Guest User
June 10, 2024
Lovely hotel, rooms, food, clean and tidy, a few minor imperfections for a 5*. We are currently on our second day here, first impressions were great, however there is a need for consideration of children with special needs and disabilities. My son is 9 and has multiple profound disabilities; including Autism, ADHD, sensory processing disorder, speech language and communication difficulties with the intellectual abilities of a 2/3 year old. We found the hotel has reasonable access to all areas by means of lifts if you have a special needs buggy, like us. The rooms pool view are spacious. The kids pool is lovely the kids love the blown up rainbow dome , however there is only 1 lifeguard monitoring 2 pools, with no visual of the other side of the dome to where they sit , we have a child with special needs who has constant adult support and requires adaptations to enable him to access the same facilities as those without disabilities, he requires a blow up rubber ring as a buoyancy aid, we have been approached several times by life guards and even a manager in regard to the rubber ring being used around my sons waist to go down the dome to prevent him going under which often causes sensory difficulties with the sensations of going under. Yesterday there were older children jumping and tumbling and running and rolling down the dome very close to come of the littler children who were also supported and monitored by their parents. We had the manager approach us today as we had yet again tried to explain to the lifeguard the support needed for my son to access the pool, with a lack of understanding there are no signs to say the aids can’t be used in the pool however the manager said the ‘insurance doesn’t allow it’ I am disappointed in the approach of the manager (we presume dressed in black suit with a white shirt) the couple sat next to us by the pool even commented and said how well behaved our child is causing no harm to others and they felt it was also ridiculous (it’s nice to have the support of total strangers) we were asked for our room number and told that we would have an email sent to us. We will be approaching Raddison head quarters and Jet 2 in regards to the lack of understanding and variation between disabilities the manager did mention the recent review which we read of the child with Fragile X. However they need to understand all disabilities are different. We visited a hotel last year in Lanzarote and were taken in by the manager there who recognised my sons disabilities and made adaptations to the menu and services for us (Sentido Aequora Lanzarote) it’s a shame there is a variation of understanding between the Canary Islands. We hope that they take this opportunity to place reasonable adjustments to disabled children who in the UK are recognised as having a protected characteristic under the Equality Act. There are laws in place in Spain to ensure that the disabled have the same social experiences as those without disabil