Introduction
Welcome to this first hotel that I’ll be reviewing on my website!
In this post, I’ll be diving deep into my experience at the Tru By Hilton Macon North.
What’s different about this and other future reviews is that I’ll dive deep into the accessibility issues that I faced during my stay. That way, you’ll know what you’ll face if you stay at a similar hotel, and the solutions that are available at your disposal.
Checking Into The Hotel
Checking into the hotel was easy. I was able to check myself into a hotel room using the Hilton Honors App.
After I arrived at the hotel via Lyft, I was asked to show an ID to confirm my room. However, my room wasn’t ready. The good news is that there was another room available on the same floor.
While I had to get assistance in navigating to the elevators, I was able to find my way to my room using braille signage that’s on the wall by each room. I was going the wrong way first. However, I corrected myself by turning around, heading in the right direction.
Navigating The Hotel
While it took me a little bit to get used to the layout, I was able to find my way to the guest rooms on my floor with just the sounds and objects guiding me.
I had trouble finding the Fitness Center the next morning because I thought that it was another way than I thought.
The Hotel Room
The hotel room surprised me. I’m used to stay in hotels where all of the floors in the hotel room were carpeted. However, when I stepped into my room, I was surprised to find hard-wood floors.
The hotel room was easy to navigate, except for when I went all over looking for an electrical outlet to charge my phone. I’ve discovered that the outlets are way higher than what I was used to at other hotels.
As for me sleeping on the bed, I only got a couple of hours of sleep. Yes, I’m a night owl. I even recorded my Digital Key demonstration at 4:00 AM Eastern Time the next morning. That video will be coming soon.
The Thermostat
It was hot as heck when I got into my hotel room. I ended up having to call the front desk from my cell phone to ask for assistance. Beforehand, I tried calling Tru By Hilton On Be My Eyes,but I wasn’t able to connect to a person since the wait time was so long.
What surprised me is that the staff helped me with the thermostat, going over all of the settings that I can change, including all of the buttons that I can press to change the temperature and all of the switches that I can flip to make my stay more comfortable.
The TV
Speaking of assistance, I’ve also asked for help trying to get one of the local channels to play on TV, particularly 13 WMAZ. While I had success with getting the TV to work the first time by tuning into MSNBC with the Assistance of an AIRA Agent, we weren’t able to find the local TV channels that were available to view. What’s strange is that according to the staff, the local TV channels are only available downstairs in the lobby.
In all honesty, I had MSNBC on all the time during my whole stay.
Accessibility With The TV Remote
I was disappointed to find that the TV remote only has a few buttons to control the TV. However, I was able to use the Room Controls feature that is available in the Hilton Honors App to turn the volume up or down.
I was unable to know what’s on the screen due to no option to enable a screen-reader on the TV. However, as I said above, AIRA and the friendly staff assisted me with the TV.
What I was pleased about is that the TV has closed-captioning for those who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
The fitness Center
Later, after I got back to the hotel and did some things to freshen up, I took a trip down to the Fitness Center. It took me a little exploring to find it, and I was able to access it with no issues using my hotel key.
The Treadmill
I was disappointed, but not surprised to find the treadmill not accessible at all. I’ve ran into this issue when I was at the Hilton Atlanta back in July. The treadmill has a touch-screen, making it difficult for blind individuals to use.
As I said before, using AIRA helped me with getting assistance with the inaccessible technology, such as helping me get the treadmill started.
I’ve also tried making a screen-recording to post on YouTube to demonstrate the alternative techniques that I use to get assistance. The bad news is that there was no sound captured through my phone’s screen-recording feature while I was in an AIRA call.
The Complimentary Breakfast
One last thing that I would like to review is the breakfast. All I have to say is that it was a good breakfast.
Many thanks goes to one of the staff members from the front desk for helping me choose my options.
My Overall Experience
While I had a wonderful experience, the accessibility of the digital equipment needs to be improved, especially the treadmill and other equipment that has a touch-screen.
Since Be My Eyes and Hilton are in a partnership, I encourage all staff members to share the service with blind customers who prefer to do everything privately and independently. That way, they can make their own decisions on whether to get assistance from the staff or the App on their Android or iOS devices.