At the end of December I booked a wheelchair and carer seat at Bournemouth International Centre for the Blue 25th anniversary tour.
I knew I wanted my friend Siobhan to come with but had yet to ask her.
I set about ringing hotels that were listed as wheelchair accessible but I’m always suspicious until I’m there.
One hotel I rang I checked 3 times it was an accessible room and 3 times they said yes but I still didn’t believe them so checked again. They then admitted they didn’t have any accessible rooms but said they could put me on a ground floor room to help (it doesn’t help and I don’t like people pretending they have what I need when they don’t)
I rang another hotel and unfortunately their accessible room was taken on that date but they were so helpful and upfront I asked if the bathroom had room for a loo frame I would take. As they didn’t know what it was they asked to ring me back. 2 minutes later they rang me back having googled it to say yes so I booked it.
I then had to ring them again in March to check the room was big enough to wheelchair around it due to my broken ankle. It was and again they were so helpful even reserving a blue badge parking space in their car park for us.
The hotel had a ramped entrance at the front (not a temporary ramp or at the back which I hate) and the room was on the ground floor with a lift to all floors. It was also directly opposite the BIC and only a minute from the sea front.
So for me the Seastone Hotel was perfect and accommodating to my needs.
However just a reminder Bournemouth is hilly so maybe not great for a manual chair which I had as even my friend found it hard work.
Blue were amazing although the drunk people next to us were annoying and Siobhan had to stop them walking into me a few times making us both worried about my ankle.
How Rare? 