[Nfbmo] Hotel navigation and what we expect of personnel

[Gary Wunder]

Our convention hotel has expressed some concern about help they may be expected to provide next weekend and are wanting to give us a heads up that they are staffed at a much lower level than they were last year. For this reason, we have hired someone to stand behind the buffet line and let people know what it is they are passing and assist them in getting it if they want. The hotel cautions that they will have no staff available to take people from one room to another, nor will they be available to do seating once people have their food. We should be able to handle this just fine by practicing a few simple rules most of us know very well is blind people. If you have a group you want to sit with, leave one of them at the table while you go get your food, and then ask them to be your talking sign so that you can navigate your way back. You, in turn, then act as their sign when they get their food.

Any of us who have the time and are especially good at helping other people who may need more help with getting around the hotel are strongly encouraged and thanked in advance for your help.

Please do what you can to communicate the essence of this message to members who do not have e-mail. We don't want people to come with an expectation of staff assistance that the staff just won't be able to deliver. Feel free to post other tips and tricks you would suggest people use in orienting themselves to the hotel, going through a buffet line, or handling any other situation staying in a hotel presents.

Anyone who believes they have a pretty good mental map of the hotel that they can relate in words is also encouraged to post. Nationally the hotels we stay in are so very large that we publish these kinds of verbal maps in the braille monitor and even make them available to hotel guests as they check in.

Warmest regards,

Gary