ACCESSIBILITY TOOLKIT FOR VENUES & DESTINATIONS

Newly Revised Resource Makes Hospitality ‘Hospitable’ For People With Disabilities

How do you make your event accessible to all?

Thanks to the efforts by the ESPA 2023 Accessibility Task Force, ESPA has released a revised version of its Accessibility Toolkit, A Guide for Event Service Professionals.

The Guide is a downloadable resource that hotels, convention centers, CVBs and venues can use to ensure a more inclusive meeting experience for guests in their venues and destinations.

A non-branded version is also available to customize with a destination or venue’s own accessibility information and branding to provide to meeting planners.

Checklists are designed sequentially, from a guest’s arrival at a destination airport, to ground transportation, lodging, meeting venues and offsite venues. There is also a resource list that DMOs can customize to fill in state and local agencies. The toolkit was created with the input of ESPA members who work in convention and visitors bureaus, hotels and convention centers, along with contributions from meeting planners.

“As event service professionals, we are the ones who find the answers that ensure successful events for all attendees,” said Denise Reid, ESPA president and a member of the Task Force. “We must be at the forefront of accommodating people with varying abilities—some of which are invisible to others—and communicate options to meeting planners in advance.”

Download a copy and implement it in your venue or city!
The Toolkit is readily available to members on the My ESPA Portal. Non-members can download it using the form below.