The vacation rental market faces a critical gap in providing truly accessible accommodations, a gap that not only restricts choices for disabled travelers but also overlooks a significant market opportunity. Despite growing awareness and legislative strides toward inclusivity, a vast majority of vacation rentals remain inaccessible. This glaring deficiency not only affects the quality of travel experiences for millions but also signifies a lost economic opportunity for the industry. Becoming rentABLE has risen to meet this challenge, aiming to revolutionize the market by significantly increasing the availability of accessible properties and ensuring genuine inclusivity in vacation rentals.

Becoming rentABLE: Addressing the Accessibility Gap in Vacation Rentals

Becoming rentABLE is a platform that seeks to increase the number of accessible properties on the market while also expanding the scope of services to go beyond wheelchair accessibility, including accessibility for cognitive, hearing, sight and aging needs. This platform highlights a significant need within the vacation rental industry as only 0.01% of current vacation rental listings are accessible. What’s even more troubling is that many of these supposedly accessible listings are mislabeled, compounding the complexity of the issue. Furthermore, Becoming rentABLE points out the nuanced nature of accessibility in the vacation rental industry, highlighting that disabled guests represent a potentially huge and largely untapped market. This overlooked segment could generate billions of dollars in opportunities for hosts and property owners alike.

Personal Commitment to Accessibility: The Story of Becoming rentABLE

A swelling sense of empathy inheres in the work of Becoming rentABLE, which strives to encourage a greater sense of inclusivity in the vacation rental industry. At the heart of this endeavor is Lorraine Woodward and her incredible team of talented accessibility experts. For Woodward and her team, this is a personal kind of work. Mrs. Woodward and her two adult sons have muscular dystrophy and, after retrofitting their vacation beach house to fit their own accessibility needs, she and her family decided to list their home as a vacation rental. Becoming rentABLE made its debut in the vacation rental industry with this first truly accessible listing. Now their platform includes over 1,200 listings that have been verified and certified by a team of accessibility experts, assuring guests that their accessibility needs will be met. One of their platform’s key highlights is their 43 mobility filters and 20 cognitive filters, which allow guests to find listings that meet their exact needs. Beyond this, Becoming rentABLE offers its partners a badge of certification that, as they put it, “takes the guesswork out of the process for both the renter and property owner.”

Becoming rentABLE: The Three-Step Certification Process

The process of becoming a certified property through Becoming rentABLE is a straightforward three-step process that begins with filling out a brief questionnaire regarding the accessibility features of your property. There are two such surveys. One of the surveys involves questions about the physical layout and architectural features of your listing that pertain to mobility access. This assessment asks questions about the dimensions of the door frames throughout your listing. Among other things, the survey also asks about the type of driveway your property has. Essentially, the questionnaire seeks to ascertain what types of accessibility features a person with mobility needs might expect when booking their stay at your listing. Becoming rentABLE also offers another questionnaire that solicits information regarding the cognitive accessibility features of your listing.

After filling out the requisite surveys regarding the accessibility features of your property, the second step is to sign up for the Becoming rentABLE certification. During the third step, the Becoming rentABLE certification experts will work with property owners to determine for which certifications their property qualifies.

The Benefits of Becoming rentABLE Certification

Seeking certification through Becoming rentABLE offers many potential benefits for property owners, especially the certainty that comes from a thorough evaluative process leading to certification. This process also yields greater visibility, as the validation process leads to your property being listed on a trusted third-party platform frequented by potential guests who are specifically looking for accessible properties just like yours. Beyond this, Becoming rentABLE is fully integrated with Online Travel Agencies like Airbnb. The Becoming rentABLE platform is a listing site. As such, it does not replace online booking sites; rather, it increases the visibility of your listing.

The accessibility experts at Becoming rentABLE understand that navigating accessibility for property owners can be daunting, even for the most committed and empathetic host. For that reason, Becoming rentABLE also offers a comprehensive consulting service that helps hosts set accessibility goals and determine the next steps toward achieving those goals. In addition to these services, Lorraine Woodward and her expert team are dedicated to educating the vacation rental community about their work in the accessibility field through their demonstrated efforts in their project home entitled, The Little Yellow House. The Little Yellow House, a charming 1940s American-style cottage, has been thoughtfully renovated to include comprehensive accessibility accommodations and is a conceptual model for the future of accessible vacation rentals.

Join The Movement

Becoming rentABLE is pioneering a transformative movement towards a more inclusive world, reshaping the vacation rental landscape by making accessibility a core feature rather than an afterthought. Their dedicated efforts have fostered a vibrant community where empathy and understanding drive significant changes, ensuring that every travel experience can be accessible and enjoyable. To learn more about their innovative platform and how you can participate, either as a property owner or a traveler, visit their website. Explore a wide range of certified accessible listings and see firsthand how Becoming rentABLE is making inclusivity the standard in vacation rentals. Join their mission to broaden horizons and open doors for everyone.