NCAM has worked with hotels on everything from reservation systems to business software to consumer electronics

When we talk about digital accessibility in the hospitality industry, we think first and foremost about websites. But, as a recent conversation with Bryan Gould makes clear, digital access extends beyond websites to everything from the software programs employees use to the location and functionality of the TV remote control. Gould is the director of the The Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media at GBH, which has been at the forefront of digital accessibility for nearly three decades as a grant-funded R&D shop, product evaluation resource, and training center. Gould spoke with Insider Editor Dan Tobin about trends in digital accessibility and travel. 

Q: NCAM works with companies in a variety of industries including travel and tourism. What typically motivates your clients to improve accessibility?

A: Some clients have made a business decision to make accessibility a priority. And some clients come in response to a complaint. This is a litigious space and there are many complaint letters sent every week, and they tend to be sent in batches to businesses within a specific industry. So we will see small one-off restaurants and then we will see several boutique hotels, and then a jumble of e-commerce sites. The good news is that once organizations start working to increase accessibility and usability, they often come to understand they’re making the entire experience better for a wide population. And then it really does become a priority.

Q:  What trends have you seen in hotel website design—good and bad?

A: We have worked with a number of hotels to meet ADA requirements to make public the availability of physically accessible rooms. Through that work we saw there was little awareness of  digital accessibility. So we worked with several hotels and hotel chains to improve their website. A lot of the issues had to do with the calendar tools customizers would use for room reservations, such as pull down menus and checkboxes that are used to make your selections. It’s similar in the restaurant industry with reservation tools. 

Trouble Spots for Hospitality Websites

Q: Does the technology change a lot? And does that create problems or opportunities?

A: Always. And both. Doors close and doors open. Looking at hotels and restaurants—the digital issues are mostly with web development. Those businesses are using a lot of off-the-shelf solutions for things like booking travel, finding your travel dates. In e-commerce, a lot of businesses are using services like Shopify for their shopping cart. And, of course, they end up customizing the code and that often leads to a misunderstanding: “Well, I’m using this respected product and their plug and play tools and, of course they must be accessible.” But any level of customization requires some QA for accessibility and often developers don’t have the skills or are not under the mandate to ensure that everything is accessible. So we find that there’s a robust need for organizations like us.

Q: What do you think of the built-in accessibility features of popular products like Shopify or WordPress?

A: Accessibility tends to be quite good in the baseline or the generic offering. But you usually don’t pay a developer to just stick with the built-in features. And it’s in the customization, the moves away from the basic offering, where accessibility tends to get left behind.

Q:  And the trouble spots are in menu ordering and calendaring and reservations? And is that because those are the most interactive parts? 

A: Yes, I think so. We’ve gotten away from a lot of the trouble spots we used to see, say five years ago: Videos that are not captioned or that play automatically, slide carousels that are endlessly scrolling, or pop up menus. Those things cause problems for almost everybody, but especially for people with disabilities. Can a customer come to a site and move through the user pathway, finding out the information they need to actually purchasing the thing they want?

In-Room Electronics and Entertainment Systems

Q: Does NCAM get involved in product development or product evaluation on technology tools? Are you more on the training end?

A: We’re a full service shop. We work with companies from the design phase to launch. Websites are one thing. We also work with other digital offerings, from business software to consumer electronics. And helping to make those as accessible as possible.

Q: Can you give me an example of work you’ve done with consumer electronics products as  it relates to travel?

A: Almost all of our work is done under NDA for a variety of reasons. But, as one example, we have a long relationship with the consumer electronics company, LG, from Korea. One of the things that we do with LG is to run a consumer advisory group focused on accessibility.

Q: Is there a range of accessibility options in hotel electronics? Or is it pretty straightforward, such as closed captioning? 

A: It’s straightforward in that the solutions are straightforward: To ensure that anyone can turn on the piece of electronics. Beyond turning it on, are there other barriers—physical barriers such as the location of the remote device and the TV? If you’re blind or low vision, are there barriers? If you’re deaf or hard of hearing, can you access the content you want? Can you move through the menus to find what is available? And then, once it’s on, are the accessibility modes available to you. So are captions available, or is audio description available?

Every hotel I go into seems to have a totally different system. Some of the systems welcome me by name when I walk in, and some of them are products my parents had in the 1960s. Recently there has been a lot of focus on remote controls. There are requirements, for example, for having a caption button on a remote control. But is there a universal way of turning on the TV, finding what you want and making sure you can enjoy it? That doesn’t exist. Unfortunately.

Q: Say I’m running a small boutique hotel, and I want to improve the accessible experience on the website. Should I just use a generic product and avoid customization? Or is it better to use the base program and bring in a consultant who knows accessible web content standards? Or get trained upfront before you venture into the selection of software?

A: Procurement is the best place to start. You don’t have to become a developer. You don’t have to become an accessibility expert. Just understand the general requirements. And then, either through your purchasing decision or through your hiring of a developer, ensure as much as possible that what you’re buying is as accessible as possible, and where the potential gaps are.

What about AI?

Q: I feel obligated these days to ask about AI, whatever that means. Is that part of your work these days?

A: It’s behind the scenes. Like many potential sea changes, one could imagine AI trained to improve accessibility of websites and digital experiences working very well. However, we have any number of “easy solution websites” and accessibility fixes that don’t do a very good job. So it’s really in the implementation. We will always need testing and evaluation by real people. You can run an automated checker on a website or some software and have it tell you that it’s compliant with accessibility guidelines. But when real people try to use it, it’s very difficult.