What you missed: Seattle Hotel Association spring membership meeting

by | May 6, 2024 | Meetings and Events

On May 2, the Seattle Hotel Association hosted its spring membership meeting.  

Seattle City Councilmember Bob Kettle led a discussion on what he and the city are doing to improve public safety. As Chair of the Seattle Public Safety Committee, Kettle is committed to the betterment of public safety by ending the current permissive environment to crime in the city. To address this,

Kettle unveiled six pillars to focus on as chair: 

  • increase police staffing 
  • pass targeted laws 
  • fill and close vacant buildings 
  • clean graffiti 
  • better public health 
  • collaborate with the county and state 

Kettle recently passed 100 days in office. You can read his message here. 

We were also joined by Acting Chief, Amy Smith, of the Seattle Community Assisted Response and Engagement (CARE) team. 

Here are a few resources and highlights from the presentation: 

  • The CARE team is a pilot program consisting of behavioral health specialists dispatched when fire, police and EMS responses are not necessary. 
  • Since most calls are non-emergency, the Seattle 911 Center is part of the CARE department, which helps them respond more effectively. 
  • Smith sees a bright future for Seattle but believes there needs to be more resources invested in drug treatment and diversion programs. 
  • To learn more about the CARE response team, visit here. 

    Annalisa Cravens from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington gave an informative presentation on what hotels need to do to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). There are four primary ways hotels must comply with the ADA.

    Topics and compliance are: 

    Architectural barriers 

    Accessible website 

    Modification in policies, practices or procedures – reservation rules 

    Service animals 

    For questions about compliance with the ADA, contact Annalisa Cravens at annalisa.cravens@usdoj.gov.

    A special thanks to the Lotte Hotel Seattle and General Manager Steven Kalczynski, for hosting this event! Please visit the link here to take our SHA 2024 events survey.  

    We will see you all at the next SHA membership meeting in the fall.