Jan. 26 -- Expedia Inc.'s Hotels.com unit settled a lawsuit brought by two disabled California women who claimed the company discriminated against them because it wouldn't guarantee reservations for wheelchair-accessible rooms.
As part of the settlement, Expedia.com and Hotels.com will add features to their online reservations systems for travelers with disabilities, according to a statement by Public Justice and Disability Rights Advocates, the public interest law firms representing the women. No damages had been sought, the law firms said today in the statement.
"Hotels.com and Expedia worked closely with Disability Rights Advocates to resolve this issue, and we are pleased with the solution we developed," Scott Booker, chief hotel expert and guest advocate with Hotels.com, said in an e-mailed statement.
The women said in their complaint, filed in 2007 in state court in Oakland, California, that Hotels.com, an Internet-based reservation service, treated wheelchair accessibility as an optional amenity. Disabled customers couldn't learn whether a wheelchair accessible room was available until they checked in, the women claimed.