- Discussion
Hi, I am staying at an APA Hotel in Ikebukuro helping my daughter settle in for school. I rented a mobility scooter, which improved my stay so much. I have severe arthritis and the extensive walking is difficult. My hotel hesitates to let me charge the scooter in the hotel, and I don’t know what to do. I charged it for one hour last night, but I know it needs to be fully charged.
Any advice will be great!
- Replies
Hello,
Sorry to hear you are having problems
Did you rent the scooter in Tokyo, or did you bring it with you?
Are you charging it in your room? If so, they shouldn’t care about how long you charge. But if you are charging it in the hall or lobby they may be worried about security.
What did they say about not charging?
Thank you; I rented the scooter here in Tokyo from Marudai.
The hotel staff does not want it in the first floor, I think because of aesthetics. The hotel is narrow so I have not tried to get it into my room.
I will call Marudai and ask them to intervene, thank you!
Also, while you are out, you may be able to charge at cafes or restaurants. (I’ve done that.)
If you rented from a Japanese company (Marudai?), I would suggest you contact the rental company and ask them to discuss the charging problem with the hotel.
Keep us in the loop!
I will also try to charge at restaurants and cafes too.
Oh no. Gotcha.
OK, I’d first try to get it into your room (no harm in trying!). If it doesn’t fit, try contacting Marudai. You may be able to remove the battery and charge them in your room (hard to say without knowing the model).
If that fails, they may be able to rent you a foldable Yamaha power wheelchair, or we can introduce you to a place that can.
We’re here to help!
How did it work out?
Hi! Mr Okura from Marudai tried to get the staff to help, but in the end I switched for a Yamaha foldable electric wheelchair. It’s good, a little less maneuverability but at least I can get around Tokyo, and I can charge it easily.
Thank you for your help!!
Annie
It’s too bad the hotel wouldn’t budge, but I’m glad you were able to get a solution.
Thank you for letting us know.
Thank you for helping! Your advice was great!!
Can i ask a related question? Mobility scooters are rare in Japan? I read some articles that mobility scooters are not popular in Japan, unlike the wheelchairs were transport, hotels, etc are very accessible for these devices.
I was just wondering why charging mobility scooters could be somewhat a problem, when it is plugging it with the right socket? are there laws or something?
Would the Japanese authorities relax their present laws to make mobility scooters more accessible and accepted, more so in the light of the forthcoming Japan 2020 olympics? I hope so.
Many thanks.
Hello,
I think the issue was that the scooter was too wide to fit in the hotel room and the hotel wouldn’t let it be charged in the lobby. Though, there are charging issues depending on the voltage of the country where the scooter/wheelchair was sold.
You are correct, mobility scooters are not very common here. To keep the topics easy to follow though, maybe we can discuss this in a different thread?
Great! and thanks. A forum on mobility scooters, could drum up a wealth of discussions on the use, pros and cons, issues concerning mobility scooters.
Surely, we all hope to to make mobility scooters a viable and widely accepted alternative to wheelchairs.
Kudos.
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