I tried to book a one night spa-stay recently.
Seventeen miles from home.
No long-haul flight. No complex itinerary. Just a simple, last minute decision.
All I needed to know was whether I could move around the room in my wheelchair.
How large is the space?
Is it actually usable?
I tried email.
I tried calling.
I tried social.
Nothing.
So I moved on. And booked somewhere else.
Not because the hotel was not good.
But because it did not work.
This is how bookings are lost.
Not loudly.
Not through complaints or feedback forms.
Quietly.
In the moment a guest decides it is easier to go elsewhere.
This Is Not a One Off
It would be easy to treat this as an isolated experience.
It is not.
This happens more often than not.
And you can’t single out smaller properties, large chains or budget environments, but across the spectrum of hospitality, including luxury.
Because the issue is rarely the room itself.
It is what happens around it.
In this case, the barrier was not physical.
It was communication.
And this is not unique to accessibility.
Any guest may need to ask a question before booking.
Do you have an EV charger?
Is there a vegetarian menu?
What time is check in?
Small details. Often missed from a website.
But when those questions are not answered, the outcome is the same.
The booking is lost.
Where it Actually Breaks
Accessibility is often understood as a physical feature.
A room.
A bathroom.
A parking space.
But in practice, the gap is operational.
It sits in the moments between enquiry and arrival.
A website that describes a room as “fully accessible” without explaining what that means.
An enquiry that sits unanswered.
A team member unsure how to describe the space clearly.
Or unsure whether they are allowed to say the wrong thing.
And so, they say nothing.
None of these feel critical in isolation.
But together, they create hesitation.
And hesitation costs bookings.
Then repeat bookings.
Then reviews, recommendations, and revenue.
Guests do not always escalate uncertainty.
They resolve it.
By choosing somewhere else.
The Risk of Getting It Wrong
There is another layer to this.
Inaccurate information.
Being given the wrong details about accessibility is often worse than receiving no answer at all.
Because it removes trust.
And once that trust has been lost, it is very difficult to rebuild.
This is where caution can sometimes create the opposite outcome.
A team reads an enquiry and hesitates.
They do not want to give the wrong answer.
They do not feel confident in how to respond.
They may have had a previous experience that did not go well.
And so the response is delayed.
Softened.
Or avoided altogether.
There is also a perception, often unspoken, around how accessibility questions will be received or escalated.
But this works both ways.
Negative experiences travel.
And they travel further and faster than positive ones.
This Is Not About Perfection
It is not about having every answer immediately.
It is about clarity.
About confidence.
About being able to describe what exists in a way that allows a guest to make a decision.
Because booking decisions do not happen in ideal conditions.
They happen quickly.
In real time.
And if the answer is not there, the booking does not wait.
It moves.
What The Standard Looks Like
This is why certain properties stand out.
Not because they claim to be accessible.
But because they understand how the experience actually works.
The Lowry Hotel is one of them.
I have stayed there consistently over the past three years for work, and leisure.
Not because it is the closest option.
Not because it is the newest.
But because it works.
Questions are answered clearly.
Information is consistent.
There is no hesitation in communication.
The experience feels considered from the moment of enquiry through to arrival and throughout the stay.
There is no need to chase.
No need to second guess.
And that changes everything.
Because when a place works properly, behaviour changes.
You return.
You recommend.
You build trust over time.
This is where loyalty is created.
The Standard
Most hotels are closer than they think.
The physical product is often already in place.
But without visibility, without confidence in communication, and without ownership across the guest journey, the experience breaks before it begins.
Accessibility is not a room.
It is a sequence of decisions that either build confidence or remove it.
Luxury is not what is promised.
It is what works.
—
Luiz Faye
The Inclusive Edit
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