TECH TALK
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S WELL AS BEING A TROUBLESOME DISRUPTOR, NEW TECHNOLOGY CAN EQUALLY BE AN ENABLER. Innovative apps, while upsetting the status quo in the
traditional travel industry landscape, are opening up possibilities in business travel, from car-sharing to accommodation to communication platforms. Yet is this new wave impacting those travellers with special needs when it comes to booking? In the leisure sector, numerous
dedicated agencies cater for disabled travellers, in part due to their focus on elderly holidaymakers. When it comes to corporate travel, travel management companies (TMCs) are aware of the Equality Act 2010, which states it is against the law for employers to treat an individual less favourably than someone else because of a personal characteristic, including being disabled. As a result, TMCs must ensure training
is in place to cater for any special assistance requests. This can include catering for a range of factors: employees with hearing and visual impairments, pregnant travellers, or staff with broken limbs. There’s also the provision for the use of medical equipment or medication on flights. The United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) celebrated the theme of ‘tourism for all – promoting universal accessibility’ on World Tourism Day in September, where secretary general Taleb Rifai said: “Accessibility for all should be at the centre of tourism policies and business strategies, not only as a human right, but also as a great market opportunity.”
A HELPING HAND In the UK, the Department for Work and Pensions says nearly seven million people of working age in the UK are disabled or have a health condition, including 80,000 registered blind and partially sighted people. In the leisure sector, specialist agents say they give travellers a ‘personal service’. One emerging area is the power of
the crowd – user-generated content and online forums. Nigel Marriott, founder of Marriott Statistical Consulting, is partially blind and travels in the UK via train, occasionally flying.
30 BBT November/December 2016
BUYINGBUSINESSTRAVEL.COM
Gaining access
With developments in travel technology advancing at a rapid pace, BBT analyses what new tools are available for disabled travellers
“The main thing is good in-room lighting, which most hotels don’t offer. Most rooms are dimly lit, with dark corridors,” he says. “And it’s not always about the inside of the hotel, but access to the hotel. For example, is there busy traffic, are there roads to cross, is it rural? There are 101 items around merely getting to the hotel.”
Marriott prefers to book direct, but says
websites that offer customer reviews, such as
Hotels.com, can be a useful source of information, while Facebook forums are increasingly useful to research the best hotels. “With hotels, you’re still relying on people having stayed in them,” says Marriott, “and if the group is too broad it can be a problem – but if you know
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