Toyoko Inn Co. President Norimasa Nishida said Monday the firm will retrofit all the hotels that it illegally modified after they were approved by municipal governments as meeting barrier-free codes, and will hire disabled people to promote their employment.
Nishida also apologized for not taking the case seriously. At a previous news conference, he had downplayed the modifications, including removing required parking for disabled people, reckoning there was no major problem.
As of Monday, 60 of the 122 Toyoko Inn hotels nationwide had been found to have been modified in violation of the Building Standards Law and other laws that require certain types of buildings to make their facilities friendly to the elderly and disabled, according to the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Ministry.
In many cases, Toyoko Inn removed mandatory parking facilities for the disabled to expand lobbies or use the areas for other purposes.
"We will restore (the illegally modified hotels) to their original state as soon as possible," Nishida, his head bowed as he wept, told a news conference in Tokyo. "It was me who gave the go-ahead for (the modifications) and I take all the blame."
But the chain did not clarify how it will retrofit its hotels.
The hotelier also said it will hire disabled people to help promote full participation of such people in society.
Nishida repeatedly apologized throughout the conference, while leaving most of the questions -- on its plan to restore the hotels to their original state and who was responsible for the renovations -- unanswered.
