THE RESULTS TO DATE
Recommendations for DusitThani were discussed with Ebdaah, and one of these was to create another accessible guest room, which the hotel did during a recent renovation. Additionally, Dusit Thani was advised to install blinking lights for hearing impaired guests in the accessible rooms, in addition to the fire alarm system already in place.
This was discussed prior to the renovation, however Dusit Thani decided not to implement these, opting instead to focus on staff training around the current emergency evacuation procedure, which prioritises the rescue of disabled guests.
Facilities aside, the key result achieved from the training was increased awareness of disability among staff.
“Training allowed us to understand more. Disability is not just limited to physical. We were reminded that guests may be difficult but there are reasons behind that — especially for the front office who deal directly with guests,” comments Palang.
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The training also inspired the team to become more involved with CSR activities related to disability.
“We approached Al Noor Training Centre for Children with Special Needs. Andrew said it was important to make them feel they are equal, so we invited 10 children over and we conducted a pizza making activity for them with the chefs. After that we had a couple of visits to the centre.
“Some of my colleagues had their birthdays in the centre and just spent time with the children. We wanted to put an exhibit of their paintings in the hotel but there were some restrictions from their end.”
Palang also visited Al Noor with a member of the HR team to explore the possibility of hiring their students to work in the hotel.
“They would have graduates that can be sent to another company for work and we were just trying to look for a position for them.
“It’s not just dealing with guests with disabilities, but giving opportunities to people with disabilities, giving them proper work. At the same time we need to balance and manage, but definitely with Nitin we’re very happy with his contribution to the company.”
The focus now for the training department is to ensure that current and new employees are made aware of policies relating to disabled guests, and that learnings from the training are shared internally.
“It’s now a matter of implementing the existing policies, ensuring they are all aware of these. It’s important that not just the oldies but the newcomers are made aware, and are able to implement these,” Palang concludes.
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