Going on record that i the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) this week submitted its reply to the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) proposed changes to the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).

AH&LA was critical about DOJ’s proposal across a wide number of areas. Foremost in the association’s 91-page reply was its estimation of how much these changes will cost the U.S. lodging industry and all Americans.

“The American hotel industry and its millions of guests are going to be seriously affected by DOJ’s new ADA interpretation,” said AH&LA President and CEO Joe McInerney. “The hundreds of millions in additional costs are going to be passed on to guests in the form of higher room and amenities rates. DOJ must take into consideration our industry’s observations and comments, for it is our members who handle these issues on the ground every day.”

For example, requiring currently ADA-compliant guest bathrooms and single-user restrooms in hotels to comply with the proposed new floor space and vanity requirements will impose an enormous cost on AH&LA member properties. DOJ estimates a cost of only $71.2 million for the entire lodging industry to comply with new toilet floor space and vanity requirements. However, DOJ greatly underestimates the number of affected properties, with the true cost to lodging on this requirement alone likely falling in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Other changes proposed by the Justice Department to the existing ADA law will have implications for new properties. DOJ’s proposal fails to take into account industry construction lead times, asking for a six-month transition period when new construction projects operate on a multi-year schedule. The new government position on ADA-accessible rooms and their dispersal amongst existing rooms “is unjust,” wrote AH&LA, with the industry asking for the current ADA rule to be maintained instead. The association is also concerned about the amount of litigation the new room dispersal rules may create, arguing that the rules have been expanded to consider so many factors as to make them unworkable within an existing property.

The rule reaches into other industry areas. DOJ’s new demand to make reservations via ADA-compliant procedures will add additional costs and complexity to reservation systems. It also will not necessarily ensure disabled guests will be more likely to get accessible rooms. The association is asking that lodging owners and operators not be held accountable for ADA compliance of third-party reservation services over which they have no control.

“This issue is of utmost importance to our members and will have serious repercussions for many of them over the next decade,” said Marlene Colucci, AH&LA Executive Vice President for Public Policy.

“AH&LA’s members have spent billions of dollars in the last 16 years making their facilities accessible to individuals with disabilities in compliance with the ADA. They have done so not only because it is the law but because their mission is to make every guest feel comfortable and welcome,” the association concluded in their comments. These ADA compliance efforts have at times been challenging, particularly in lodging facilities that were constructed for first occupancy before the last revision of the ADA regulations in January 1993.

AH&LA’s counsel Minh Vu of the firm of Epstein, Becker and Green greatly assisted with the association’s response. Her hard work over the past year strengthens the lodging industry’s arguments and helps properly frame the issue for government regulators.