The information presented within this guide is aimed at website owners seeking to learn the ropes of web accessibility and to create a more inclusive online environment for people with disabilities. Technical elements are described in layman’s terms, and, as a rule, all topics pertaining to the legalities of web accessibility are presented in as simplified a manner as possible. This blog has no legal bearing, and cannot be relied on in the case of litigation.
There’s a pretty hefty list of issues you, as a vacation rental property owner, need to be conscious of.
Of course, you will need to keep close tabs on your inventory, ensure you are adhering to the necessary safety protocols and regulations, and see to it that you are fulfilling your tax-related obligations.
Yet, there is another equally important action item you will need to address:
Ensuring your short term rental property’s website is accessible to people with disabilities.
Along with it being a legal requirement in many jurisdictions, setting up your website so that it is accessible to all guests can help you expand your short-term and vacation rental’s business potential, and appeal to sections of the population that spend tens of billions of dollars a year on travel and leisure.
In this blog we will:
- Explain the steps you’ll need to take to transform your vacation rental property’s website into one that it appeals to all potential guests
- Guide you through prominent web accessibility laws, and show you what you will need to do to comply with them
- Present you with the business benefits you can expect when you take the necessary measures to make your short term rental property website accessible
First, what does web accessibility mean?
People with disabilities account for 16% of the world’s population. Yet, more than 96% of all websites are designed without their unique needs in mind, and are therefore either fully or partially inaccessible to them.
The good news is that business and website owners can combat this trend by conforming to the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
Created by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), WCAG is the most prominent and accepted set of global web accessibility standards, and is also referenced by many web accessibility laws around the world.
At its core, WCAG is based upon four guiding principles:
- Perceivable: People should be able to perceive content appearing on your website through their senses of touch, sound, and sight. In more practical terms, this means that captions need to be added to meaningful video content, and alternative text descriptions need to be added to meaningful images (i.e., images that convey critical information, and do not appear purely for decorative purposes)
- Operable: Website visitors need to be able to operate a website regardless of ability. In more practical terms, this means that user interface components and navigation elements (like the navigation bar at the top of the website) must be fully operable via keyboard and other accessible means
- Understandable: Information and operation of the user interface must be understandable. In more practical terms, this means that a website's layout should be simple and predictable, and information appearing within it should not include needless and complicated jargon
- Robust: Content must be robust enough to work with current and assistive technologies
For your website to be considered accessible, it will need to conform to WCAG.
Conforming to WCAG
Reaching WCAG conformance will necessitate that your website meets several criteria. While the complete list is much longer, here are a few of the most prominent criteria items:
- Your website needs to be compatible with assistive technology like screen readers
- Your website needs to be fully navigable via keyboard
- Your website needs to feature alt text for meaningful images
- Your website needs to be mobile responsive
- Users should be able to increase content size up to 200% without loss of functionality
- Text and its background color need to sufficiently contrast
- Meaningful video content on your website needs to feature full and accurate captions
- Online documents linked to or hosted on your websites need to be accessible, as well
Gaining a deeper understanding of WCAG’s sections, versions, and conformance levels is critical for STR owners looking to properly tackle this issue. We highly recommend you check out these articles for further information:
Three reasons why short term rental property owners need to care about accessibility
Web accessibility is a legal requirement
Short term and vacation rental businesses need to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Signed into law in 1990, the ADA is the most important piece of legislation aimed at protecting the rights of people with disabilities in the United States.
More specifically, ADA Title III ensures people with disabilities are given equal access and protection within places of ‘public accommodation’. This category includes many public-facing businesses, hotels and short-term rental properties among them.
While it was traditionally associated with accessibility within businesses’ physical domains, ADA Title III is today widely applied to their online environments, as well.
The DOJ’s statements regarding the ADA’s application to websites
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has been clear on the matter of websites being included as part of the necessary requirements to comply with the ADA. Since 2018, the DOJ has released a number of public notices on the matter, referencing WCAG as the standard websites should conform to under the law.
Failing to comply with the ADA, in the form of presenting an inaccessible website, can result in significant legal action, including receiving a demand letter, and potentially facing litigation.
Bottom line: While nothing has officially been codified into law, many U.S. courts apply the ADA to websites, in alignment with the DOJ’s stance on the issue. These courts typically reference WCAG as the standard to which inaccessible websites will need to conform under the ADA. Non-compliance can result in business owners encountering legal recourse, including receiving demand letters, and potentially facing lawsuits.
The state of web accessibility within the travel industry: Room for improvement
We at accessiBe set out to examine the state of web accessibility within the travel industry. Auditing the 200 most-visited hospitality, tourism, and travel websites in the U.S. according to Semrush, we found that 89.5% of them have accessibility issues.
It is important to note that inaccessible hospitality websites and apps include a number of prominent marketplaces; the kind which your own short term rental property may be listed in.
These findings can provide further context regarding the travel and hospitality industry being one of the most targeted by ADA website compliance lawsuits.
Bottom line: Leading short term rental marketplaces, along with other hospitality and travel websites, showcase an insufficient level of accessibility. This had led this industry to be one of the most heavily impacted by ADA website compliance lawsuits.
Web accessibility contributes to the bottom line
Along with your listings on various short term and vacation marketplaces, your property’s website is one of the primary ways in which travelers examine whether what you’re offering fits their needs.
By ensuring your website is accessible, you allow all prospective guests to understand the type and scope of amenities you offer, and to decide whether to choose your property to vacation at.
In this regard, it is important to realize two things:
To benefit from these trends, you will need to prove to members of the various disability communities that you are conscious of accommodating their unique needs. An accessible website empowers people with disabilities to research your property, and makes it more likely for them to spend their money on your business.
Bottom line: People with disabilities are avid travelers, who spend billions of dollars every year on leisure trips. When your website is accessible, you increase the likelihood of them choosing your property as the one they wish to stay at.
Web accessibility is a moral and ethical imperative
The research conducted by MMGY, which was mentioned in the preceding section, shows that people with disabilities still must face considerable challenges while traveling. Along with issues incurred during the flights themselves, many travelers with disabilities are then subjected to hardships once they reach their hotel or other choice of lodging.
The issue becomes far more glaring when the focus turns toward web accessibility.
As mentioned throughout the blog, only a small percentage of websites are truly welcoming to people with disabilities. The vast majority of digital environments, travel and hospitality websites included, present people with disabilities with significant barriers, and deny them of the opportunities extended to others.
Members of the various disability communities deserve to be treated with the same level of dignity and respect extended to everyone else. An accessible website will see you, as a short term rental and vacation property owner, proving to people with disabilities that you welcome all guests, and that you can accommodate anyone, regardless of ability.
Take the next steps
Understanding your requirements, as well as the business potential of an accessible online presence should motivate you to take the next steps in your journey toward accessibility. To successfully begin your path toward an accessible website, you are best suited to consider a powerful accessibility solution designed with your use case in mind.
accessiBe is relied upon by short term rental and vacation property owners looking to remediate their websites and ensure they are accessible to all visitors.
If you’re interested in learning more about the ways in which accessiBe can help you, press here.
We also recommend you check out this article on taking the next steps towared achieving accessibility.
___________
Methodology: The top 100 travel & tourism websites and top 100 hospitality websites in the United States were all audited by accessScan, accessiBe's free web accessibility checker. 89.5% of the websites audited were found to have elements on their homepage that do not fully adhere to WCAG.
