Sufficiency and insufficiency of hotel facilites and services for guests with special needs: The cases of Portugal and Cyprus

Abstract

Adequate facilities and appropriate customer service in the hotel industry are needed to cater the increasing numbers of people with special needs, including within the senior cohort. This paper purpose is to assess and compare the cases of Cyprus and Portugal – countries that are highly dependent on the tourism industry – and to identify whether their hotels have the necessary facilities and employees are well equipped to support guests with special needs. The results reveal that both Portuguese and Cypriot hotels regard their facilities as adequate for people with physical disabilities but exclude guests with other types of disabilities. Furthermore, employees are not well prepared to provide services to this cohort of the market. This failure to develop the necessary structures has implications for these countries’ competitiveness in terms of becoming accessible and disabled-friendly destinationsSe necesitan instalaciones adecuadas y un servicio al cliente adecuado en la industria hotelera para atender al creciente número de personas con necesidades especiales, incluso dentro de la cohorte de personas mayores. El propósito de este documento es evaluar y comparar los casos de Chipre y Portugal, países que dependen en gran medida de la industria del turismo, e identificar si sus hoteles tienen las instalaciones necesarias y los empleados están bien equipados para ayudar a los huéspedes con necesidades especiales. Los resultados revelan que tanto los hoteles portugueses como los chipriotas consideran que sus instalaciones son adecuadas para personas con discapacidades físicas, pero excluyen a los huéspedes con otros tipos de discapacidades. Además, los empleados no están bien preparados para prestar servicios a esta cohorte del mercado