Lawsuit Against Ravel Hotel Claims Website Is Inaccessible to Blind People

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The operating company of an upscale Long Island City hotel are on the receiving end of proposed class action filed by a man who alleges its website is unlawfully inaccessible to legally blind and hard-of-sight consumers.

The 26-page lawsuit against defendant Ravel Hotel LLC alleges Ravelhotel.com contains numerous accessibility barriers that prevent Americans with Disabilities Act-covered users from completing business transactions or booking reservations on the website. These accessibility roadblocks are there by choice and violate consumers’ civil rights, the lawsuit argues. Instead of utilizing assistive technologies used by other heavily trafficked sites, the complaint claims Ravel Hotel “has chosen to rely on an exclusively digital interface, including pop-up forms that are inaccessible.”

The primary argument made by the case is that Ravelhotel.com is covered as a “place of public accommodation” within the scope of the ADA because it provides access to a variety of services also offered to the public at Ravel Hotel’s physical location.