Agent Diary: Booking accessible rooms should have more agent-friendly processes

When asked to write this article on accessible travel, I knew I was completely unqualified to do so. If someone requests a hotel with accessible facilities, I run straight to a specialist like Enable. I never know where to start, and it’s so important not to get this wrong. 

So I called my friend Cheryl Johnson for her thoughts. Cheryl’s been a travel agent for 25 years and she’s also a wheelchair user, so could give me her experience as a colleague and a consumer.

Cheryl tells me her dream job would be to work with operators and hotel chains to consult at the design stage of a refurbishment, because some of the most common mistakes could be avoided if designers only had the right perspective. I was a little shocked at what Cheryl had to tell me.

Real-life problems

She calls accessible rooms ‘The land of the giants’. Although doorways may have been widened to allow for her wheelchair, and a wet room makes for an accessible shower, she can often only see the top of her head in the mirror. The bathroom hairdryer is fitted too high on the wall to reach, and there is never a shelf or alcove at a suitable height for her shampoo, toothbrush and makeup. She now travels with a toiletry bag that will stick to the wall, and a portable mirror she can prop on her knees, toilet or bed.

It can be a similar story in the bedroom, with safes often on a high shelf, chunky bedroom furniture hard to manoeuvre around, and even, once, a bed that was too high to mount. Cheryl argues that designers seem determined to put aesthetics above practicality, even in accessible rooms.

We understand there are limits on what can be achieved in public areas, except in new-builds. But I’m told the key is to have the information at our fingertips on our online booking portals. One tour operator has upped its game recently on this, but only with its own hotels. Most operators still give little to no information online. A hotel may state it has accessible rooms, but not always what category, so you can’t give clients an accurate quote.

Stuck on repeat

Understandably perhaps, availability is never live, but did you know that an accessible room request with a special-assistance team states a two-week turnaround? If it comes back unavailable, you have to start again and the next request will also have a two-week wait for an answer. 

I asked Cheryl whether assistance teams ever come back with a similar alternative property that is available, to help close the sale faster – she said no, never. Apparently, it’s also nearly impossible to find an accessible room big enough for a family of four.

So, what can be done to make this a more agent and customer-friendly process? How about suppliers providing a list of vetted accessible properties on their booking portals, giving us the confidence to sell? Perhaps with information showing things like steps to the restaurant or pool toilets – after all, it’s not just rooms that need to be accessible. Stated room categories would help, but at the very least, surely a faster turnaround on availability requests is achievable.

Cruise rules are a fresh barrier

Rules being enforced on cruises are playing havoc with accessible availability, I’m told. Some clients only need a wheelchair to move around the ship and for shore excursions. They used to leave their chairs outside the cabin, but now they must bring them inside. This means these clients have to be allocated an accessible room, leaving fewer for those who strictly need one. Cheryl had clients in a wheelchair wanting a cruise this summer, and she has had to ask them to delay until 2027 because of the lack of availability.

Cruises were always a good option for people needing accessible holidays, but this is now another problem they are having to navigate.