The 12 awards will be presented in October, ranging from Best Bar and Best Spa to Best Historic Building and Best Conceptual Design. The Ludicrous Loo Award returns, and brand new for this year will be The Ridiculous Ramp Award!
The organisers are keen to set the gold standard for encouraging the industry to get accessibility right for a disabled person and making it stylish, thoughtful and innovative. There are many very good reasons why this initiative needs progress.
As a significant sponsor of the awards IoH CEO Robert Richardson FIH MI said: “These awards and the work of Fiona t Blue Badge Style is vital in raising the profile and changing the landscape for a huge number of people who have disabilities. The IoH is delighted to be supporting and sponsoring these awards this year.”
There are 14.6 million disabled people in the U.K. This means that more than 1 in 5 potential consumers have a disability. With the spending power of disabled people and their households, is estimated to be £274bn a year. A report by Purple Pound 2022 says that the UK’s pubs/restaurants are losing approximately £163m every month by ignoring the needs of disabled people.
Fiona Jarvis CEO of Blue Badge Style & Co-Founder of the BBAA says: “Nominations are open to the public or any venue or organization. The Blue Badge Access Awards are about exceeding the expectations of disabled people and giving recognition to businesses and establishments that have addressed accessibility imaginatively and thoughtfully”.
Fiona added: “The very definition of hospitality is to welcome, and this is at the very heart of the BBAA. Unfortunately, we have seen some bad examples of accessibility. A ‘Ludicrous Loo’ where the chef parks his bike in the so-called ‘disabled toilet’, also used it as a storage area. This year we have introduced the new ‘Ridiculous Ramps Award’ to highlight how a properly constructed ramp is vital to the wheelchair, crutch or buggy user. A Ramp is no use if it is too narrow, leads to a set of steps or has a tree growing in the middle of it!
Robin Sheppard FIH, past IoH Supervisory Board Chairman, President of Bespoke Hotels and Co-Founder of the BBAA says: “We have a long way to go, but the industry is making good progress towards ‘Liberty’. The freedom to go to a hotel where you are not dreading the bathroom or the toilet. Where your room doesn’t look like a hospital ward. Where the electric curtains can be controlled from the bedside and where you can transfer from a wheelchair to a hotel bed unassisted because it has been designed at the right height or even better there’s a concealed hoist. We invested in 18 Liberty suites at our own Hotel Brooklyn in Manchester which brought in additional revenue of £132,000 last year. That’s 100 extra bed nights every 4 weeks! This along with associated events contributed to a combined income of £217,000 from accessible facilities.”
The BBAA’s new Access Ambassador – Celebrity Chef Michael Caines MBE Executive Chef, at Lympstone Manor said: “These awards focus the minds of designers and architects to become creative and forward-thinking for the needs of all. The future should be all about inclusivity. My hope for tomorrow is that spaces are designed with consideration for all people’s needs. Accessible, creative, beautiful, and above all, inclusive. The hospitality sector should be leading the way, inspiring other sectors to follow our lead”.
To see the list of categories and nominate someone for the awards this year, please follow the link below.
The closing date for BBAA nominations is 18 September 2023.
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