Special Catey Award winner and Managing Director of AVF Marketing, Arnold Fewell has branched out his marketing company to provide accessibility training for hotels and other venues in the UK.
Arnold Fewell is a former Trust House Forte Hotel General Manager and now a permanent wheelchair user. Over the last few years he has been working with hotels to improve customer service for disabled guests. He is also able to provide mystery visits, access audits, help with accessibility statements, advice and training of staff.
To fully launch this new part of his business Fewell is running two ‘Introduction to Accessibility’ courses in September. The first will take place at Rudding Park in Harrogate on 12 September and the following week he will be at One Great George Street in London (18 September). One Great George Street is a winner of the Accessibility Catey 2013.
The course is interactive where attendees can put themselves in the situation of a disabled person, whether it’s a wheelchair user, deaf person, a guest with a visual impairment or another disability.
“When I first became a wheelchair user I was horrified at the way disabled people were treated at hotels and venues,” says Fewell. “Rather than get angry about it I wanted to make real changes for disabled people and as an ex-hotel GM I wanted to make sure hotels benefitted from what VisitEngland highlight as a £2bn market.
“The course costs £195 plus VAT per person and I know this cost will be covered by future bookings as disabled people, who have been well looked after, will return again and again.”
Wendy Greenhalgh, Director of Sales and Marketing at Westminster venue, One Great George Street said: “We are delighted to be hosting Arnold’s course at our award winning venue. Accessibility is very important to us and by placing a huge importance on this it has helped us to win some very large contracts. Many of our staff have been trained by Arnold and he has advised us on many aspects of accessibility. We would recommend the course to any hotel or venue and we know you will see a return on investment very quickly.”
To book your place on the course email nicola@avfmarketing.co.uk by Monday 12 August 2013.
