Millennium Hotel London Mayfair Accessibility

After spending a lot of time in hotels and too often finding the accessible accommodation unacceptable I decided to tackle this issue and see if I can make a difference.  I believe that disabled people have the right to expect the same standards and choice as everyone else.

I am looking to book a hotel later this year in London and so I have been researching hotels, accessibility, facilities and accessible accommodation.  So far I have had a mixed bag of results.

In early December I sent an enquiry to the Millennium Hotel London Mayfair and got a very quick reply to say that they had passed my email onto housekeeping.  Nearly seven weeks on and no contact from housekeeping and I thought I would contact the hotel again and I received this reply "please kindly note that we do have few rooms which can be used for disabled guest, however they are not fully accessible,could you kindly advise what need does this guest need?" I did reply to inform them that the guest needed a bathroom that would accommodate a wheelchair and have a roll-in shower.  I got a second reply to say they do not have roll-in showers and that the only showers they have, have a 7cm step into them. 

After sleeping on this I was still unsure of what accessible facilities this hotel could actually offer a disabled guest so I sent them some questions which I hoped would help clarify the suitability of the hotel accommodation.  I asked if they could supply a shower stool or shower chair and in the "few rooms"  mentioned in the earlier email would there be grab rails around the toilet and shower area. I also asked if there would be orange emergency chords in the bathroom and bedroom and would a "PEEPS" (personal emergency evacuation plan) be completed.  The answer that I got back from the hotel was "yes" to all my questions and now I am more confused that ever and I have replied back again to say so. 

The accommodation is large enough to accommodate a wheelchair, the bedroom and bathroom have orange emergency chords.  The bathroom has grab rails and the hotel can supply other disabled equipment.  If this is correct I don't understand why they would have a shower with a 7cm step it just doesn't make sense to me when they could so easily have a level access shower and these rooms would have been " fully accessible".

I hope to get to the bottom of this and soon.  I have been pushed from pillar to post this past seven weeks.  Whether the information is correct is doubtful. Before I would even consider making a booking I would need more information possibly in the form of some photographs of the room and bathroom. 

The hotel website needs to be updated to have at least a statement of accessibility.  At the moment there is nothing on accessibility for disabled guests wanting more information or making a reservation and in fact none of their sister hotel websites have accessibility statements either. 

I have what you might call the definitive answer from the Guest Relations Manager who has advised that the accessible accommodation is not "fully accessible" because the showers are not roll-in showers (wet room).  They have also said that a wheelchair user has used these rooms but I would heed warning that should something happen in the bathroom I should think it would be the responsibility of the guest if harmed.  I would check this before making reservation.