Destination Ann Arbor is celebrating its city being the first in Michigan to achieve “Destination Verified” status with Wheel the World. The organization recently held a press conference and panel discussion to mark the milestone, recognizing the Ann Arbor area’s commitment to creating an inclusive and accessible destination for travelers of all abilities.
Wheel the World is an accessible travel company that provides detailed accessibility information about destinations worldwide to help guide people with disabilities as they make decisions about where to visit. Its “Destination Verified” program recognizes communities that have undergone a rigorous, third-party accessibility assessment.
Destination Ann Arbor Director of Sales and Service Al Snow says receiving a Pure Michigan Accessible Traveler Grant helped fund the effort. As Snow explains it, Wheel the World worked with Disability Network Washtenaw Monroe Livingston to enlist evaluators who went to hotels, venues, attractions, and other participating entities to conduct on-site assessments.
“They measured everything from bed heights to doorway widths to space underneath the sinks or countertops in the bathrooms,” Snow explains. “It’s even the flooring—what’s the pile on the carpets if it’s carpeted? Or, if it’s wood or laminate, are there doorjambs that have to be gone over? There are over 200 different data points they measure … all of those are now available through the Wheel the World website.”
Disability Network Executive Director Alex Gossage says the team from his organization has been working on gathering data in earnest since June. As more organizations and companies around Ann Arbor become aware of the effort, Gossage hopes they will sign on to participate, too.
“Destination Ann Arbor has really tried to focus on working with those organizations that are interested in doing this and finding out how accessible they are,” he says. “It isn’t meant to be some sort of ‘gotcha.’ It’s meant to be a tool to highlight folks who are doing things well and maybe those folks who are doing some things well but some things could use improvement.”
Gossage expects meeting planners considering Ann Arbor to take advantage of the local data at Wheel the World, seeing it as a tool for site and venue selections.
“This would hopefully make it easier for planners to understand, if they’re going to have a convention or conference or a large gathering in our community, what is around and what barriers might exist for some attendees,” Gossage says. “I definitely think it’s a good informational tool, and hopefully one that would be [effective] in helping to bring more of these gatherings to Ann Arbor.”
Arturo Gaona, chief partnership officer and co-founder of Wheel the World, believes destinations that embrace accessibility “are going to be one step ahead of others.”
“People who have disabilities are traveling more and more,” he explains. “The senior population is growing very fast, and the hospitality industry is not ready. We’re trying to fix that in collaboration with the cities by providing factual and reliable information. So at the end of the day, by doing this, you’re basically unlocking a new emerging market.”
Other Michigan cities that are getting involved in Wheel the World accessibility data collection include Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids, and Lansing, Gaona says. Ann Arbor was the first to achieve official “Destination Verified” status because it was the first to join the program and have its landing page go live on the Wheel the World platform. Kalamazoo’s landing page is also now live.
Meanwhile, the accessibility data collection and commitment in Ann Arbor is ongoing. “This isn’t the ending point,” Snow says. “We’re continuing to reach out to the hotels and venues and partners to continue to get them measured. It’s a first step in a longer process of working with our community to make it a more accessible place for travelers of all kinds.”
