October 30, 2007
TV Trip.com: Increments of Innnovation
I am preparing the keynote, Global Trends in Accessible Tourism, for ICAT 2007. When we met two years ago my focus was Universal Design of facilities that were emerging as islands of innovation. This year policy and consumer education will get equal focus.
Figures on the purchasing power of travelers with disabilities and data on the travel behavior of this niche are driving improvements in service. Social movements championing inclusion and legal frameworks, such as the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, asserting a rights-based approach to governance and business strengthen this trend.
Innovative consumer education initiatives like TV Trip.com represent the next phase of significant progress for Inclusive Tourism.
TV Tip offers the unique resource of videotaped tours of hotels. For those with mobility impairments this ability to visually inspect a facility prior to booking it is essential as persuasively argued by Simon Darcy and Bruce Cameron
A TV Trip review does remarkably well for a site that is not designed with travelers with disabilities in mind. It includes professionally produced video revealing both interior and exterior of the venue. The main clip for a hotel includes a quick tour of the highlights. Captioning is used effectively. Detailed presentations are available under a tab labeled "Experience!" or one labeled "Features" (example) A Google map locates the hotel. A list of nearby hotels is generated. Space is available for user feedback.
In order for TV Trip to live up to its potential to serve the growing disability and senior niche the following practices ought to be adopted:
Attend to stature -
Video clips on the site are shot from a height, and therefore and an angle, that distorts the perspective for a wheelchair user or person of short stature. Height of beds and space between furniture or fixtures is not as easy to discern as it could be.
Solution: Use a wheelchair or scooter as a dolly when shooting inside the hotel room and its bathroom.
Attend to scene selection -
Video clips of rooms do not include examples of all classes of rooms in the venue. Most relevant to this market they do not include rooms that are typically adapted for guests with disabilities.
Solution: Include at least one example of a DDA or ADA compliant room for each venue; two if bathrooms offer both roll-in shower and bathtub options. Obtain training for production crews and site editors on hospitality venue accessibility audits and supplement with disability simulations for each team member. The latter practice will give the teams a visceral sense of the elements of interest to people with disabilities allowing the creative to integrate relevant shots with artistic integrity.
Attend to Completeness of Information -
Venue information ("Amenities" and "Features") is incomplete. Items such as "restaurant", "cable tv", and parking" are listed but not "elevators", "non-auditory emergency alarm systems", "number of accessible rooms", etc.
Solution: Adopt a standard list of accessibility features. Display their availability at each venue whether the items are present or not.
Attend to Paths of Travel
The site does not indicate distance to public transit or whether the nearest transit stop is accessible to people with disabilities. The videos do not indicate if main entrances are wheelchair accessible with power-assisted doors and, if not, where the location of the accessible entrance is.
Solution: Calculate the path of travel for a hypothetical user with a mobility disability at each site and document it visually. Identify paths of travel to and from both public transit and parking.
Posted by rollingrains at October 30, 2007 02:47 PM