To think wheelchair access should include the bathroom?

[helloeverything]

I'm trying to book accommodation for family on airbnb in Sicily, one of the party is a wheelchair user with MS. There are more than 1000 rentals listed as wheelchair friendly, on closer inspection the 30 or so I looked at didn't have accessible bathrooms - either they were so pokey you couldn't get a wheelchair in at all, or they had a bath or shower stall etc.
All we need is a walk-in shower, but there is no search facility to look for that term.
It seems to me that its up to the owners to judge whether their properties are wheelchair accessible, and this isn't checked up on.
This doesn't seem right to me, has anyone had any experience of this? Has anyone got any tips for renting wheelchair accessible villas?

Air bnb is just people advertising their own places, written up by themselves. As they are their own houses they may not be the best adapted places for your needs. Would a hotel be better for you as they have to fulfil certain criteria of what they must provide.

We'd really like a private house with garden.
I've tried searching wheelchair accessible villas, and I can't seem to find anything fully accessible. I had no idea it would be so difficult.
I understand that these are people's homes, but I imagine that one out of 1000 might have a walk in shower, and I suppose I'm cross that airbnb haven't got a function to search for it.

This website might be of help although it looks as if it still is up to the owners to judge whether their villa is wheelchair accessible...

www.ownersdirect.co.uk/search-wheelchair-accommodation.asp

Thanks for that mary, yes it looks like a similar deal.
I'm just going to have to go through all these properties and contact the owners.

That's the limitation of AirBNB
When you accept there is no guarantee of fire regulations, hygiene, electrical safety or anything else you'd take for granted in a hotel, you can't really expect them to be up to speed on what constitutes proper disabled access.

If you want that, you need to pay up and get a hotel or rental villa...

Years since I went to Sicily, but it's never going to be easy for a wheelchair user (MrsLH and I will go one day, but it's daunting).

Watch 5 minutes of Inspector Montalbano, and you'll see why .

It's one of the reasons being disabled costs money - you can't take chances. Even "accessible" rooms in brand new UK hotels can be problematic.

sparechange - its a villa I'm looking for. I'm happy to pay too. I just can't find one anywhere that has a walk-in shower.

Lurking Husband, inspector Montalbano is the reason Mil wants to go to Sicily!

It's probably the last time we can go away with FIL, and all we want to do is drink wine looking out at the sea....

:( yanbu

There are several disabled websites for holidays.

If you are contacting individual owners try asking for a wet room.

Is it literally just a walk in shower you need, or would it need grab rails, a seat etc as well? Does the shower need to be a certain size?
I don't know much about renting villas beyond Owners Direct and James Villas sites, but I'm sure someone will know of a specialist one.
Do you also need to consider things like fire escapes?

sparechange - grab rails would be nice, but not vital. Same with a seat. We've made do with a garden chair before, so yes a walk-in shower or wet room is the only thing we need.
I've no idea about fire escapes, but since villas are on the ground floor, I can't imagine it being a problem.
I have this morning found a couple of sites that specialise in holidays for disabled people, but they don't have many at all, none whatsoever in the whole of italy. They do look good - totally accessible, but we don't want to pay the extra it costs for accessible multi-gym, swimming-pool hoist, and oxygen taps in every room. I hope I'm not starting to sound like someone that doesn't want to be helped...
I'm going to start contacting directly the owners on owners direct and airbnb, and see where I get.
Thanks for your messages.