Master Thesis

People with disabilities should be entirely and intentionally included in all aspects of their communities. It is essential for integrating them into society and allowing them to fulfill their role in life so that they have access to whatever environment or conditions they require. Hospitality services, therefore, are required to create accessible environments for all individuals, regardless of their profile or capacity, which is particularly important for hotels that claim to be 5-Star and disabled-friendly and are accredited with such a designation. With this, the present study investigates the level of implementation on accessibility compliance for PWDS among selected hotels in Muntinlupa City by employing the accessibility principles by UNWTO and the criteria from Batas Pambansa 344 or the Accessibility Law and its relationship with the hotels' performance by utilizing a quantitative research design through a survey. It is found that the implementation of accessibility practices significantly correlates with the hotel's image and consumer patronage. However, findings revealed that the hotel does not thoroughly observe and implement accessibility practices as required by law; consequently, the hotel's image and patronage do not meet the expectations of the PWD market. Resultantly, this paper identifies strategies and practices to ensure accessibility compliance and enhance access and use of hotel facilities for PWD customers, as well as to further improve the hotel brand image as disabled-friendly and to contribute to the promotion of responsible, sustainable, and universally accessible tourism, which is geared toward achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development of UNWTO.