Travelodge: Disabled woman forced to sleep in dining area after being told room was 'out of order'

'I've lost confidence in travelling again - the thought of staying in a hotel fills me with dread', Kat Watkins tells ITV Wales reporter Katie Fenton

A disabled woman who uses a wheelchair and requires a ventilator at night was forced to sleep on a sofa in a hotel dining room because the accessible room she booked wasn't available.

Kat Watkins, a development officer at Disability Wales had booked her stay at the Travelodge in Hounslow for a concert she was attending with her PA.

However Kat, who has a brittle bone condition and sleep apnoea, says she was left "very upset" after being told the accessible room she had booked was no longer available.

Miss Watkins had planned her trip from south Wales to London to attend a James Bay concert at the Royal Albert Hall on 26 April.

She had mapped her entire route to the concert on public transport going from Hounslow East to Earl’s Court – both accessible tube stations – with a taxi for the final leg of the journey.

However, upon arrival at the hotel, she and Annabella were told that the room she had booked was no longer available because all the accessible rooms were “out of order”.

"The receptionist said, 'There's a problem with your room' but she didn't talk to me, she spoke to me carer - so that immediately got my back up a bit because I was the one who booked but I wasn't the one being spoken to." Miss Watkins said.

When Kat later asked why there were no accessible rooms were available, she said she was told by a member of staff it was because the rooms had not been cleaned.

As an alternative, she was offered two options - a family room where her wheelchair could not fit into the bathroom, or in a different Travelodge hotel in Twickenham which did have an accessible room available, but would mean her travelling to an area she didn't know and hadn't planned out where any stair-free routes were.

She reluctantly accepted the family room and went off to the concert.

"I said I wasn't driving any further because I was exhausted, and I said well I've worked out my route to the hall" Kat said.

She and Annabella returned to the hotel at 12.30am, but was then told the family room was no longer available and that the receptionist would try to book a taxi that could accommodate a wheelchair to take her to the Twickenham Travelodge.

Kat said: "Getting a wheelchair-accessible taxi at the best of times is not easy so I then said to her is that family room available still? And if I can use the accessible bathroom I can still use it, and she said 'no, no, no that's gone already'.

Despite repeated attempts to find a taxi that could accommodate a wheelchair, none could be found.

Miss Watkins and her PA said they had no choice but to sleep on two uncomfortable sofas in the Hounslow Travelodge dining room.

"By 2:30am Annabella was like, 'We're not going to get anywhere, we might as well just stay here'", Kat said.

• "Everything was hurting"

"They hadn't offered us any water or fluid of any description - if you're in a room you have the kettle, you have cups, you can get these things out, and the drinks machine was out of order as well.

"So she (Annabella) had to ask if we could have water so I could take my medication and she could have a drink. She had to ask for duvets, pillows, things like that because they weren't offered to us.

"She had to ask if we could have a heater because it was freezing."

Kat said they both had a "terrible" night's sleep as a result.

"It was so uncomfortable (the sofa), it was leather, it was so hard and it was also quite small." She said.

"I'm 3ft 8/10ish and because I needed my ventilator on there as well because of my breathing, I didn't have much room and poor Annabella who's average height, didn't have any room at all.

"For me it meant my legs were hurting, my back was hurting, my arms were hurting, my legs were hurting - everything was hurting because it was just so uncomfortable."

She added that staying in the dining room meant the pair had no privacy, leaving her feeling "embarrassed" and "self-conscious".

"I need to be able to get out of my wheelchair at the end of the night and stretch but there was no way to do that at all, plus I was using my ventilator in public which I do not like to do - there were strangers around and the receptionist was really upset that we were even daring to sleep there because she was like 'what are the other guests going to think?' but by that point we didn't care."

She added: "In the morning, the heater had disappeared, they'd taken that off us during the night, our water had disappeared so everything that we had done to make ourselves more comfortable had disappeared.

"Then the guests started arriving... it all just very embarrassing. It should be very embarrassing for them (the hotel), but I just felt very self-conscious because I was sleeping on a sofa with strangers around."

As compensation, the hotel had offered them a free breakfast, along with a refund and a £50 voucher, however, Miss Watkins says that the experience has out her off travelling - something she loved doing.

"It's just really impacted my confidence and my love of travel because I love to travel, I love to explore, I love going to do things" She said.

"But now I think 'do I really want to leave the house? Do I really want to put myself in an other hotel somewhere that isn't meeting my needs and am I going to be safe this time? Will I have a bed?

"It's all those horrible thoughts running through your head the whole time and it's not how it should be and it is that one bad experience that then taints every other good experience you can have."

Kat said her experience hasn't just effected her emotionally, it has also impacted her physical health.

"I've had so much pain since coming home, my back has been so bad and my confidence has just plummeted and it's just been horrible." She said.

Kat also said she feels the hospitality industry needs to be more inclusive.

She explained: "If inclusive design was used everywhere then hotels and the hospitality industry would have all the facilities that disabled people need and require at the beginning and not as an after thought and disabled people would be more comfortable travelling and staying with them."

"There are some very good examples of some inclusive hotels - there are hotels I've seen that have hoists, that have electric beds, that have a range of shower chairs and it's all there ready for people to just request - those are the hotels that are good for disabled people and could be learned from."

Alex Osborne, Disability Equality Officer at Disability Wales, said: "Disabled people face constant barriers in daily life. Going on trips causes a lot of anxiety due to the steps disabled people have to take, before even leaving their homes.

"Most disabled people pre-book their rooms by calling to ensure accessible rooms are available. Even after all the planning by the disabled person, we still hear many having frequent negative experiences.

"Kat’s experience was particularly awful, she was failed by many people that day. Sadly we hear many negative experiences from our members, whether it’s accessible rooms double booked, rooms turning out to be inaccessible, Travelodge vans in disabled spaces or negative attitudes by staff. This often ruins what should be, a happy, positive experience. But instead all too often disabled people are just left with bad memories."

In response to Kat's experience, Travelodge apologised and said it had "failed" to meet its normal standards.

In a statement, a spokesperson said: “We would like to sincerely apologise to Ms Kat Watkins and her PA for their recent experience with us. On this rare occasion we failed to meet our normal high standard of service.

"We should have informed Ms Watkins ahead of checking-in, that her room was out of order and that we had moved her booking to one of our nearby hotels.

"We are very sorry for the inconvenience of this miscommunication and we have refunded the booking in full and offered an e-voucher for a future stay. We hope that we can welcome back Ms Watkins and reinstate her faith in our brand.”