Washington Dulles Airport, VA, USA - Hotel (Hilton)

Hilton Washington Dulles Airport,  13869 Park Centre Road, Herndon, VA 20171, USA

This entry describes my experiences at the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport, and is intended to assist wheelchair users or disabled travelers considering this hotel.
This hotel is just a few minutes from Dulles International Airport (IAD) and offers a wheelchair accessible shuttle bus. But only one of their shuttles is accessible so it has to be booked. On the night I stayed here, the accessible shuttle was "in the shop" and unavailable which is frustrating in the extreme. Perhaps having two accessible shuttles would be a good idea? the hotel staff were very apologetic, and booked a taxi for the morning which the hotel paid for. 

Flat entrance to the hotel with automatic doors. There is level access throughout the lobby, bar and restaurant area.

I stayed in a two double bed room with tub (kudos to Hilton website that allows you to select a room to this level of detail). Room was on ground floor, a bit of a haul to get there from the lobby over thick carpet and a short ramp.  The room is large and spacious, not over crammed with furniture.  There is enough room between the beds to fit a wheelchair comfortably, access to either bed is no problem. The work desk is a little low and I was unable to wheel under it. The desk lamp has two easily accessed electric sockets. No wired internet that I could find, but the wifi worked well. 

It took me a while to find the closet - unusually it is located in the bathroom.  Closet has a bar at a comfortable height for hanging shirts etc. There are three light switches between the beds that allow you to turn off certain room lights from the bed. Experiment to find what which ones!

The bed is at a reasonable height for transfer, not too high.  

Air conditioning unit has an easily accessed wall mounted temperature control (old style analog slider) but the on/off control is high on the wall and blocked by the armchair.

The bathroom is large with plenty of turn space. Ample knee room under sink. Large mirror gives a decent view.  Toilet is easily accessible for transfer. Grab rails well positioned. The towels are stored on a shelf above the bath tub that is totally inaccessible from a wheelchair. 

The tub is easy to access but the grab rails are badly positioned and too high to assist in a transfer they are fine for ambulant disabled.   This is a common problem in hotels. It seems that a rom with a tub is assumed to be for ambulant disabled, and a rool-in shower for wheelchairs.  But, of course, many wheelchair users prefer a tub as it is often safer than a shower seat. Once on the tub, the water controls are easy to reach.  However, the hand held shower rose is mounted on a rail but even at its lowest point is too high for a wheelie to reach.   There is no temperature cut-off so you need to be careful  when adjusting the temperature to avoid scalding de-sensitized areas of your body.

Overall, the room is a bit tired and in need of a refurb. It's acceptable, but the recently redone rooms in the Marriott are nicer.  But the Marriott only offers king size beds in the handicapped rooms which makes it useless if you are travelling with young kids.  I would use the Hilton again if the price was right, or I needed to have two beds in the room.

Sao Jose Dos Campos, Brazil - Hotel (Mercure Colinas)

Mercure Colinas - Av. Dr. Jorge Zarur, 81, torre 2, Jd. Apolo, São José dos Campos, Sao Paulo, Brazil

This hotel is set right next door to its sister hotel,  the IBIS, reviewed here. Mercure is a slightly more upmarket brand of Accor hotels. The hotel has one wheelchair accessible room.

Flat entrance to the hotel with automatic doors. There is level access throughout the lobby, bar and breakfast area of the Mercure.

Handicapped room is on the first floor (the lift/elevator is of small but adequate). The room is compact but well designed and there is space to maneuver. There is enough room between bed and wall and bed and built in furniture. The workdesk is at a comfortable height. The electric sockets and wired internet connection (there is also wifi) are located in the wall behind the desk and are very easy to reach. Closet has a bar at a comfortable height for hanging shirts etc. Light switches are by the bed and easy to reach from the bed. I like this feature, you can turn all the lights in the room, except the desk light, on or off from the bed.

The bed (queen size) is at a perfect height for transfers and is comfortable.

Air conditioning unit is operated by a remote control and works fine. TV remote control stored beside TV at comfortable height.

A sliding door leads to the bathroom which is large with plenty of turn space. Ample knee room under sink. Slanted mirrors make for easy viewing when seated. Toilet is easily accessible for a 90° transfer. Grab rails well positioned. The towels are stored on a shelf that is high and access to it is blocked by the toilet. This may put the towles out of reach for some wheelies.

The shower is an open, roll-in, design with a fold up, sturdy, shower seat mounted with plenty of access room for transfer. Shower controls are easy to reach. There is a combined hand held hose and wall mounted rose, with a control on the hand held unit to select which one you want. The wall mounted unit is positioned directly above the seat. The seat is small, and I found I always needed one hand on the grab rail to help me balance. However the grabrails are sensibly positioned.  There is no temperature cut-off so you need to be careful when adjusting the temperature to avoid scalding de-sensitized areas of your body.

The staff are very friendly and quick to help with carrying trays or moving furniture.  The restaurant is accessible and provides breakfast, lunch and dinner. The nearby Colinas shopping centre has shopping, food and an excellent chascurria, all with good wheelchair access. It is possible to walk to the shopping centre although you have to cross a few busy roads to get there (pedestrian crossings are plentiful).

All in all, a very comfortable, accessible option in SJC.