Coronation Street’s Cherylee Houston ‘left in tears’ as hotel offers to carry her up steps to accessible room

Coronation Street star Cherylee Houston – who plays Izzy Armstrong in the ITV soap – revealed that she booked a room online which was advertised as accessible, but she was later asked by hotel staff if she could be carried up the steps into the hotel.

Cherylee, 45, who has degenerative disorder Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, took to Twitter to vent her frustrations at the incident.

She tweeted to her 39,000 followers: "Once again I booked a hotel on @bookingcom and again the hotel phoned up and said 'Is your wheelchair modern or old fashioned as there’s steps to the accessible room.' Me, 'Erm that’s not an accessible room'.

"The hotel, 'Yes it is once you get in and we have another accessible – room without steps'. Me, 'We’ll have that one then.'

"One hour later the phone rings, hotel again. 'We have two steps into the hotel, would you and your friend mind being lifted every time you enter or leave the hotel?

"I booked this using your search boxes or disabled access. Help! Iv'e been on hold for 20 mins now@bookingcom whilst they try and sort out another booking which isn’t wheelchair accessible when it booked saying it was.

"It’s really frustrating to keep having to give your time to sort other people’s mistakes – that is the bane of disability. can’t do anything for 24hrs? @bookingcom

"I was on hold for half an hr just to be told you can’t do anything for a day… Please will someone call me. This is terrible service for wheelchair users.

"I am sat here in tears of frustration as again access has made things really difficult for me just to get on with my life. Everyone knows being on hold to call centres is frustrating but when it's not your fault and they say they can’t help as he couldn’t get hold of the hotel to book the accessible room.

"I don’t want an accessible room in a hotel that I would have to be lifted into. That is not accessible. I would like an alternative sorting without it taking my day and tears to sort." [sic]

The actress then shared a picture of herself that was taken when she previously booked a hotel with accessible rooms.

The image showed Cherylee – who has starred on Corrie since 2010 – unable to pass through a door as there was a step in front of it.

She wrote: “What happened to me the other year when I booked accessible accommodation with you ⁦@Booking.com⁩ then it took days to sort out and you gave me a 20% refund… this time I expect a replacement room. I’d also love to start the conversation with your managers. I could help!"

Cherylee also uploaded a message from Booking.com that read: "Hi Cherylees, The property has informed us that they already contacted you regarding your room access, and that they did gave you their accessible room but there is two steps at entry to the hotel and they do not have any kind of rampe to access it but to access the room will not be an issue. [sic]

"If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to contact us."

She has since confirmed that Booking.com have sorted out the issue and she has offered the online booking giant training in the hopes of avoiding a similar situation in the future.

She again took to Twitter to explain: “Very kindly @bookingcom have sorted out my hotel problem, I’m aware that without my job and a twitter campaign this might not have been the case. I’ve offered them training, this is a problem for many disabled people across many companies. This shouldn’t be the norm re access.”

A spokesperson for Booking.com told the MailOnline: “As part of our mission to make it easier for everyone to experience the world, we continuously strive to provide travellers with transparent and accurate information on our platform, including when it comes to the accessibility options available at a given property.

"In this instance, the customer did not receive accurate information about the property’s accessibility features, which we deeply regret.

"We have since offered a full refund, and worked to relocate the customer, covering all associated costs.

"Properties are responsible for the information they list on our website, and we have teams all over the world working with properties to ensure information is accurate.

"If and when we learn something is not, we will work quickly to correct or remove the property from our site."

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