Eager to shower and get to bed after a late-night arrival in Brussels last summer, my husband and I were disappointed but not surprised to find that my wheelchair didnt fit into the bathroom of our supposedly accessible hotel room.

Too late to find a new hotel to stay in after a short but laborious flight from our home in Dublin, I clumsily lowered myself to the floor, scooted into the shower and sat while my husband angled the showerhead toward me and sprayed me down. Using the toilet was an even bigger issue, but Ill spare you the details.

Navigating hotels as a person with a disability can be challenging in unexpected ways. After a long day of traveling, nothing feels better than settling into a cozy bed. But for wheelchair users like me, there are often several obstacles that keep us from resting, relaxing and getting anything else done in a hotel room that was clearly not designed with anyone like me in mind. From stories about beds being too high to limited floor space and roll-in nightmares , there are so many things that the global hospitality industry needs to address.

I have to hope that change is underway, because this cant be as good as it gets. I spoke to several big hotel groups about what theyre doing to ensure better accessibility for their disabled guests and some of them appeared to already have plans in action.

IHG Hotels & Resorts is comprised of 19 brands include EVEN and Crowne Plaza, as well as, on a luxury level, Kimpton and InterContinental Hotels & Resorts; theyre recently launched an inclusivity initiative that prioritizes accessibility through a pledge to focus on diversity in clientele .

By championing accessibility from the outset, we are rethinking how our environments enable every guest to find restoration and rest within our rooms, Melissa Messmer, the head of global design for InterContinental at IHG Hotels & Resorts, told me.

Messmer noted that, historically, accessibility in the hospitality industry has been an afterthought and I wholeheartedly agreed, as Ive experienced all the shortcomings for years.

I learned that it can be easier for some structures to get accessibly face-lifts than others. The Kimpton Fitzroy in London, which was aquired by IHG in 2018, is old and grand sort of a historic landmark. Some renovations have been made on the hotel since it opened its doors as The Russell in 1898, but there was a larger focus on wheelchair accessibility starting 2014. For example, the hotels entrance was fitted with a wheelchair lift using modern engineering and construction methods.