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SETTLEMENT REACHED TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO
HOTELS.COM AND EXPEDIA RESERVATION SERVICES FOR DISABLED TRAVELERS
NEWS RELEASE
JANUARY 26, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts
Public Justice
Victoria Ni – (510) 622-8150, ext. 204
Leslie Bailey – (510) 622-8150, ext. 203
Disability Rights Advocates
Kevin M. Knestrick –
(510) 665-8644
Sid Wolinsky – (510)
665-8644
SETTLEMENT REACHED TO IMPROVE ACCESS TO HOTELS.COM AND EXPEDIA
RESERVATION SERVICES FOR DISABLED TRAVELERS
OAKLAND,
Calif.
– Under a settlement announced today, Hotels.com and Expedia.com, two of
the world’s leading online travel companies, have agreed to add features
to their online travel reservation systems so that millions of travelers
with disabilities can use their online services to search for and
reserve hotel rooms that have the accommodations they need.
Plaintiffs in the California
lawsuit Smith v. Hotels.com L.P. were represented by the public
interest law firms of Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) and Public
Justice, and a leading class action law firm in
Mill Valley, Calif.,
Chavez & Gertler LLP.
As part of the settlement, Hotels.com and
Expedia.com will gather information about hotels’ accessibility
features, and will then incorporate that information into their websites
so that travelers can both search for hotels with rooms that offer the
particular accommodations they need, and make special requests online to
book those accessible rooms. Each special request will be given
individual attention by a trained customer service representative, who
will work with the customer to accommodate his or her needs. These new
features will be rolled out later this year.
“For years, travelers with disabilities have been
unable to take advantage of the convenience and low cost options of
booking hotel rooms online,” said plaintiff Bonnie Lewkowicz. “Now, for
the first time, I will be able to reserve a hotel room online that meets
my needs, just like anyone else.”
Lewkowicz and co-plaintiff Judith Smith are members
of AXIS Dance Company, a not-for-profit company of professional dancers
with and without disabilities based in
Oakland,
Calif. Ms. Smith and Ms. Lewkowicz both rely on
wheelchairs for mobility.
“By adding website features to meet the needs of
disabled consumers, Hotels.com and Expedia are showing that they are
true leaders in the hospitality industry” added Victoria Ni , a staff
attorney at Public Justice, a public interest law firm specializing in
cutting-edge litigation nationwide. “We hope and believe that other
online travel agencies will follow their lead.”
In 2006, American online consumer travel sales
generated $79 billion. For American travelers, the Internet is an
indispensable resource for planning trips and booking lodgings and
transportation.
Adults with disabilities spend over $10 billion
annually on travel, and almost half of them consult the Internet to
support their travel needs.
Wheelchair users need wide doorways and grab bars
and accessible bathrooms. People with visual or hearing impairments also
need accessible features, such as Braille signage or a text telephone.
“This settlement ushers in a new era in the online
travel industry. A wheelchair user who reserves a hotel room online will
no longer have to worry that she or he literally might not be able to
enter the room after they arrive,” said Kevin Knestrick, an attorney
with DRA, a non-profit law center based in Berkeley, Calif., that
specializes in high-impact lawsuits on behalf of people with
disabilities.
No damages were sought in the case, which was filed
in the California Superior Court for
Alameda
County.
For more information about the lawsuit and
settlement, please go to Public Justice's website, at
www.publicjustice.net, or to
DRA's website, at www.dralegal.org.
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Public Justice is America’s public interest law firm,
supported by – and calling on -- a nationwide network of more than 3,000 of the
nation’s top lawyers to pursue precedent-setting and socially significant
litigation. It has a wide-ranging litigation docket in the areas of consumer
rights, worker safety, civil rights and liberties, toxic torts, environmental
protection, and access to the courts. Public Justice is the principal project of
the Public Justice Foundation, a not-for-profit membership organization
headquartered in Washington, DC, with a West Coast office in Oakland,
California. The Public Justice web site address is
www.publicjustice.net.
Disability Rights Advocates is a non-profit law firm based
in Berkeley, California, whose mission is to protect and advance the civil
rights of people with disabilities through high-impact litigation, advocacy and
education. Disability Rights Advocates is a national leader in protecting the
rights of people with all types of disabilities, including mobility, sensory,
mental health and learning disabilities.
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