“The difficulty lies not so much from developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones.”
John Maynard Keynes

Bob Mervine, Staff Writer
Excerpts from the Orlando Business Journal

When Murray Krasnoff visits a business, he sometimes brings along a blindfold, earplugs and wheelchair, the better to show clients the problems facing travelers with disabilities. "You learn to hate carpet real quickly in a wheelchair," Krasnoff says. "It's like quicksand."

Krasnoff founded Orlando-based Suntastic Tours International in 1990 to cater to travelers who need special attention, including those with disabilities. "There are a lot of things that businesses can do in this area that don't cost money," he says. And the investment can bring huge returns.

Travelers with disabilities spent $13.6 billion in 2002 -- but say they would have spent $27 billion if hotels, airlines, theme parks and restaurants could better accommodate their needs. That startling statistic says a lot about a rapidly growing niche market for travel and how businesses can accommodate them.

Jay Cardinali, Walt Disney World's manager of services for guests with disabilities, confirms there's been an increase in the number of disabled guests in recent years, but declines to be more specific. "We don't track the numbers of our disabled guests," he says.

However, "Walt Disney World is the No. 1 company for travelers, disabled or not," says Cheryl Duke. Cheryl Duke and her husband, Bill, founded W.C. Duke Associates in 1988. "Disney sometimes gets criticized," she says, "but it's because they have raised the bar for disabled travel so much that people's expectations are so much higher."

In fact, Cardinali says some disabled guests make no advance plans when they visit. "They just show up," he says. "They say, 'Hey it's Disney. They'll handle things." To a significant degree, they do.

Among the amenities Walt Disney World offers are Braille guidebooks and a pre-recorded audio guide for people with visual disabilities. In theaters, guests use a mirror to read closed captioning projected on the rear wall of the room in a method similar to a teleprompter. There's a handheld PDA-type device that provides closed captioning of the park's show narration as well. Live American sign language translators provide narration in some live performances.

On some rides, guests who may have problems entering or leaving a ride vehicle can practice in a private room equipped with a stationary car so guests can feel comfortable once they get on the real thing.

Powered scooters are also available for $30 a day. There's even a special golf cart available. The Club Car OnePass allows guests to play the game from the cart, including driving it onto the resort's 99 individual putting greens.

Not every accommodation needs to be as sophisticated. In restaurants, Krasnoff says people with visual disabilities need to have the table layout explained by the staff, comparing the layout to a clock face: "The sugar is at 1 o'clock, and the salt and pepper is at 12. The salt is on the right," or explaining to a hotel guest which bottle has the shampoo and which has the conditioner.

The important thing, Krasnoff says, is assuring staff that it is OK to offer assistance to guests with disabilities. "The worst thing you can do is not ask at all," he says.

And some of the best things may be the most surprising. Duke says Disney now requires all disabled guests to wait in line, just like other customers. "But that's another result of the ADA," she says. "Now we get to wait in line like everybody else. That's equality"

It is no surprise to us that Holiday Inns was rated the most popular chain used by persons with disabilities. Their reservations confirm their penetration of the disability market.

“Profiles in Excellence” by the Solutions Marketing Group, December 2000

Six Continents Hotels (Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express) estimate that accessible rooms accounted for 3.4 million room nights sold in 1999, based on reservations.

The best documented business case has been Embassy Suites Hotels. They have been using the Opening Doors® program since 1992.

Corporate & Incentive Travel, February, 1995

According to Elise Mitchell, director of development marketing for Promus Hotels (Embassy Suites' parent company), Reservations for its wheelchair-accessible rooms have risen an average of 24.6 percent per month since June 1991.

Forecast, January/February 1996

As a result of the changes it made, Embassy Suites has seen an average annual increase of 23,000 room bookings for people with mobility impairments and $13 million in gross revenues from guest who are disabled.

Hotel/Motel Security and Safety Management, September, 1996

The training began in 1992 and, from 1991 to 1994, the number of wheelchair room nights sold has increased from 55,000 to 126,000, translating to an increase in gross receipts of more than $13 million, according to the company's estimates. Don Elkington, manager of leadership development for Promus says that most wheelchair rooms--which average from two to eight, depending on hotel size--are booked each night, which was not happening before '92.

Meeting News, April 6, 1998

Embassy has increased its inventory of rooms designed to be accessible to people with disabilities 128 percent in the past five years, according to David Motta, vice president of market analysis for Promus Hotels Corp., Embassy's parent.

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