Fora published its first accessible travel report last month after surveying consumers and Fora advisors. According to the survey, 55% of families planning multigenerational trips have a participant with an accessibility need, and 78% of those families would be willing to pay more to meet those needs. Senior editor Teri West interviewed Fora accessible travel lead Karen Morales about the report and what suppliers and advisors can learn from it.
Karen Morales
Q: Sixty-seven percent of Fora advisors have booked a trip for a client with accessibility needs. What does that say about how ingrained this work is in selling travel?
A: Anybody who is working to be a travel advisor, specifically a luxury travel advisor, has to think about accessibility as a core part of the business overall. We are all about creating bespoke experiences and meeting our clients with a deep level of customer service, so this should not be seen as a separate initiative. I felt this very strongly when I transitioned to a wheelchair in 2020.
Q: Was there a survey result that surprised you?
A: It was really interesting that the price sensitivity isn't there as much. We have more boomers traveling with bigger groups with more accessibility needs, they're less price sensitive, and yet if you were to Google, "Where can I go for an accessible multigenerational trip?" you're not getting any search results back. So that leaves it oftentimes to advisors. And the other piece that I thought was really interesting is that most of our advisors have booked accessible travel, but 90% of them say that when they have, something has been wrong. Like the information was incomplete or a client showed up and something was still off. So that really demonstrates that breakage in the market.
Q: What have you noticed about what's missing on the supplier end, and what if any suspicions did you have about why that might be?
A: I feel like the industry is still treating accessibility as a compliance check box, not as a hospitality lever and an untapped marketing opportunity. We create our own list of properties in different markets of villas that have zero-entry pools and first-floor bedrooms, because those types of lists don't exist anywhere. I find it interesting to think that a lot of hotels do a really great job, but they're not even sure internally what they have to offer. The minute we as advisors find a really great travel experience, we can sell it on repeat, but it requires a ton of effort to get basic questions answered. I think that's great for us as advisors, because it is kind of irreplaceable what we're able to do. But it's ignoring a big growth segment. Seventy-eight percent of multigenerational families traveling [with someone who needs accessible accommodations] say that they're willing to pay more to get those accommodations.
Q: You have the title of Fora's accessible travel lead. Why does it matter for an agency to have that role?
A: What I think is so amazing about Fora's commitment in this space is that we're not looking at it as a social enterprise action. We're not only doing this as a very small part of some pro bono assignment. It's embedded into all of the training and all of the experiences that advisors have with Fora. So now, because of the work with accessibility, we never have events or fam trips that don't ask about accessibility to everyone that's going. We don't have site visits where we aren't asking these questions. We talk about this in all of our meetings with large chain hotels. So I think it's becoming embedded into the culture, and it is almost proof of Fora being a disrupter.
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This interview was edited for length and clarity.