Accessibility, Trust, and the $25 Billion Opportunity in Travel

Hey friends and welcome to another episode of Field Notes, insights and observations for the travel marketer. My name is Eric Halgren. And today's episode, Arturo and Sophia, from Wheel the World, will stop by and talk about everything, having to do with accessibility. (upbeat music) And as I said, my guest today, Sophia and Arturo, from Wheel the World, how are you two? Excited to be here in Portland. (laughing) This is Sophia's maybe in a number four. - Maybe third or fourth, yeah. - It's my 10th trip to Oregon. We work a lot here. - I can imagine you do, which is kind of where I want to start. But before we get to that, let's just imagine, for example, I've known of you, I've been doing a number of conferences where representatives have been there, but if people don't know what Wheel the World is, number one, explain it to them. And I have a follow-up question, because I think the interface is super interesting when you hear what you do and then how it works. But can you kind of give me the 10,000-foot view of what Wheel the World does? - Sure, do you want to start Arturo? - Sure, so we are the expert solution for accessible travel, the accessibility nerds in the hospitality industry. We run two businesses. On the one hand, we have Wheel the World.com, where people with accessibility needs are searching and booking trips all over the world every day from booking an accessible hotel room here in downtown Portland to joining a multi-day trip to South Africa. You can book those things through our website, so Traveler, we have been able to help about 30,000 people travel the world. - Wow. - And because of that, we have been able to build a largest online community in this space. On the other hand, we are helping destinations and hospitality to unlock the segment of the market. So that's why we have been working with Oregon. - Yeah, and to complement the solution for destinations, so we help destinations or DMOs to very five improve and promote all their accessibility offer. So we literally even send people there that we call Mappers with measuring tape to gather over 200 data points that goes directly to our web app, that then we can upload into Wheel the World.com. - Okay, so is that how the, so you've got this very cool thing inside the app where it gives you kind of a recommendation engine like good, better, best, right? Is that those data points are what helps kind of determine the good bet. - We did exactly, so that's something that we just launched that is called the accessibility match. And that is fantastic because this platform that Arturo was just talking about Wheel the World.com, people will go there, people with disabilities, and they will create their accessibility profile. But it's like a set of 30 questions about their needs, they hide in the bed, the width of the door, what do they need, do they need to rest when they do a go-na tour, et cetera. And then having that information plus the 200 data points, for example, of Anotel, we're able to create a match, imagine like a Tinder, but who was really focused around accessibility. And now people can travel there with confidence. So we are here building trust and helping destinations to build that trust to this community. - So, to you two, I feel like I would know the answer to this having been to Portland twice, but what was it about Oregon? Because Oregon is the first verified accessibility state in the nation. And I'm guessing, is it the first in the world, like who else in the world can rival that? And if you're not allowed to say that's totally fine. - No, it's fine. It's completely friendly and an exciting concept. So accessibility verified, it started with some small destinations. The first one was in Mesa, Rizona. And then the second wave was the Oregon coast. So that's where we started here in Oregon. And that proves that it doesn't really matter the size of your destination. - Sure. - Like a rural old town or whatever. It's doable. It can be done. So we started in the Oregon coast. And we verified the accessibility of different destinations from Astoria, all the way to Kuzbe. And then because of the marketing campaign we did with them, the word spread out and then central Oregon was interested. - Okay, that was going to be my question. It was like, how quickly did either you figure out this was the spot or they figured out they should be the spot before, you know, the whole state becomes, I think like, I mean, even before we engaged with destinations here in Oregon, they were already investing in accessibility. So Oregon has invested about $8 million in accessibility. Different grants and marketing initiatives over the past six years, right? So we got here like three years ago. So they were already going on a lot of different things. We would call that a running start, right? Like they were already sort of on the path, right? - Yeah. - And it was part of their strategic plan for a while. They have a vision of like a long-term adoption strategy for this specific type of traveler. So yeah, then we did a great project with central Oregon and at one point, at one of these conferences, travel Oregon was like, okay, who are you guys? Like what's going on? What are you doing? Tell us more. So then the travel Oregon idea started to become a reality and it was about how do we do this for the whole state? How do we optimize all the different resources that we have been investing and centralize them somehow so that we can, you know, like think long-term by consolidating all of these different efforts in under the umbrella of like a same methodology which is part of our secret sauce. - Sure, yeah. - So. - I don't want to add something there. - No, I think that's exactly how it started and I think all the most of course they, it's a healthy competition. Of course, and when you, there's something that is really making sense. Of course it's spread around. We are very strong of course in Oregon. First state verified and by far is the state with the most amount of verified businesses. So it's over 770 businesses that we have been there and verified and provide all the tools, trainings and so. Other states also like trying to follow up and they try like, wow, whatever Godin is amazing. So we're working also with Colorado that is also working strongly but we only have like nine destinations and the most that have joined. So it's slowly New York. New York, we have about 20, about auto-warnings by far the biggest one. - So when you have and pardon for the rough analogy but when you've got a laboratory like this where you're 700 spots that you're getting, you know, because at the end of the day you are doing profound work for a group of human being to appreciate it greatly and also you're a data company, right? So as a data company, what, number one, how great is it to have these things that you can boil down and kind of like a simple syrup and go to a Colorado or go to New York and go this is, it doesn't work for everybody in the same way but this is how it works 'cause we've got all of these data points to share with you and I guess a follow up question that handle these too, how you'd like to. What's been the most surprising thing you've learned in the three years being in Oregon? - So we're based in San Francisco so there's a lot of tech stuff happening there and you know, you go to happy hours, networking events and we share what we do and we hear questions like, oh, that's amazing. Like, what database or API are you using to pull all of this accessibility information or data from? And it's like the real world. (laughing) You're like, human, have you heard of them? You can try and get the data directly from them. - Yeah, so that's why we have a little army of mappers getting all of these accessibility information data and pictures and at this point, I mean, I don't have a way to prove it but most likely we own the largest accessibility database for hospitality in the planet. Recent to that, for example, lately, agents and LLMs are coming to our website to check all of the human- - Sure. - public information and data that we have and somehow, organically, we became the authority when it comes to like planning things for accessible travel. - So, but our tour, that makes perfect sense, right? When you're seeing the kind of the nascent world of LLMs and AEO and GEO, right? It's going after sites that are profoundly putting out content in a specific, that does not surprise me at all that you're organically the place and it's quite honestly, one of the more profound lessons that people should take from this is that when you are very good at what you do and you tell people how to do it, that you become the default trust source when people are asking chat, GBT or Clawed or perplexity or whatever. - Exactly, and it's impressive because all the AI thing like just started about a year ago, wow, strongly like that. - Sure, yeah, yeah. - For most consumers, right? For most consumers a year ago, yeah. - We have been doing this for so many years that at the end, we are totally like a trustable source and that's why also we are sharing with the MOST, [BLANK_AUDIO] In this moment, it's so important that we gather this accessibility information because it's nowhere else and as people Changes the way on how they search their trips. It's so important that you have this information because people is not gonna go anymore Probably to your website. They're gonna be using all these other mechanisms and and we need to feed this mechanism the data Yes, the way that the way that I've been saying is your website is now The least important part and the most important part at the same time the consumer is not gonna go there But machines are so you have to have a robust database of data points to become the trusted source So when they go to chat GPT you are the one that arrives Exactly and one of the things that we offer to our DMOs and the partners is that every verified this in a business that we map We have a small API that they can consume and it's exactly this is the purpose Yeah, we don't care if the booking happens at will the world come to be fantastic But we need people travel and we need to spread the word around because that's exactly the problem that we're trying to fix People with disabilities are not traveling because it is a booking problem The technology is there the trust is not there. Yes, so yes in the US People with accessibility needs and their companions are already spending about $25 billion every year in travel Taking over 40 million trips. Yeah, however three out of four are gonna have a problem during the trip That's very broken. Yeah, we are a four. Yeah, it's a crazy rate and it is estimated by the I think it was the open doors organization That as an industry we're living on the table about 19 one nine billion dollars out of lack of trust lawsuits Reference and whatnot of things related to accessibility And and I will say the the quiet part out loud about those statistics is in any other Any other lane of hospitality if you were failing 75% of the time you would fix it. Yes, right? Right, so it's it's an under-looked market stealing and there's a lot of work to be done when it comes to like advocating and educating the industry Because people just don't see it and it's funny because as soon as Sofia or myself we explain them what we do a Lot of people have an aha moment sure, right? I would imagine they would be like, oh, yeah, yeah, we should we should be friends Probably 100% Complimenting what Arturo is saying like we have noticed like from our you know, we started as a marketplace So our community and we have seen and Plus the data from the open open door studies shows that 50% of people with disabilities said they will travel more if they had Information but they don't there so at those 19 billion that are to be saying in lawsuits things like that Glass the opportunity of more people that would like to travel it's a lot. Yes, and then Also some people are afraid some businesses like a but what if I'm not so accessible But at the end it's all about trust people with disabilities will travel there anyway, but they will be prepared Right right they will go there, but they will know that it was not so accessible They are not gonna be mad. They're not gonna put a lawsuit. They saw it. They know and they will be paired So that's also part of the beauty of this is how do we build a trust? We let them make the decision on themselves whether that place is good for them or not now If somebody's hearing this for the first time I don't know how you could be in the DMO space and that's not being issued But imagine it is like what's the what's the easiest way for them to engage with you and start the conversation of Getting real the world involved to kind of bridge that gap for them. Yeah, you can go to our website You can we have a lot of information there already. I think that new website is accessibility verify.com And you can book a friendly call just to understand if you're just like looking around or if you have so much specific goals For example today I talk to a destination in Colorado that their city council is pushing them to Do something about accessibility right? So there is a need from elected officials in order to Achieve something some other destinations. They're just curious looking around and it's fine We're always open to have a conversation and and you also asked about like the learnings that we had over these past three years here in Oregon and It's being great to build this all of all of our technology based on the feedback of our users the M.O. executives and hospitality professionals and and so we have been actually building it up With their own feedback throughout the past three or yeah three years so It's been great being able to build it that way because it makes it like sense. Yeah for for other destinations across the country and And the other thing is that This is and we also learned how to use the right terminology because people Freak out when they hear ADA lawsuit liability and those kind of things We are not in any way related to the ADA. We're actually agnostic of any regulation We are about verifying what's available. This is not a certification. Sure. We're just verifying so the most silly way to put it is like If you're going to buy your next jacket online you need to look at a lot of information right sizes measurements materials call or shipping methods and then you buy it If you go to a website, they need only says buy jacket now You're not gonna buy it right But if you go to a website of a hillton today or whatever other brand Mario do name it and you're trying to go an accessible room It's gonna be like just book an accessible room And I mean things are changing sometimes you see like a couple of amenities that are mentioned there but completely binary And it's basically the same thing as you're telling me like buy this jacket. I promise you it's gonna feed you Yeah, buy it and it's the same with with hospitality like if you tell me I am ADA compliant It's like cool, but so what's the size? What's the measurement like that's what we're trying also to to bring to the table and to switch it like for those Executives listening to this podcast It's it's it's not about being right or wrong It's just about providing factual information to empower the user at the end so they can make the choice. Yeah, it's not about us It's about them absolutely so what I've been doing this morning because I have so so many Conversations say which is amazing. I have been asking each guest to write a question for the guests is coming up But I don't tell you who it is so you know think attractions things DMOs So I'm gonna have you to do that when we're done, but your question which I have a sense how you're gonna answer What your question is what is the greatest challenge facing tourism today? Which I feel as Taylor made for the two of you to answer even though they didn't know you were coming up As we're real the world I am gonna say that the accessibility it is a huge challenge because we are not getting any younger This is something that currently accessibility is something that affects Currently 15% of the population and then when you add the family the friends companions is like the third person like the baby boomers The baby boomers. Yeah, it's a 30% of the world that is currently living with this situation. So this is Huge we have seen in data that people requesting assistance in airports is increasing 18% year over year So the opportunity is here. This is a huge challenge that we only to address now and accessibility Just to have in mind is not a one-time thing. It's not about us verifying one time and leaving This is a journey that we all as destination as businesses needs to needs to work every year This is a constant if you want to change the mindset of business as a people of Everyone that we work with we need to do something now and work every year towards this to help people with this having this trouble We're trying to switch the narrative based on the political context especially here in the United States From like you know diversity and inclusion aspect Because yeah, there's that part but at the end of the day the numbers that Sophia you shared are Big enough to look at it as a marketing growth opportunity period Like if you don't see it then maybe you should really look at your growth priorities Because there's very little action here the market is there. This is a highly sticky customer And this is a high-value visitor Compared to other ones because I would imagine with with what you said with how you know How difficult it is to get the information is once they go to a place that provides that information and provides the experience And they don't have a 70% fail rate that they go back again and again or look for places that are similar to the place that yeah And usually our okay ongoing this all the time to the same destination. So once you grab them they stay and the word of mouth is Super strong in this customer. So it's so important that we keep on capturing this and these customers super important that we pay attention And that we support with tools for them to plan awesome talking about the word of mouth Like one afternoon like two years ago After a few years one of our market years came out with the idea of opening a Facebook group there were others already there. Yeah, so we started doing hours and it went crazy Like now we have about 42,000 members all of them are manually. Yeah, this is the largest one in the world. I think in Facebook and It just it went crazy like people are exchanging good and bad experiences all over the world and the threats are just insane like hundreds of comments and people are just very passionate about sharing what they experience because that's in a way helping others to dare to travel the world. Which it is a big like at the end of the day we're in hospitality and I personally believe that travel has a transformative power in your life. I don't have the recent stats but at some point like 50% of our users were traveling for the first time in their lives. And it's a game changer. Some of them get addicted to it and they're just going to go looking for the next trip. But it's also interesting to read their emails or comments on how some other people might think that was a normal trip. But the trip was okay. For those that are doing it for the first time in their lives it's so transformative. And I believe the world needs more of that transformation to no doubt my friend. But no doubt. Arturo, Sophia, thank you so much for the time and your conference. Thanks so much for having us.