Quality accessibility data is the prerequisite that enables people with a disability to live their daily life or take holidays and business trips comfortably and independently. As the EU population ages and experiences an increase in chronic diseases, the number of people with a disability is rising significantly and represented in 2020, one in five Europeans will have a disability [EC]. Lack of reliable information on accessibility is the biggest barrier to travel from a user perspective, rating even higher than physical barriers [EC]. Existing solutions cannot meet user needs, because dedicated travel agencies are geographically narrow and unable to up-scale, and mainstream booking systems (e.g. booking.com Airbnb) provide only limited, often incorrect, unverified accessibility data.
Overcoming our competitor’s limitations, we developed Handiscover, the world’s 1st online booking website based on an innovative system that merges a unique assessment model with a remote quality assurance verification.
Our business model is based on commissions, so it is volume dependent. Hence, we need to: 1.) Expand our accessibility categories by including non-motor disabilities (which are 74% of the segment); 2.) Automate the hotel registration process via a Hotel Management System. This is crucial to a) allow us to superscale our hotel supply; b) set up the platform for future developments; c) ensure accessibility data is correctly recorded, managed and updated.
Handiscover was established with the goal to enable people of all disabilities or with specific accessibility needs to live their life and to travel worry-free.
With covid affecting our project from day1, we adapted the scope of the project to help people in their daily life, adapting the solutions that we had planned to develop for the sake of the travel industry, to make them work for other industries having an impact for our end-users on a daily basis, like retail, venues etc
The last but crucial step to achieve success in this market is the ability to upscale by attracting more end users and property owners
