GlobeSt.com: So what hospitality operators supposed to do after that?

Orlick: Well, that’s the point. But that was the extent of the law: you just needed an accessible path of travel to the pool. Not to get so much into the pool. And for the past number of years, disabled advocacy groups have been complaining about it. Some problems included that there was no way for people to get in or out of the pool, independently or with other assistance. So, an individual [with a disability] would be now paying for the pool that’s built into his or her rates, and they don’t get to use the pool facilities as anyone else would.

GlobeSt.com: What was the response?

Orlick: Well, the access board and Department of Justice worked on developing technical standards for a pool lift. And they’ve done that over the last couple of years. Now, the 2010 standards include scoping provisions – in other words, how many pool lifts does a hotel have to have, where they need to be and the technical requirements. Now, scoping requirements and technical requirements are part of 2010 standards. [The latter] define what the lift is supposed to look like, how it is supposed to operate and so on. The seat is supposed to be a certain size, the lift is supposed to drop 18 inches into the water, things like that.

GlobeSt.com: What does that mean to the industry?

Orlick: The industry is confused – it’s genuinely confused. It’s confused and I’m getting phone calls every day – every couple of hours! – from operators of hotels who are saying “what do I do?” And their concerns are in part financial, but they are not financially-driven. I don’t believe that. They are more driven to asking, “what does the Department of Justice actually require?” And “what does it mean as far as the operations of my property?”

Currently, the Department of Justice says you have to have fixed pool lifts and you can’t share a pool lift between water elements. At one has to be at each location because one of the main ideas of the Americans with Disabilities Act is to provide independent accessibility so that someone who’s disabled doesn’t have to wait for someone else to help. And so, for example, I as a disabled guest want to go for a swim because I can’t sleep at night. It makes sense that I want to be able to go down to the pool, get in the water and swim around and not have to wait for the 18 year old or the person on night duty help me get in or out of the pool, or in and out of the hot tub – the [hotel workers] are not trained to help someone who is disabled, who may have very specific needs and requirements.

It’s a whole different thing if that same person can go over to the chair lift, slide out of their wheelchair, transfer onto the lift, manually use the controls, swing out over the water, set themselves in and swim. And then when they’re done they can get out again – they don’t have to wait for anyone.

GlobeSt.com: What does the Department ultimately expect?

Orlick: Independent, operating fixed pool lifts at each location is what the Department of Justice needs to see. And now that’s not all that clear in the 2010 standards. You see, the 2010 standards took 14 years to make. There were 18 or 20 governmental agencies that all weighed in at some level to come up with a consensus of what the standards should be like. And some issues, to help those with disabilities are very straightforward. Pool lifts are not so. Those types of accessible features take a long time to develop. And the chairlift has taken a long time. There are so many moving parts and it’s not like developing a parking space, for instance. The software changes, the hardware changes, people have different equipment at their pool, there are lots of issues like that.

The hotel industry is trying to figure out what this all means – because there are so many different types on the market. They’re genuinely concerned about risk-management issues because you put a chairlift out there in the shallow end of the pool, someone’s going to be diving off of that. There are going to be kids who are out partying until 2 in the morning who mess with it, there are going to be young kids running around who run into the equipment, there’s going to be jumping on it, playing with it and so on. And someone’s going to get a hand stuck somewhere.

Most pools in this country are unsupervised. That’s a $50,000 job for a lifeguard for 8 months, 9 months out of the year.

GlobeSt.com: So how serious is this? Will developers change their plans to avoid including a pool because of all these restrictions and potential complications?

Orlick: I don’t think anyone who’s designing a hotel who intends to install a pool will abandon the idea over a pool lift. What I do see happening is - and I’ve been hearing is - that some of my clients who have more than one pool or more than one spa may close one of the pools or the spas down. There’s concern about liability and about practicality. And again, I say the financial issue is relatively minor along the scale of things. The real issue is: What is the lift supposed to look like?

GlobeSt.com: So this is a pretty big issue?

Orlick: It’s a huge issue. It really is. It could affect maybe half a million properties around the country. You have pools, you have wading pools, you have swimming pools, spas…

GlobeSt.com: What do you see happening over the next year?

Orlick: More clarification. And more focus on the the manufacturing industry trying to convert their existing units into fixed units, or maybe abandoning their ideas, knowing that these units may to sit out in the elements at outdoor pools. And then maybe designing new ones. I feel that Department of Justice will consider the voice of the all the industries involved – of hotels. There should be some discussions at a very high level of between the Department of Justice and the industries. It should be receptive to the hotel industry – to understand its position, which is an important position for disabled Americans.