Tag: Travel

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Solving my travel problem

Every time I want to travel, I have to book my hotel by phone or email. I can’t book hotels online. Because hotels don’t list their accessible rooms information online. They don’t allow booking those rooms online either. There are some exceptions here and there but most of the time, it sucks.

Accessibility isn’t the same for everyone. Some want a specific bed height. I don’t care most of the time. Others wan’t grab bars by the shower. I also don’t care most of the time. I care more about carpets and how thick they are, they make pushing the wheelchair harder. I care about accessible twin rooms because I like to travel with my sister, but the world is dominated by accessible double rooms. Every one have their own needs.

Then there are the surprises. No one told me Prague is the worst city for wheelchair users. It managed to have the worst of both worlds: Steep streets & cobble stones. Not to mention inaccessible public transit. When I arrived and discovered the ugly truth I was looking for a same day train back to Berlin until a friend living there calmed me down, and took the days of my stay off so he can accompany me everywhere.

Oslo was similar but without cobblestones. It was so steep that to get to my hotel I had to push the wheelchair backwards up the street so I don’t flip and fall off. It wasn’t as terrible as Prague and I wasn’t thinking about going back the same day but it was definitely tough. I wish someone told me before going.

I tried solving this while working at booking.com, but the demand is so low that it doesn’t make financial sense.

I kept thinking about this problem for over 10 years, until AI showed up. I can now solve my own, and millions of wheelchair, disabled travellers.

I built an AI agent that contacted 10 thousand hotels in Europe. Yes, 10 thousand. It posed as a wheelchair traveller and asked them about wheelchair accessible room information. It succeeded at gathering 1200 hotels across major cities. London, Paris, Berlin, Barcelona, Rome, Vienna, Amsterdam and many more. I also included which hotels allow booking the accessible rooms directly online. My hotels hall of fame. All those hotels are now on wheelietravel.com. Available in 15 languages.

I will not stop there. This website will become much more powerful. It will become the ultimate source for wheelchair and disabled travellers. Big OTAs don’t care because they think we are a few. They are wrong. We are many, and in an aging population world, we are growing. We are the future.

I am no one and no one reads my blog. I am also currently going through a health crisis and doctors can’t find a solution to my problem. I can tell you that I started all this from the hospital. I was desperate, bored, at one of my lowest points. But here we are.

Why am I writing this? Two reasons: to have a backlink to the website and improve it’s SEO ranking. Not that my blog is the greatest SEO authority, but it is something. I hope the bots don’t understand this and come after me. Secondly, most importantly, to let the world, especially hoteliers, know what I am up to.

If you are a hotelier, this is the moment to partner with me, to make the world a better place for millions of travellers, and to grow your business in an overlooked segment. Reach out.

That’s it. See you in 5 years. Or maybe less…

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Assessing London

I came back yesterday from the UK. I visited London, Edinburgh, and spent one night in Glasgow. 

I totally enjoyed the trip. Being in a place where everyone speaks English makes a big difference. Also the British are more smiley, chatty, and socially aware than the vibe I am getting in Berlin.

Maybe the socially aware point is a bit vague. It is hard to explain but for me it is being aware of the surrounding and proactively managing the situation. I normally observe this feeling in how/when people offer their help with something.

On the flip side the three cities I visited are far behind in infrastructure compared to Berlin. London public transit system is not accessible. Buses are small, allowing them to take maximum one wheelchair at a time. In Berlin buses are bigger, can take two, sometimes three wheelchairs at the same time.

London tube is much worse. The default is non-accessible stops. In a big city like London, it makes things much harder for people like myself.

I imagine the accessible housing situation is equally bad. Most of the city is old. Berlin is still being built which creates more accessible housing opportunities for people such as myself.

I still loved it, but not sure if I would want to live there. I normally look for three factors when assessing a new city.

1) Career Opportunities

I believe London wins on that one. The big 5 have development offices there. There are more startup deals and funding than any other European city.

2) People accessibility

London wins because of the language. I do understand the arguments of people being easy on the outside and hard on the inside. But I still think if one understands the language, it becomes a question of the effort you put into blending with the people around you.

3) Accessibility

Berlin wins by big margin. And it is getting even better over time.

I am not thinking of moving, but for me this was a good eye opener into the London situation and what are the options if I decided to move out of Berlin.

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Hello London

I am in London for a short visit. It is my first time.

It feels good to be in a place where English is the default.

I always say I am operating at 50% of my social capacity in Germany because of the language.

It feels different when you understand what’s happening around you. The signs, the announcements, and the side talks.