I was planning a trip today, and I used the wheelchair accessibility filter on AirBnB, I got this popup.
This text and the call to action “I understand” sounded to me like “we know your anxiety when you book something, but we are not responsible for it”.
Probably a big problem happened with a wheelchair user, or AirBnB customer service reported wheelchair users are making many complaints, which led product to do this.
Finding wheelchair accessible accommodation is a big pain, even with hotels. When I was working for Booking, I worked on a project to define the features of wheelchair accessible accommodations. Unfortunately this project never got to the company priorities because of the very small niche it targets*, and the logistics needed to communicate and serve what’s accessible.
I hope AirBnB dedicate more resources to make hosts clarify their house accessibility options. AirBnB positions itself as an inclusive community, and they can do better.
* 0.40% of Europeans use wheelchairs, out of those how many travel?