A traveller who uses a wheelchair books a trip. She asks about accessibility and is told the hotel has accessible rooms and the transfer can be arranged.
Both statements are true. The room has a bath rather than a roll in shower, the transfer vehicle has a lift but must be booked separately with fourteen days notice, and there are three steps at the entrance to the restaurant she was told about.
None of it was misrepresented. It was described in general terms to somebody whose trip depends on specifics.
1. Treat the journey as a chain
Every stage must work, and confirming one stage while leaving another unchecked is the commonest way a trip becomes unusable.
2. Confirm the assistance booking rather than the availability
Whether it has actually been recorded, with a reference, since requested and arranged are different things and travellers discover this at a desk.
3. Confirm the notice periods
Assistance, adapted vehicles and equipment hire all have lead times, which are frequently longer than travellers expect.
4. Give room specifics rather than a label
Door widths, bathroom type, transfer space and bed height, which is the detail travellers cannot take on trust.
5. Give the transfer specifics
Vehicle type, whether a lift or ramp is fitted, whether a wheelchair can remain occupied and how far the journey is.
6. Give step counts and distances
To the room, to the restaurant, to the pool and to anything the traveller is being sold, rather than describing the property as accessible.
7. Confirm the equipment position
What can be hired locally, what must be brought and whether anything is available at the property.
8. Explain the mobility equipment carriage rules
What a carrier will take, whether it counts as baggage and what documentation is needed, which varies and is expensive to get wrong.
9. Explain the medical equipment and medication arrangements
Storage, power, carriage and any documentation required at borders, which travellers with conditions must plan around.
10. Explain what happens if something is not as described
Since it happens, and a stated position is better than a traveller discovering they have no recourse from a hotel lobby.
11. Ask about the specific needs rather than the category
What somebody can and cannot do, which is the only basis for a useful answer and is more respectful than a checkbox.
12. Record the requirements against the booking
So they travel to every supplier rather than being mentioned once in an enquiry email, which is where most of these failures originate.
13. Handle the questions from somebody already travelling
Which is the urgency in travellers already abroad asking for help.
14. Explain what the traveller should carry with them
Confirmation references for assistance, equipment documentation and any medical letters. Paper copies matter here more than anywhere, since the moments these are needed are frequently the moments a phone is inaccessible.
15. Answer with specifics and confirm the assistance
An assistant that asks what somebody specifically needs, gives measurements rather than labels, confirms whether assistance has actually been booked with a reference and records the requirements against every stage prevents a trip ruined by three steps nobody mentioned. The design principles sit in accessible website assistant, a comparable specificity problem in accessibility questions restaurants should answer clearly, and amendments in booking change and amendment questions from travellers. See features, start at try, and the sector view sits under travel.