Could you say no to $125/night for a wheelchair-accessible room in the middle of Wellington, including breakfast? Well, I couldn’t. Was it a good decision? I’m undecided. Read on to find out if the Central City Hotel, Wellington, would suit you…

First off, can I please advise all Wellington-visiting wheelchair users to avoid taking a taxi van at all costs! Not only will TM Mobility Card not work (if you’re from Auckland, in other words you’ll have to pay the full fare) but get this, they tack on an extra $10 to the fare because you ordered a van! I’ve never heard of a disability tax before but gosh, that comes pretty damn close…

To top this off, the first key I was given by the lass at the hotel counter was to a room that wasn’t even accessible! It’s like, here I am, in my power chair, struggling with my bags, and she gives me a key to a room with a step up to the shower and no handrails. Thinking this was some sort of joke, I took the key back down and explained to her I needed a wheelchair-friendly room. Without the slightest hint of an apology, she swaps it for one on a different floor. So I have to go back up, and drag all my bags out of one room, into the lift, and into the room I should’ve got in the first place. What a mission! But hey. I’m inside now. Let’s take a look.

Of course, the deal-breaker is the bathroom, so let’s take a look at this first. I would describe it as no more than adequate, for several reasons:

• Check out the handrail on the toilet (pictured right, click on the image to see a larger view). What the hell is that?! I admire their creativity in fitting a rail into that odd setup, but it’s hardly ideal. Because the rail is so jammed in beside the toilet, it was hopeless for transfers, and provided no real help in leveraging myself off it.
• The shower seat, which is attached to the wall and flips down on a hinge, is really small, and at no stage did I feel truly safe or well-balanced. And I’m really skinny! Also, in the photo of the shower a little further down, check out where the soap-holder is. Yeah, I sure can reach that…



• Thirdly, the bathroom sink provides no room for wheelchairs to slip underneath it like the one so brilliantly designed at the SkyCity Hotel. Instead, it has a set of bathroom cupboards/drawers beneath the sink, which means your legs are constantly slammed up against it when you’re brushing your teeth. Unpleasant, to say the least.
• No non-slip flooring!

Mind you having said all that, I should be thankful they have rails at all… Shouldn’t I?

The bedroom is nice and simple enough, but guess what, there’s not enough room for me to fit my wheelchair down the side of the bed! So I had to leave my wheelchair in the doorway at night, and have my girlfriend carry me from the doorway into bed. Humiliating much? As you can see from the picture on the right (as usual, click on it for a bigger version), the bed takes up a large amount of the room itself, and whilst I might’ve been able to transfer onto the foot of the bed and then haul myself up the bed towards the pillows, anyone with cerebral palsy will know that’s easier said than done. That said, the bed itself was nice and comfy

Well after all that, what can there be left to moan about? Not much, thankfully. The living area of the room was nice, we spent a night or two in front of the TV watching Sky, and with a great view of Manners Mall, there was plenty of people-watching to be done! The breakfast each morning was basic continental fare (cereal, fruit, etc), as there was no restaurant on-site bacon and eggs was not an option, sadly! And whilst I may have let out a bit of steam in this review, the room itself was entirely inhabitable, but assistance was definitely required. If you’ve got the money, it may be more advisable to stay somewhere like the Duxton.

THE LOWDOWN:

• Cool: Great location, right in the centre of town
• Friendly staff, on the whole
• Not cool: Room was of a fairly low standard, random tears and scratches on the wall, and the couch had a faint smell of marijuana
• The bathroom was accessible, but not ideally set up
• Bedroom was surprisingly inaccessible
• Overall accessibility rating: (UPDATED) 2 / 5