The Castle House hotel in Hereford has been named AA Accessible Hotel of the Year, beating off competition from nearly 8,000 hotels and B&Bs.
The award, now in its third year, highlights establishments which are making particular progress in welcoming disabled guests in the run-up to implementation of the final part of the Disability Discrimination Act in October 2004.
Castle House was chosen for its special attention to guests' needs - assistance on arrival with bags, escort to the bedroom, tour of the bedroom and bathroom with explanations of remote controls, and emergency and evacuation procedures.
In the restaurant, the staff clearly understood their menu and also explained in precise detail where things were on the table and plate.
The winner was chosen after a series of tests including an assessment of accessible facilities by AA inspectors, an anonymous telephone survey and an overnight unannounced visit by Peter White, the BBC's disability affairs correspondent, who is blind.
"Castle House hotel managed to translate its existing high service standards to include the needs of someone with a visual impairment," White said. "It's really a matter of anticipating or responding to need, which they did far better than anyone else."
The Huntingdon Marriott, at Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire, and the Novotel Tower Bridge, in London, were both highly commended by the judges for their achievements in making their accommodation accessible to disabled travellers.
The winners of the AA Courtesy & Care awards were the Montagu Arms in Beaulieu, Hampshire (England), the Glenmoriston Town House hotel in Inverness (Scotland), and the West Arms in Llanarmon, Wales.
Shire Hotels, an eight-strong group of individual properties, won the award for Hotel Group of the Year.
"Shire has demonstrated clear commitment to improving its portfolio of hotels over the past year," said Peter Birnie, the AA's chief hotel and restaurant inspector. "This has included substantial investment in bedroom, restaurant and spa refurbishment, and their impressive new hotel, Thorpe Park Hotel and Spa in Leeds, a brand new build at a cost of £18m."
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 9 - 15 October 2003