Enabling physically disabled people and their families to visit and explore London was what led Charles van Berckel and his wife to open the capital’s first fully accessible holiday home.
A family of a quadriplegic University of York student were the first guests of London’s first fully accessible holiday home.
Situated in a quiet residential road in Worcester Park in South West London, AbleStay is a fully adapted house for wheelchair access and the only holiday property offering profiling beds, ceiling hoist and an accessible bathroom for people with complex physical disabilities.
Until this month, none of the capital’s 140,000-plus hotel rooms were fully accessible.
“Many properties don’t understand the need, because they don’t have the lived experience of somebody with a complex physical disability,” says Charles van Berckel, co-founder of AbleStay.
Along with his wife, Jo, he established AbleStay to help physically disabled people and their families visit London and have access to all the facilities they need.
“The project was inspired by our 14-year-old son, Kit, who has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and the Facebook community we created six years ago,” Charles explains.
“We set up the group called ‘Accessible holidays and day trips’ as an an information forum where families could share their experiences of places they enjoyed. But it was three years ago when a lady with MND asked for recommendations for fully accessible places in London that we realised there were none. So, Jo and I decided to do something about it.”
After sharing their ideas with the community, the couple did some research and put an offer on the Worcester Park property.
“Unfortunately, Covid happened and everything took much longer,” says Charles.
“We had difficulties getting a mortgage and planning permission for change of use, but we were lucky to be amazingly supported by our suppliers and this month we welcomed our first guests.”
Knowing that families from across the globe can now come and make the most out of their holiday in London is an incredible feeling, says the founder.
“We’ve seen a huge level of demand for London and I think we will be able to put five into London and not even scratch the surface of demand.
“Our original idea was to start off in London. Now, our ultimate goal is to be able to provide fully accessible accommodation in every town and city across the UK where our community would like to go.”
Despite high demand for such properties, hotel companies fail to provide much-needed facilities for people with complex physical disabilities.
Disability rights campaigners say that just 16 hotels in the UK offer full disabled access, forcing many disabled guests to sleep in their chairs and have limited bathroom access.
“Currently, there are a minimum of 300,000 people in the UK who need special facilities to be able to leave their home, but both hotels and owners of self-catering properties have no idea about this market,” says Charles.
“I think the industry doesn’t get involved because it doesn’t understand these issues, but it is a real shame when looking at such a big market.
“I hope soon we will have the opportunity to sit down with these people, open their eyes and help them make a change. Thousands of people out there wish to stay away from their own home for the night and explore new places.”
For bookings, visit ablestay.co.uk.
