Booking.com and disabilities. Complaint of Égalité to the Antitrust

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Published by Dario Dongo on 11 September 2019

Booking.com for the disabled, nightmare trips

Viral Deception proposed by Booking.com for the disabled is phenomenal. On the travel giant's website ecommerce you learn news of exotic wheelchair adventures. From the trekking in the Amazon (meanwhile gone up in flames, #Buycott!) to rafting in Utah and snorkeling in the Red Sea, free space for imagination.

The real adventure However, Booking.com's offer for people with disabilities is the one that is neither requested nor imagined. So, after doing a search with the filter 'facilities for disabled guests'(1) - and perhaps even filled out the message form to obtain confirmation of the accessible hotel, room and bathroom - the disabled person is trekking in overcoming the steps, rafting and snorkeling to take an unequipped shower.

The nightmare however, it often reveals itself even before discovering the inaccessibility of places. When Booking.com communicates, even at the last minute, that the booked accommodation is not more available'. Unless you later discover, after direct contact with the hotelier, that on the date of the booking confirmation - that is to say, when the contract was concluded - the accessible room 'was not already available'. An unfair commercial practice that can also take on criminal significance, commercial fraud, in cases such as the one described. (2)

Discomfort and attacks on the safety of the guest

The consequences of these perverse mechanisms are different. The most common, and paradoxically the least serious, is being forced to reschedule your stay at the last minute, facing double costs to find one of the rare rooms that actually guarantee accessibility. The most hateful is to come across architectural barriers that seriously affect the ability to independently access essential services.

From this it derives the frequent inability to wash and carry out intimate hygiene, the risk of falling due to the absence or incorrect positioning of the support bars and handles. The need to be 'carried in arms' up steps and stairs to be able to enter and exit the building and various other amenities. Without receiving any kind of assistance or compensation from the irresponsible and unpunished colossus of nightmare travel.

Human rights and accessibility

The Constitution of the Italian Republic expressly refers to the principle of equality andequal social dignity (...) without distinction', Moreover, 'of personal and social conditions'(Article 3). In addition to recognizing and guaranteeing 'the inviolable rights of man, both as an individual and in the social formations where his personality unfolds'(Article 2). Italy, in ratifying the UN Convention referred to below, has also recognized the inviolability of the rights of disabled people. Which are declined, among other things, in the right to accessibility, independent life and personal mobility. Fundamental, in fact, for the achievement of equal social dignity, full development of the human person and reduction of inequalities.

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities - adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 13.12.06, in force since 3.5.08 - recognizes that all members of society have the same human rights, including civil, cultural, economic, political rights and social. Which decline, among other things, in the right 'to freedom and security of the person', 'to respect for physical and mental integrity', to 'freedom of movement'. But also in the 'right to live in the community', 'at an adequate level of life', to participate in public life 'and' in cultural life '. All persons with disabilities have the right to be free from discrimination in the enjoyment of their rights. And accessibility is recognized as an enforceable human right. (3)

The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

'The States Parties [of the Convention, ed.] recognize the right of persons with disabilities to take part on an equal basis with others in cultural life and must take all appropriate measures to ensure that persons with disabilities:

(a) have access to cultural materials in accessible formats;

(b) have access to television programs, films, theater and other cultural activities, in accessible forms;

(c) have access to places of cultural activities, such as theaters, museums, cinemas, libraries and tourist services, and, as far as possible, have access to monuments and sites important for national culture. ' (UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, article 30).

The ISO standard on the accessibility of buildings

The accessibility requirements of buildings and structures, bedrooms and bathrooms, are precisely defined in an international standard adopted by ISO (International Standard Organization) back in 2011. (4) This document was developed on the basis of good practices shared over the decades by the representatives of the States that adhere to ISO, public and private operators and civil society.

'The goals of this international standard is to meet the needs of most people. This is achieved through an agreement on [a set of] standards that provide generally accepted minimum requirements for adapting to differences in age and human condition. This agreement was reached by consensus between several countries around the world. ' (5)

Booking.com, Égalité's requests to the Antitrust

Égalité - with its report to the Guarantor Authority, already documented with examples of unfair commercial practices - aspires to obtain the opening of an investigation. To Booking.com, and possibly other agencies that sell travel services through ecommerce. To ascertain the non-compliance with the Consumer Code towards a category of consumers who are weak in spite of themselves, the 'People with Disabilities'. (6) The unfair commercial practices that are the subject of the complaint - like the others that will be ascertained during the investigation - must be stopped and sanctioned.

It therefore asks the confirmation, by the Antitrust Authority, of a series of duties for Booking.com and all other tour operators, online and offline. Which must always:

- to verify with extreme care the crucial conditions of accessibility of accommodation and tourist facilities, in light of the good practices shared in the international reference standard,

- to communicate in a preventive and appropriate manner any accessibility defects with respect to the aforementioned standard. Such as, for example, steps without ramps to access the buildings and services offered, the presence of stair lifts (inaccessible to many modern wheelchairs) instead of elevators, passages of less than standard width, no running water next to the toilet,

- guarantee timely assistance and rescheduling - with charges and expenses borne exclusively by the travel agency, without any further burden and cost for the user - in the event of unavailability of the accessible services requested, following the booking confirmation,

- to attribute graphic evidence of the conditions of accessibility for people with disabilities. On websites and search forms, flyers and any other commercial information relating to tourism and hospitality services. (7)

#InAntitrustWeTrust! #NoOneLeftBehind!

Dario Dongo

Note

(1) The attention paid to disabled people by Booking.com is also emblematic in the positioning of the related item, on the 'Filters' page. Without any graphic evidence, with all due respect for the visually impaired, the voice 'facilities for disabled guests'is found after'car park,restaurant,pets allowed,room service,gym,non-smoking rooms,airport shuttle'. In eighth place, fifth after pets. Worse than a 'dog's life', lucky them!

(2) Commercial fraud is punished in Italy thanks to the penal code (article 525). It may involve, among other things, the administrative liability of the entity. That is to say, in cases such as the one described, of the company in whose interest the crime - which can be prosecuted ex officio (ie without the need for a lawsuit from the injured person) was committed. Pursuant to Legislative Decree 231/01. See the article https://www.greatitalianfoodtrade.it/idee/responsabilità-amministrativa-d-impresa-nella-filiera-alimentare.

(3) United Nations (United Nations, UN), Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). More info and text on https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities.html. An 'Optional Protocol' is attached to the CRPD, the text of which is available at https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities/frequently-asked-questions-regarding-the-convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities.html#iq3.

Italy provided for the formal ratification on 15.5.09, the European Union on 23.12.10. The list of countries that have ratified the Convention is available on https://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-15&chapter=4&clang=_en.

(4) ISO / FDIS 21542: 2011 (E). Building construction - Accessibility and usability of the built environment.

(5) ISO / FDIS 21542: 2011 (E), Introduction. Informal translation by the writer.

(6) 'Persons with disabilities include those who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others'(CRPD, article 1, original text).

(7) To public transport, some previous episodes and others to follow. See our reports and complaints, in chronological order.

The protection actions of Égalité

- to the President of ENAC (National Civil Aviation Authority),

- to the Mayor of Genoa Ing. Enrico Bucci,

- to the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Rome, against legal representatives and managers of the company ATAC.

Punctual complaints, to date without confirmation and subsequently none. Disability is in the eyes of those who ignore it, with all due respect for the visually impaired. For further ideas on tourism and architectural barriers, see the precious article by Simon Dermer in Travel Daily News, 23.8.18.

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