Hotel Etico Rome – accessible accommodation Rome

When we travel I like nothing more than supporting a business that supports people living with a disability, so when I discovered that Hotel Etico Rome did just that, I made a booking immediately.  Amelia and I had one night where we needed accommodation in Rome before I flew back to Australia and Hotel Etico provided a comfortable and central location for us. While I was there I had the opportunity to check out Hotel Etico’s accessible accommodation.

Hotel Etico accessible accommodation – Rome, Italy

The Hotel Etico in Rome is the first hotel of it’s kind to be primarily staffed by people living with disabilities. The hotel is 100% not-profit and the objective of the hotel is to provide high quality accommodation for guest’s from around the world. Hotel Etico offers hospitality traineeships to young people living with disability so they are able to learn skills to assist them in gaining employment in the industry.

Hotel Etico Rome is located in an old convent but despite the historic nature of the building, accessibility is excellent.  In our travels we generally found accommodation in European hotels isn’t overly spacious so I was pleasantly surprised to find the accessible rooms in Hotel Etico are a good size.

We were staying in a standard room but I had the opportunity to pop into one of the accessible rooms just before the guests who had booked it arrived.

The room offers good circulation space on either side of the bed and has wooden floors which make wheeling a breeze.

A stylish accessible bathroom offers a small shower seat, heated towel rail and lever taps.

Grab rails are located on either side of the toilet with one able to lift up to allow a transfer.

An emergency call cord is located in the shower and a call phone is located beside the toilet.

A small sitting area is hidden behind the bed but it doesn’t allow much room for a wheelchair user to circulate.

A lowered safe is in the base of  the open wardrobe and a pull down bar allows access to the hanging rail.  Tea and coffee facilities are provided in the room.

Hotel Etico offers a lovely buffet breakfast in the restaurant which is also accessible.

My flight was early in the morning so I only had time to grab a couple of pastries to go, but Amelia had time to enjoy the lovely buffet breakfast selection.

Hotel Etico Rome is located not far from The Spanish Steps and Villa Borghese and close to public transport.

Accessibility at Hotel Etico Rome

As I previously mentioned, despite the historic nature of Hotel Etico Rome, it’s wonderfully accessible. A lift is available to take guests from street level to reception.

Reception is at a good height for wheelchair users to meet staff eye to eye which is a lovely change.

Once inside the hotel a lift provides access to the guest rooms.

Staff with a disability do not work on weekends so sadly I didn’t have the opportunity to meet any of the young people participating in a traineeship which was disappointing, but who doesn’t want to have the weekend off? Prior to travelling to Rome I did have the chance to visit Hotel Etico in the Blue Mountains of NSW and there I chatted to some of the wonderful young people training in the hotel. What a wonderful enthusiastic and optimistic group of young people. The program in the Blue Mountains was founded after the success of Hotel Etico Rome and now offers young people in Australia the chance to learn hospitality skills. You can read about Hotel Etico in Australia in the latest issue of Travel Without Limits magazine. 

The motto of Hotel Etico Rome is, “We are not the best hotel in the world, but we are the best FOR the world!” So, if you are visiting Rome, why not support this not-for-profit. Read more about Hotel Etico Rome on their website. 

This is not a sponsored post, I paid in full for our stay.