Ocean Holidays and Visit Florida have jointly sponsored Travel Weekly’s first accessible travel-themed issue, as this is an area of focus for both organisations. We speak to Ocean co-founder Harry Hastings and Visit Florida senior account director Gill Standeven to find out more
Why are you focusing on accessible travel?
Harry Hastings: “First and foremost, because of the size of the market. One in five people are registered disabled. When I first heard that statistic, I thought about how many people we must be booking who are registered disabled in some way but whom we were potentially not looking after in the best way we could.
“I also have my own personal story as my son, Rudy, has a rare genetic condition and is disabled. That combination made us look at what we were doing and start to think about how we could do a better job.
“We’ve done loads of research and it was incredible to see just how underserved registered disabled people are in travel. We launched an accessibility programme in November and it’s going great guns; we’ve done about £5 million-worth of bookings already.”
Gill Standeven: “We surveyed visitors to Florida and out of 1.1 million people from the UK, about 12% of them have additional needs when they’re travelling. That’s a big number and we realised that if we don’t have the right information for them, it’s an opportunity lost. So we vetted our suppliers and we’ve put all the information together on an accessibility portal on our website. It’s a kind of one-stop-shop with more than 8,000 articles, and it goes from airports all the way through to attractions and our state parks. It’s a great thing to shout about and to help agents talk to their customers who have additional needs.”
What have been your biggest learnings so far?
Harry: “I’d say the main one has been the importance of listening and taking your lead from the client. We mustn’t try to direct or take charge of the situation. Instead, it’s about asking: ‘What are your individual requirements? What do you want help with? And what don’t you want help with?’
We’ve done loads of research and it was incredible to see how underserved registered disabled people are
“In my case, I need to take responsibility for Rudy’s chair, but I’m quite happy for the hotel staff to wash all of our plungers and syringes.
However, other people with certain conditions are never going to trust the hotel staff with the equipment they need for their medication, but they might trust an airline. It’s all about listening to each individual’s situation.”
Of the £5 million you’ve booked, what percentage has come through agents?
Harry: “The whole trade team is trained and ready to take accessibility enquiries, but in comparison to the consumer side, the level of interest is less via the trade currently. We would encourage agents to speak to us more about it. We believe we’ve got the most comprehensive accessible travel programme for mass-market holidays to Florida and the rest of the US, but our existing agent partners are not as engaged compared with what we’ve seen on the consumer side.
“There are some consortia and other agents who are relatively new and not signed up to us yet, but I wonder how the rest of the trade is handling incoming accessibility enquiries, because we’re not picking up the lion’s share at the moment.
“When I look across the market, other than the niche tour operators, I can’t see anybody else doing what we’re doing, so we need to shout louder about what we do so agents come to us to help support their customers.”
Are most bookings for Florida’s theme parks?
Gill: “We asked repeat bookers with additional needs why they chose a holiday in Florida and we all expected to see theme parks to come out on top, but actually the beaches and the climate came before them.
“The survey found that a top reason for returning to Florida was because they feel safe and welcomed, which we were really proud to hear. We have 175 state parks, and many of them are ADA compliant [Americans with Disabilities Act Standards for Accessible Design], so getting out to those is really popular.
“In most of the big theme parks, you can get an accessible pass from guest services. That means there will be a room or a space for people who can’t stand in queues. Certain attractions have different sensory features, and they can put the lighting and the sound down and adapt the attractions. Kennedy Space Center, for example, can send out a video prior to arrival for the caregiver, so they can prepare children with autism.”
Harry: “There has been a natural progression on the supplier side to make sure destinations and resorts, hotels, villa management companies and owners are more inclusive. Even Airbnb not so long ago added a whole load of accessibility features to its platform. There’s this momentum now from a supply side. Hopefully it’s a situation that will continue to build.”
Tell us about your accessibility champions.
Harry: “We’ve got accessibility champions across the business, many of whom have got stories similar to mine, and it’s something they’re passionate about. We’ve got lots of people who are trained – from sales, right through to customer service.
“People who have personal stories about anything such as this are going to be the first ones to step forward to be the initial champions. My product and commercial teams have really championed this and have done the most amazing job, making sure everyone’s got access to the right information and the right tools, and creating the whole programme from start to finish.
We’re making [accessibility training] part and parcel of all our information and support for agents
“The internal upskilling element is a natural evolution. We have all these champions doing such a great job that now everybody naturally wants to be a part of it.
“When we first launched the initiative we were doing all we could to get people to sign up; now everyone wants to be a part of it. It has become part of our culture and what we are as a business.”
What’s the most stressful part of it all?
Harry: “As a travel agent, it’s getting the booking right at the beginning and then it’s issuing all the documentation and making sure everything’s perfect. As a customer, the airport experience is often not great and sometimes there’s anxiety before you get to your accommodation or transportation.
“We hope that it’s always seamless with us, but if there are challenges in resort, then we’re there to assist. We’re the only tour operator in Europe that’s got our own welcome centre in central Florida with a team of 15 people, some of whom are accessibility champions, who are dedicated to our customers on the ground.”
What plans do you have for agent training?
Gill: “In addition to the website, we have our online training portal, and we’ve just launched an accessibility chapter that takes 15 minutes to complete. The programme has four basic chapters, and we asked those agents who’d already been through them what other information they wanted, and what was missing, and accessibility came back.
“Any face-to-face training we do now always includes a section on accessibility as well. We have our YouTube channel and that’s got a whole playlist of accessibility content on there. We’re making it not just a specialist pillar, but part and parcel of all our information and support for agents.”