Only the government

Could do something as dumb as requiring hotels to install ridiculous chair lifts in every pool, for 5 figures a pop!

Breda is right.  Most folks won't ever use them.  Speaking as a "disabled" person, the last thing I want to have to do is use some ridiculous (and conspicuous) contraption to engage in an activity that others can do with ease.  And quite frankly, if you can't use the pool then don't use it.  If they had balance beams as a recreational amenity I wouldn't expect them to modify them so could use em'. I just wouldn't use em' period.

I can think of plenty of ways that people with physical issues might get into a pool that wouldn't involve them having to use that....thing.  I'll bet most of them can think of alternative ways too.  I mean hell, if you're a gimp you've been thinking of alternative ways to do certain things since childhood.  You've spent your whole life adapting, and now some bureacrat thinks you're going to use something that just screams "Ha, ha, look at that gimp!" You don't need some moronic bureacrat to create a largely useless "one size fits all" solution to what was largely a non-existent problem to begin with.  The government, being the government, simply doesn't get that.

By the way, as a practical matter what do you think the result of this government regulation will be?  I think we'll see fewer and fewer pools at hotels, and thus everyone will miss out.