Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Extended Stay America from a guest who claims that the hotel chain doesn’t offer enough rooming options for those with disabilities.
Plaintiff Bartley M. Mullen, Jr. says that the hotel does not offer amenities that are the same for those without disabilities, which violates Title III of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA). These options include the type of guest rooms and the number of beds.
The plaintiff has double, above-the-knee leg amputations and uses a wheelchair to move around. In the summer of 2019, Mullen says he attempted to book a room at a defendant’s hotel in Pittsburgh.
The plaintiff tried to book a guest room with a king-size bed and found out that Extended Stay America offers few options for accessible guest rooms at that hotel.
“Specifically, while Defendants offer guests without disabilities rooms with full size beds, multiple beds, and king sized beds, the only option for individuals with mobility disabilities are guest rooms with one queen sized bed,” the Extended Stay America class action lawsuit claims.
Also, Mullen alleges that he was not able to determine whether the purported accessible guest rooms met his needs because the defendants online reservation system has “limited generic descriptions” of the accessible features of the guest rooms.
In addition, the plaintiff claims that Extended Stay America does not offer individuals with disabilities with reservation service that is ADA compliant. This service will allow those with disabilities to determine whether the guest rooms meet the needs of those with disabilities.
“In failing to provide accessible rooms with the same options and amenities offered to guests without disabilities and ADA-compliant reservation services, Defendants have engaged in illegal discrimination, excluded and deterred individuals with disabilities from patronizing Defendants’ hotels, and denied individuals with disabilities full and equal access to the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations that Defendants offer to individuals without disabilities,” the Extended Stay America class action lawsuit alleges.
The plaintiff states that ADA regulations require hotels to supply a certain number of rooms and suites that are accessible to those with disabilities, which is determined on a sliding scale based on the total number of offered rooms.
The Extended Stay America class action lawsuit alleges that the plaintiff’s experiences with the online reservation system makes him “frustrated and deterred” due to the limited information available.
Also, he claims that he was “further demoralized that he could not reserve the type of guest room he was seeking and that his only option for an accessible guest room was so limited,” the plaintiff states.
The Extended Stay America class action claims that nearly all of the defendants’ hotels do not provide enough accessible guest rooms in contrast to guest rooms available to those without disabilities.
In fact, the plaintiff states that an investigation shows that other hotels owned by the defendant do not provide a range of accessible guest room options compared to those offered to other guests.
That said, “Despite Defendants’ demanding standards for all of their hotels, and the fact that Defendants oversee and inspect individual hotels on a regular basis and require those hotels to implement changes necessary to fix existing problems, Defendants continue to operate and permit their hotels to remain in violation of the ADA,” the Extended Stay America class action lawsuit claims.
Have you found that Extended Stay America does not offer comparable rooms for those who are disabled? Leave a message in the comments section below.
The plaintiff is represented by R. Bruce Carlson, Kelly K. Iverson, and Bryan A. Fox of Carlson Lynch LLP.
The Extended Stay America Class Action Lawsuit is Bartley M. Mullen, Jr. v. Extended Stay America Inc., et al., Case No. 2:19-cv-01254-NR, in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania.
ATTORNEY ADVERTISING
Top Class Actions is a Proud Member of the American Bar Association
LEGAL INFORMATION IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE
Top Class Actions Legal Statement
©2008 – 2024 Top Class Actions® LLC
Various Trademarks held by their respective owners
This website is not intended for viewing or usage by European Union citizens.
73 thoughts onExtended Stay America Class Action Alleges Lack of ADA Rooms
I needed a handicapped accessible and as stated above they only had queen size beds, the showers were basic small hotel showers with high sides and a small slat that pulled down for you to sit on, which I was unable to use, for the reasons I couldn’t get my legs over the top of the tub and the slat was to narrow.
Also the only handicapped rooms were on the top floor on the opposite side of the smoking rooms.
Service desk people did not know proper procedure for handling handicapped people, should there be a fire or other emergency shutting down the elevator.
I have stayed at several ESA hotels in Cary, NC and I always put I am MOBILITY impaired and request a room either on their ground floor or near an elevator and I always get a room where it is on the ground floor for those who have outside access but for those who are a structure they always put me on 2 or 3 floors and in the middle of the hotel away from the elevator and never have any carts available to help me carry my bags with my cane and its always a struggle.
Add me please
Add me
I too am disabled and have found rooms to be lacking. Please add me to any future correspondence. Thank you.
Please add me
Please add me
I made reservations ahead of time, stating that I needed a wheelchair accessible room, with a zero-barrier shower, including a shower bench. I specifically inquired about the shower bench, as anything without it would make me, as a bka(below knee amputee), unable to bathe. The booking agent assured me the room would accommodate my needs. When I arrived there, the room was a standard room, with a standard bathtub, and no bench. I asked the clerk about what made this room ADA compliant, as the passageways did not have wheelchair clearance, nor was the bathroom at all what I had been promised. I was told the room was “completely ADA compliant, because there were grab handles on the tub.”
If this is what Extended Stay thinks makes a room accessible they are completely missing the point.
I am a paraplegic and I stayed at one a few years ago and it was not wheelchair accessible
I am disabled and this frustrates me