Rolling Rains Report:: We Welcome Service Animals�

August 08, 2005

We Welcome Service Animals�

In the article, Advice for Travel with a Canine Companion, I profiled one resourceful canine and his human travel companions. Recently, I learned of a national effort by the California Hotel & Lodging Association Educational Foundation to make travel with service animals easier: �We Welcome Service Animals.�

The project has, according to California Hotel & Lodging Association President & CEO, Jim Abrams, "created two videos and collateral materials. The first video, "Welcoming Service Animals," is a 9-minute training video, in English or in Spanish, for management and employees of hotels and restaurants. The other video, "Responding to Service Animal Calls," is a 9-minute squad room training video for police and sheriff personnel."

To date about 100 kits have been distributed. The organization is seeking additional funding to distribute these timely materials even more widely.

Service animals enrich the lives of many disabled Americans by performing vital tasks that increase their owners� safety, mobility and independence. These animals are not a luxury, but a necessity. By denying a disabled person with a service animal access to your business, you�re exposing yourself to lawsuits and serious penalties. So please join us in welcoming disabled guests and their service animals into your business. It�s the law. And it�s the right thing to do.

�We Welcome Service Animals� is a national campaign created by the California Hotel & Lodging Association Educational Foundation and made possible by funding from the American Hotel & Lodging Foundation and the American Express Foundation to teach people in the hospitality industry and law enforcement how to improve service to disabled guests who depend on service animals for assistance. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), hotels, motels and restaurants are required to treat disabled customers with service animals like all other guests, providing them with the same service and access to all areas where other guests are allowed. Violating the ADA can lead to serious penalties and costly lawsuits. Also denying access to disabled people with service animals is a crime in every state.

PRESS RELEASE

NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Jim Abrams FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(916) 444-5780 June 6, 2005
jim@calodging.com

CH&LA EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION RECEIVES $100,000 FROM THE J. WILLARD AND ALICE S. MARRIOTT FOUNDATION�We Welcome Service Animals�� Program Receives Major Funding

SACRAMENTO � The California Hotel & Lodging Association (CH&LA) Educational Foundation has received $100,000 to fund the We Welcome Service Animals� program from The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation. The funding is being provided by the Foundation for reproduction and distribution of the We Welcome Service Animals training videos and collateral materials, with the specific goal of ensuring there will be enhanced accessibility throughout the hospitality industry for guests and patrons who use service animals.

We Welcome Service Animals is a national education and outreach campaign created by the California Hotel & Lodging Association Educational Foundation to teach people in the hospitality industry and in law enforcement community how to improve service to guests and patrons with disabilities who depend on service animals for assistance. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, hotels, motels, and restaurants are required to treat customers with disabilities accompanied by service animals, like all other guests, providing them with the same service and access to all areas where other guests are allowed. The development of the program�s training videos and collateral materials was made possible with initial funding from the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation and the American Express Foundation.

The We Welcome Service Animals program won a prestigious �Associations Advance America Award� from the American Society of Association Executives, as well as a gold �Telly� award.

�We�re very excited to be able to move this project forward to its next phase with the assistance of The J. Willard and Alice Marriot Foundation,� said Al Sessler, President of the CH&LA Educational Foundation. �Recognition and funding of this program greatly forwards the mission of the CH&LA Educational Foundation.�

The We Welcome Service Animals program is already being implemented by key organizations in the hospitality industry. For example, it will be offered by Marriott International, Inc. as an education and training component to its approximately 2,200 lodging properties in the United States. In addition, Best Western International will be implementing the program in more than 2,400 properties in the United States and Canada in early May, and the Asian American Hotel Owners Association is furnishing the videos and collateral materials to its 8,500 members.

�Having organizations like Marriott International and Best Western implement the program adds to distribution that is being undertaken by many other companies and in countless hospitality establishments,� said Jim Abrams, President and CEO of the California Hotel & Lodging Association.

The California Hotel & Lodging Association (CH&LA) is the largest state lodging industry trade association in the country. Its 1,600 members, which comprise approximately 175,000 guest rooms, include hotels, motels, bed and breakfast inns, guest ranches, resorts, spas, condominium rentals, timeshares, and vacation home rentals located throughout California.

CH&LA�s mission is to be the indispensable resource for communicating and protecting the rights and interests of the California lodging industry, for providing educational training and value programs for all segments of theindustry, and for supporting strategic alliances to promote the value of California tourism and travel. Sacramento-based CH&LA has been representing California�s lodging industry for more than a century. CH&LA is on the web at www.calodging.com.
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