TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

John Morris

Research: Hotels to Reach 2019 Levels in 2024

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Two twin beds in a hotel room.

The COVID-19 Delta variant’s emergence and spread has hampered plans for group and business travel this fall and winter, spurring CBRE Hotels Research to temper its expectations in September for Q4 2021 U.S. lodging performance on a national basis. CBRE’s tempered outlook extends into 2022, given the likelihood that corporate travel budgets will remain constrained next year.

Earlier this year, the lodging outlook had been brighter due to strong leisure demand boosting summer occupancy levels beyond expectations at U.S. hotels. But the emergence of the Delta variant sapped momentum from more lucrative business travel, giving rise to a concerning “second-derivative” market condition in which the recovery continues, but at a slowing pace.

To read more, see the full report in Hotel Business.

Visit Florida Creates YouTube Series to Highlight the State’s Many Accessible Features

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As part of their commitment to being inclusive for all visitors, Visit Florida is the first state to develop a 6-part video series highlighting accessible travel opportunities, which they have called Limitless Florida. Each of the videos are between 2-4 minutes in length and feature a different experience.

In the series’ first video, Visit Florida highlights unique, wheelchair accessible opportunities in Sarasota:

Accessible scuba diving attracts many disabled people to Florida, including St. Andrews State Park in Panama City:

In this video, an accessible sailing opportunity off the coast of Cedar Key is featured:

An Army Veteran – and amputee – shares how Kiteboarding has reconnected her with nature:

Florida is one of the world’s top places for cycling, with paved bike trails in all corners of the state:

Biking and kayaking opportunities in the Florida outdoors boost mental health by offering breathtaking views and an incredible way to stay active:

OUR TAKE: These six videos share just a piece of what Florida has to offer travelers with disabilities, and as the state continues its work to become the most accessible destination in America, we look forward to future additions to the Limitless Florida series.

Taking a Wheelchair Accessible Trip, No Planning Required

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Three children, one a wheelchair user, standing high above a beach.
Image courtesy Jennifer Allen/Wonders Within Reach.

Accessible travel without a plan? One family has figured it out.

Jennifer Allen and her husband recently took a trip to Boston with their children (one of whom uses a wheelchair), but didn’t have time to plan for accessibility.

Based on things they’d learned over previous trips to Nashville and St. Augustine, and positive experiences with a hop-on/hop-off trolley tour company, they were confident in having a good time, even without a thoroughly researched itinerary.

Their past experiences with Old Town Trolley Tours had been a hit, and the same held true in Boston, with the company offering trolleys with wheelchair accessible lifts.

For more information about their trip, and how they made it possible, check out Jennifer’s article on Wonders Within Reach.

Wheelchair User to Travel the Country, Living in Airbnbs for a Year

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Teenager in wheelchair in front of Chicago's Cloud Gate bean.
Image courtesy Anna Miller/Instagram.

Anna Miller, a Washington, D.C.-based teenager who uses a wheelchair, was recently selected by Airbnb to travel with her family as part of Airbnb’s “Live Anywhere with Airbnb” program.

As the family travels across the United States, they hope to highlight the barriers to accessible travel, while also broadcasting the opportunities afforded to people with disabilities.

In an interview with the website Well + Good, Anna said that “It’s an amazing opportunity to show other people that just because you’re in a wheelchair, you can still have this really cool life.” She continued. “I think a lot of people tend to forget that, especially since we don’t really see a lot of people in wheelchairs leading cool lives in movies or books or TV or anything like that.” Her mission is to change people’s perspectives on the capability of disabled people, and to show members of the disability community what’s possible.

Airbnb also hopes to gain something from her experiences, as it learns more about what constitutes accessibility in the homes that are available through its platform.

To read more about Anna’s plans and her unique opportunity, read the full article from Well + Good.

4 Destinations Take First Step in Advancing Accessibility

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Woman seated in her wheelchair in front of a mural of wings painted on a brick wall.
Image courtesy Simply Emma.

TravelAbility would like welcome four destinations that have added an accessible landing page to their website that provides links to information about experiences, hotels, restaurants, and attractions that will enable travelers with disabilities  (or their family members) to have more accurate expectations about the destinations they are considering. 

Great news! We are now at 54 destinations and climbing on the Accessible Destinations page on the TravelAbility website. To see the complete list, click here.

If you have an accessible landing page on your website, you can add it to our directory for free.