Accessible Accommodation makes it easy to make informed holiday choices

People with mobility challenges or families with children with physical disabilities love to travel and take a holiday just as much as anyone else, but their more complex needs often means that it’s not a simple case of just finding a place that looks nice, in the right location, that has vacancies at the right time. This is set to change however, thanks to a new online service – Accessible Accommodation – a website dedicated to holiday accommodation catering to people with physical disabilities and their families and carers. Users of the website can choose from a selection of resorts, hotels and motels, holiday houses, farmstays, retreats and even houseboats around Australia catering from basic to complex needs.

You can find out whether accommodation will fit your needs by viewing answers to over 50 commonly asked questions, questions that the founders of Accessible Accommodation, Kerry and Grant, have had to ask themselves and have been asked over the years operating their own accessible holiday house in Barwon Heads, Victoria.

Some examples of the questions covered include:

 “Will the doors be wide enough to fit my daughter’s wheelchair?”

“My mobility issues mean I can’t climb steps. I need step-free access”

“That pool looks gorgeous. I wonder if there is a hoist so my son can enjoy it too?”

“I can’t tell if that shower is big enough for my wheelchair to roll into.”

“With my MS, sometimes I lose my balance, I wonder if they have a shower chair and grab bars, in case I may need them?”

Answers to questions like these alongside useful photos and walk-through videos demonstrating accessible features allow you to feel reassured that what you see on their website is what you get upon arrival at your chosen accommodation.

Furthermore, unlike some other booking sites (such as Air BNB and Homeaway), you aren’t slugged with booking fees. Neither are the accommodation providers (who are often hit with a 15% booking fee), so they are able to offer you a more competitive rate.

Each week there are also exclusive offers and savings to look out for. Subscribing to the Accessible Accommodation newsletter will keep you up to date with all the latest news and offerings; each month you’ll get info on new properties, hear about exclusive savings and learn about interesting experiences detailed in their blog. Recent blog updates include disabled surfing, places with accessible swimming pools and even indoor sky diving!

To manage the wide variety of needs of travellers, Accessible Accommodation has three core categories to search within: Independent Walking, Independent Wheelchair User and Assisted Wheelchair User.  Each accommodation option will fit into one, two or all three of these sections.

The categories breakdown as follows:

Assisted Walking:Walking Frame or Cane Users. Some accessible amenities would come in handy.

Click here for the list.

Independent Wheelchair User:Wheelchair users who can lift themselves to bed and toilet. 

Click here for the list.

Assisted Wheelchair User:Guest is unable to lift themselves and requires assistance of a carer.

Click here for the list.

The following video explains the categories further:

Choosing a category at the outset of using the website will make it easier for you to narrow down the places you can go for your next holiday. Alternatively, you can search by a particular characteristic required, such as “hoist” or “electric bed”, or even by region or state. Remember, everyone’s mobility challenges are unique. There simply isn’t a “one size fits all” rule. 

In the first 9 months of Accessible Accommodation’s launch, the website was a finalist in the NSW Tourism Awards and Travel Weekly Awards.

Kerry and Grant are celebrating the website’s one-year anniversary by launching Accessible Experiences in April and they have already started expanding internationally, with Bali and New Zealand properties.  By subscribing (it’s free) to their website, you will be kept up to date with these exciting new additions.

You may also like to check out their Facebook Group, The Accessible Group. With over 3,000 members, it’s a great place to post questions and share your accessible travel experiences. The group went viral in January, after the group was used to offer  emergency short term accessible accommodation to people with disabilities displaced by the horrific fires around Australia. Group members offered their homes and accommodation providers offered free accommodation for a night or two whilst evacuees took a breather and arranged a longer-term solution with NDIS.

To keep up with the lates news and developments, subscribe to accessible Accommodation newsletter here and visit accessibleaccommodation.com.au to start planning your next holiday. You’ll be spoilt for choice!