The Problem:
Whether through age or disability, more and more travellers are looking for critical accessibility-related information when planning a trip. With over 1.1 billion people with disabilities worldwide, the majority of whom travel accompanied (caregivers offer a multiplier effect of 2.2x per trip, EU Economic Impact of Accessible Tourism, 2013), the accessible travel market has been estimated at US $134 billion. The process of organising a hotel stay may seem straight-forward but for many people with disabilities, there are multiple obstacles in finding, researching, deciding and booking the right room. Sixty-seven per cent of all bookings by people with disabilities are made online (Open Doors, 2005) and yet mainstream search engines do not provide detailed and relevant accessibility information. This means guests often have to call ahead to confirm accessibility features without there necessarily being a guarantee that the room meets their accessibility requirements. This all results in a time-consuming, frustrating and often inaccurate process.
The Solution:
Our solution is a user-friendly platform that collects information through a simple yet powerful app that any hotel can download for free from the App store (http://apple.co/1v00gig) and, within 90 minutes, complete a full and highly accurate property accessibility assessment. Once the hotel has completed its “Access Profile”, it seamlessly uploads onto our database and gets added to our library of hotels. Travellers can then log-on to www.umoja.in and easily search for the right hotel that meets their accessibility needs and preferences (what we call an Access Match).
Here's a short video demonstrating the Access Match process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHOe0ng6AYg
