Jake Steinman

A Growing Niche in Travel  

This is the third installment about the mindsets I’ve observed within the travel industry about accessibility over the past two years. The first two,  The Inclusive Mindset and The Compliance Mindset, were covered earlier. The last, and perhaps the most opportunistic, is the mindset around growth.

A Growth in Consumer Awareness

While the marketing spotlight over the past ten years has been on Millennials and the ability to target them via digital marketing strategies, mainstream consumer product brands have been reaping widespread P.R. kudos as they introduce products targeting people with disabilities. Not only have fashion brands such as Tommy Hilfiger introduced adaptive clothing but a series of models with disabilities can be found strutting their stuff at the annual Runway of Dreams in Miami every year. Starbucks has introduced Aira in all coffee shops in the U.S. and Mattel brought out the Helen Keller doll just in time for Christmas. Nike, not to be left in the dust, launched the first “hands-free” athletic shoe and, earlier this year, Proctor and Gamble announced Degree Adaptive, the world’s first adaptive deodorant. At the same time new research has emerged about Baby Boomers, those often mocked know-it-alls whose relevance has receded in recent years, who are now making a comeback when a special issue of U.S. News and World Report revealed that they control 58% of all the disposable income in the U.S. 

And when marketers dig a little deeper they will find a report in Health Today that reveals that 40% of boomers self-identify as having a disability after they turn 65. According to AARP 58% plan to travel—even in 2021. According to the Open Doors/Harris Study for 2020, 12.5 million disabled Americans traveled in 2018-2019 season and when you add that to the 30.9 million boomers who will age into a disability you have a disabled travel market that will triple to 53 million over the next eight years. Destination marketers, who often function as the “canary in the coal mine,” are responsible for recognizing patterns and demographic shifts that will affect their members and stakeholders in future years, now have a solid business case for proactively growing their accessibility initiatives.

The Business Case in a Nutshell

If we are accessible for people who are disabled today, we will be ready for the surge of Baby Boomers who will be aging into a disability tomorrow, which has been one of the motivating factors in TravelAbility’s outreach to educate the travel industry. 

Meanwhile, a new genre of travel agent has been gradually emerging: The disability travel specialist, of which we have identified 38 professionals in this field.  Since they have a fiduciary responsibility to their clients, they conduct site visits and fam tours to inspect the real-time accessibility of the hotels and attractions they recommend. While most hotels built in the past 31 years believe they are within compliance regulations, travel agents have discovered there are nuanced infractions that make travel unpleasant for their clients. Meet Laurent Roffe, who with his wife Antje, owns Tapooz Travel a travel organization that specializes in accessible experiential vacations.

He’s developed a Hotel Manager Accessibility Kit comprised of 14 items—almost all of which can be purchased on Amazon for under $50 that can McGyver any hotel sleeping room or bathroom in a way that can accommodate most wheelchair users.  

Over the past two years, we’ve come to realize that TravelAbility functions as the bridge between the disability community and the travel industry to close the gaps between what’s available and what’s needed. For many small and mid-size destinations that do not have iconic attractions, they need to find their own Grand Canyon and accessibility can be just the differentiator that will help them grow. 

Over the course of my research, I’ve spoken with scores of people in the travel industry. I’ve often been asked about my perceptions of that destination’s tourism assets and I’ve always told them that they need to find their own Grand Canyon. For many second and third-tier destinations with attractions/assets that appeal to a niche audience, accessibility could be key to a wider audience. In this series, we’ve identified three distinct mindsets that I believe are shaping the accessible travel landscape. They are:

• The Inclusive Mindset
• The Compliance Mindset
• The New Markets Mindset

In this, the second of a three-part series, I will look at the mindset of compliance.

The Compliance Mindset

This mindset is essentially rooted in fear. Fear of getting sued, fear of complaints, fear of saying the wrong phrase that may offend someone. I find this mindset most prevalent in the hotel community whose experience includes demand letters from ambulance-chasing attorneys threatening to sue for an amount that they know would cost less to settle than to win.

A CEO of a hotel management company told the audience at TravelAbility in 2019 that they held daily staff briefings to address potential guest service issues. When a traveler with a disability registers at the hotel, the default assumption is that they are working for an opportunistic attorney trying to find something wrong. 

Additionally, there are ADA regulations that hoteliers are forced to abide by that can be costly and don’t make sense. I spoke with a regional general manager who presided over a chain of 11 hotels in a major Southeast destination, who had just built a new flagship hotel adjacent to the convention center. The architectural plans called for all accessible rooms to be located near the elevator in the same position on each floor. This would not only save plumbing costs but, he believed, would also be more convenient for disabled guests. He was told that the law required accessible rooms to be distributed evenly throughout the hotel. In his mind, this was an example of the government telling him to do something that would reduce guest convenience. No one likes to be told what to do especially when it is perceived as interfering with the customer experience.

Accessibility doesn’t need to be dauntingly difficult or expensive and new research is showing that demand for accessible accommodations is significant. Sometimes seemingly trivial gestures or amenities make an outsized impact on the perception of guests with a disability. For example, when a blind guest with a service dog checks into a hotel, providing a drinking bowl and information about relief areas can cause the guest to gush about exceptional customer service on TripAdvisor.

In our last newsletter, we shared Tapooz Travel’s list of 13 assistive products that can solve some of the most common accessibility problems in a sleeping room and a bathroom. All these products are readily available from Amazon with most of them costing under $50. Check out these accessibility products. (Note: While products primarily address mobility, this will be a living document that in the future will include products and apps for blind and hearing-impaired travelers as well as those with cognitive disabilities.)

A research report from Destination Analysts, one of the leading market intelligence firms in the tour and travel industry, revealed that 40% of American travelers now identify as having a disability or have traveled with someone in their party with a disability. The growth of baby boomers aging into a disability means that the number of travelers with a disability will increase from 12.5 million to 35 million over the next ten years and hotel owners and chains will need to provide a greater level of services and training as baby boomers control 68% of all discretionary spending. They will opt for hotels and destinations that welcome them by being accessible.

My knowledge of what is available and what is really needed to make travel easier for people with disabilities has evolved since launching the first TravelAbility Summit in 2019. My role as a conference producer has also evolved to the point that I now feel like an interpreter who translates the concerns and questions from the disability community to the travel industry. TravelAbility itself has evolved into an eco- system of accessible travel information. Pre-covid listening tours brought together disability travel influencers, travel agents specializing in accessible travel and destinations, hotels and attractions. The Destination Ally program has led to Accessibility hack-a-thons where destination partners learn what travelers with disabilities need from travelers with a disability. The Launch Pad conference helps the travel industry identify innovative new products that are affordable and can raise their accessibility quotient.

Over the course of my research, I’ve spoken with scores of people in the travel industry and identified three distinct Mindsets that I believe are shaping the accessible travel landscape. They are:

• The Inclusive Mindset
• The Compliance Mindset
• The New Markets Mindset

In this first of a 3 part series I will look at the mindset of Inclusivity.

Mindset #1: Inclusivity

The defining characteristic of this mindset is the belief that there is a need to be inclusive for everyone as an advanced form of customer care and service.  I find this to be most prevalent with museums—and to a lesser extent with the attraction industry. While it’s true that many museums in order to quality for federal grants must have an ADA coordinator internally, they are also more ingrained within the local community and with donors, members, patrons and visitors who have family members with a disability or are disabled themselves. This gives them a baseline empathy that leads them to be accessible not only for mobility, but also for blindness, deafness, neurodiversity, dementia, and other forms of disability. In Chicago, for example, museums have collaborated to create a central repository of equipment that is shared on an as needed basis. Moreover, there is a national conference specifically for museum ADA coordinators to learn and share best practices.

Most major theme parks also have an inclusivity mindset. Most likely this was not their original mindset but after years of litigation I believe there has been a major shift in how they view guests with disabilities. As popular destinations for families, theme parks have become pro-active in their approach and Accessibility information is easy to find. Disney has a separate Help section for people with disabilities and a dedicated phone line. They accommodate for mobility, blindness, hearing and guests on the autism spectrum.

The cruise industry has been a leader in welcoming travellers with all types of disabilities. Royal Caribbean ‘s website has an Accessibility Onboard  section which provides information for a complete range of disabilities and the ability to rent medical equipment for those who need it. The array of services provided also includes special programs for guests with cognitive issues. Because cruising has long been the travel mode of choice for seniors, the industry has a long history of accommodating travelers with a disability.

If you are interested in learning how you can be more accessible to disabled travelers, join us at TravelAbility Tampa on August  30-31^st. The hybrid event is available in-person and virtually and will bring together the travel industry with specialized accessibility travel agents, tour operators and influencers with lived experiences to share their stories.

In the next issue of TravelAbility Insider, I will discuss the mindset of compliance and how it is manifested in the travel industry.