Accessibility in hotel design

Inclusivity and accessibility are two key concepts when designing a space, and even more so when talking about hospitality places and accommodation facilities, where functionality should marry the need to build a comfortable atmosphere that can make one feel at home.

Space models that become welcoming to everyone are changing design approaches to interiors, including responses to various and often under-considered critical issues. Satisfying the needs of disabled and neurodivergent users, for example, requires decisive and conscious spatial interventions which, if taken into account from the initial planning, do not require additional economic efforts - which often happens in the case of adaptations to be done afterwards.

In 2018, for example, five groups of students from the Bachelors in Interior Design, Product Design and Media Design courses at the IED in Milan addressed the topic with their thesis projects developed within the Hoteling for All framework. In the preliminary phase during the design, the needs of able-bodied users, people with temporary disabilities, visually impaired, blind, hard of hearing, deaf, paraplegic and tetraplegic people were taken into consideration, and this research resulted in 5 accessible hotel rooms.

A case study, this, which already at a didactic level well exemplifies how planning with a view to design for all can be an operation in which to include, in a natural and organic way, the rules established by the law on accessibility, in which it is expected that also the visitability requirement is applied to hospitality spaces.

Fas Italia - a leading Florentine company in the design of rooms and furniture for accommodation facilities - has developed and recently launched the Camera Easy project, in which the challenge of accessibility has been addressed while keeping aesthetics and comfort at the center of the considerations.


Camera Easy

The Camera Easy is designed to be used by everyone and is suitable both for welcoming guests with reduced mobility, who will find everything at the right height, and for guests who will find themselves in all respects in a common room, but special for comfort and design. The hotel rooms and bathrooms dedicated to people with reduced mobility in each room must have maneuvering spaces that allow easy use of the various furnishings and furnishings and these requirements are often met to the detriment of aesthetics, as well as often making the room uncomfortable or less welcoming.

The Camera Easy, on the other hand, redesigns the traditional formats of hotel rooms to offer guests with disabilities a space in which to move around in complete safety - and even Fas Italia has filed the Design Patent application for this specific project, destined to revolutionize the concept of accessible room. This type of room represents, in fact, an opportunity for hoteliers to make the rooms usable in a democratic and inclusive way for any type of guest.


BlindTag

Furthermore, it is possible to complete the furnishing of the Camera Easy to make it accessible also to blind or visually impaired guests, thanks to the orientation TAGs to be installed in the room, an innovative system by Fas Italia based on QR Code for signaling points of interest in the hotel. This tag can be read from considerable distances even if not perfectly aimed, thanks to an app, to be installed for free, which translates the tag into a clear and detailed voice message that guides the user in the right direction, providing directions necessary for orientation in the environment, from the lobby to the hotel entrance, to the corridor, the floors or even the interior of the room.

The arrival point connected to the tag is described in detail, as are the directions to reach it, complete with a sound signal that intensifies as the user gets closer; important information such as safety instructions or evacuation plans can also be linked to it.

Fas Italia's synergistic approach to accessibility, therefore - through not only the furnishings but also the details that make it unique and functional - looks to a truly inclusive world of hospitality, and constitutes a demonstration of the constant commitment of the company in creating solutions for hotels and accommodation facilities capable of combining design and hospitality in the name of innovation and elegance.