel or Post-1993 Managed Hotel experiences one or more of the events set forth in subparagraphs 16(a)(1)-(3) after having received a Survey Notice and has either completed or is undergoing the process set forth in this Paragraph 16, that hotel shall not have to go through the process set forth in this Paragraph 16 again.
(f) At the same time that it submits its survey to the ADA Consultant, each hotel owner shall be required to either (i) certify that its hotel complies with all of the conditions set forth in subparagraph 16(a) above; or (ii) submit a plan to the ADA Consultant detailing how it will meet the conditions set forth in subparagraph 16(a) above and setting forth the dates by which the conditions will be achieved. The plan must specify that the conditions set forth in subparagraphs 16(a)(iii)-(vii) above will be achieved within five years from the date of the event triggering the survey requirement set forth in subparagraph 16(a) above. The plan must specify that the conditions set forth in subparagraphs 16(a)(i) & (ii) above will be achieved within seven years from the date of the event triggering the survey requirement set forth in subparagraph 16(a).
(g) Beginning after the Effective Date, the ADA Consultant shall, on a random basis, and with a minimum of two (2) weeks’ notice to the hotel owner, annually perform independent on-site inspections of ten (10) percent of the hotels submitting surveys in that year to verify that the surveys were properly conducted. If the ADA Consultant determines that the survey at an inspected hotel was not properly conducted, (s)he shall inform the hotel owner within sixty (60) days. The hotel owner shall have forty-five (45) days to submit a revised survey and plan or certification to the ADA Consultant. The on-site inspections conducted by the ADA Consultant will include at least one hotel in each Brand, and they must be dispersed geographically across the United States.
(h) Upon completion of all of the items on its plan, each hotel owner shall be required to submit to the ADA Consultant documentary and photographic evidence that it has complied with the plan. The ADA Consultant shall, with a minimum of two (2) weeks’ notice to the hotel owner, annually perform independent on-site inspections of ten (10) percent of the hotels that have reported in that year that their plan items have been completed to verify that the plans have been implemented at an inspected hotel. The on-site inspections conducted by the ADA Consultant will include at least one hotel in each Brand and they must be dispersed geographically across the United States. If the ADA Consultant determines that plans have not been properly or correctly implemented, (s)he shall notify the hotel owner within sixty (60) days so that the hotel owner can take corrective action within ninety (90) days from the date of the notice. The ADA Consultant will provide HWI with a copy of the notice at the same time as it is sent to the hotel owner. If, at the expiration of ninety (90) days, the ADA Consultant determines that the hotel owner has not taken corrective action to meet its plan, the ADA Consultant shall notify the hotel owner and the Parties to this Consent Decree in writing and shall provide supporting documentation to the Parties if either of them requests it.
(i) On each anniversary of the Effective Date, the ADA Consultant shall also file a report with the Court and the Parties summarizing the hotel owners’ compliance efforts, but not identifying any hotel by name or other specific identifying characteristics. The report shall state the number of hotels by Brand (i) that submitted requests for extensions (and their disposition), surveys, plans, and certifications, (ii) whose surveys were verified by an inspection by the ADA Consultant, (iii) that were inspected by the ADA Consultant to verify plan completion, (iv) that submitted surveys that were not properly executed; (v) that failed to submit surveys in a timely manner; and (vi) that failed to timely implement a plan described in subparagraph 16(f) .
(j) The ADA Consultant shall continue to perform the inspections and monitoring described in subparagraphs 16(g) and (h) (to the extent surveys are submitted or plans completed later than four years after the Effective Date) and make annual reports to the Court and the parties as set forth in subparagraph 16(i) until the expiration of eleven (11) years after the Effective Date.Notwithstanding any other provision of this Consent Decree, the Court shall retain jurisdiction solely to enforce this Paragraph 16 during this period.
(k) Permitted Transfers, as defined in Paragraph 13.13, for which HWI does not currently require execution of a new form of franchise agreement, are not considered events for which HWI is consenting to a change in ownership for purposes of this Consent Decree.
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