Accessible rooms: how to describe them so guests, Google, Booking.com and AI understand (2026)

Updated: 9 November 2026

A wheelchair user, a guest with reduced mobility or a deaf guest does not book an 'accessible hotel': they book a room whose door, bathroom and bed they know they can use. This guide is about your property's physical accessibility and how to describe it well; your website's accessibility is covered in another guide: /european-accessibility-act-hotel-website-2026. We summarise what Google's, Airbnb's and Booking.com's help pages, schema.org and the law say (sources at the end). This is not legal advice: to know what the law requires of your building, ask your architect or adviser.

Don't just say 'accessible'

'Accessible' means different things to different guests. What helps them is knowing whether there are steps, how wide the door is, what the shower is like and whether there are grab bars. If only part of the property is accessible, say so clearly: 'room 2 and the dining room are accessible; the terrace has three steps'.

What to measure and photograph

Measure with a tape and take a photo of each feature, with the tape visible whenever there is a measurement.

Entrance: steps or ramp, threshold height and clear width of the open door.
Route to the room: floor, lift (door width and car size) or ramp.
Room and bathroom doors: clear width with the door fully open.
Bathroom: step-free shower or one with a step (and its height), fixed grab bars by the toilet and in the shower, shower seat.
Bedroom: bed height to the top of the mattress and clear space on each side.
Parking: reserved space, its width and the distance to the entrance.
Alerts for deaf guests, if you have them: doorbell or fire alarm with a visual signal.

Google

Your Business Profile has accessibility attributes: wheelchair-accessible entrance, toilet, seating, parking and lift, and hearing assistance. According to Google's help, an entrance is accessible if it is at least one metre wide with no steps; if there is only a revolving door, the answer is No.
Some attributes are edited by the business and others may come from customer input: check your profile from time to time.
For lodging, Google's data (Lodging API) separates the property (accessible, lift, parking, pool hoist) from the room (accessible unit, shower, toilet and bathtub, doorbell and fire alarm with visual signal), with a field for exceptions.

Airbnb and Booking.com

Airbnb requires at least one clear photo for each accessibility feature and reviews them before they show; if a photo doesn't meet the criteria, it may ask for another or remove the feature. Examples from its guide: entrance wider than 81 cm (32 in) with the tape visible, step-free access with thresholds under 5 cm, step-free shower with a threshold under 2.5 cm, and fixed grab bars that bear full weight (a towel rail doesn't count).
If you use a channel manager on full sync, Airbnb says these features are updated through that software.
Booking.com advises guests to contact the property before booking and ask about the shower, bed height, shower chairs and common areas: have those answers ready and written in your listing.

Structured data

On your website, schema.org lets you list an accommodation's features with the amenityFeature property (type LocationFeatureSpecification), for example 'step-free shower: yes'. It helps machines read the data; it does not replace text or photos.

What the law says

Spain: the General Law on the rights of persons with disabilities (Royal Legislative Decree 1/2013, art. 29) requires anyone offering goods and services to the public to respect equal opportunities and the accessibility conditions set by regulations. In Andalusia, Decree 293/2009 regulates accessibility in buildings and includes an article on bedrooms and accommodation units. The number of accessible rooms required depends on the case: check with your architect.
Portugal: Decree-Law 163/2006 applies to hotel establishments and sets, for example, a minimum clear width of 0.87 m for building entrance doors.
Italy: Ministerial Decree 236/1989 (art. 5.3) requires at least two accessible rooms in accommodation facilities up to 40 rooms or part of 40, and two more for each further 40.

Make everything say the same

Write one accessibility sheet with measurements and use it consistently on your website, Google, Booking.com, Airbnb and your iQuota listing.
If a platform only allows Yes or No, tick Yes only if it is truly met, and explain the rest in the description.
Update the data when something changes (a refurbishment, a new ramp, a lift out of service).

How iQuota helps

AI assistants answer with what they read about your property. A sentence like '85 cm door, step-free shower and grab bars by the toilet' helps them more than 'adapted room'. On iQuota you can publish those details in your listing. Nobody can guarantee that an AI will recommend you, but clear, consistent data is a better base.

Want an official booking page AI can read and a connector with your real prices, commission-free? The first 30 hotels join free until 30 June 2027.

See the Founding Hotels programme

Frequently asked questions

Can I tick 'accessible' if I only have one adapted room?

Say exactly what is accessible: which room, which route and which common areas, and what is not.

Which measurement matters most?

There isn't just one: guests usually ask about steps, door widths, the shower and bed height. Give all four.

Are photos mandatory?

On Airbnb, each accessibility feature needs at least one photo. Elsewhere, they help guests decide.

Sources

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