UK Hotel Web Page Accessibility for Disabled and Challenged Users

Abstract

Organisations increasingly use the internet and web to communicate with the marketplace. Indeed, the hotel industry seems particularly suited to the use of these technologies. Many sites are not accessible to large segments of the disabled community, however, or to individuals using particular hard and softwares. Identifying the competitive and legal mandates for website accessibility, the study looks at the accessibility of UK-based hotel websites. Utilising the accessibility software, Bobby, as well as making some additional manual accessibility checks, the study finds disappointingly low levels of website accessibility. If organisations want to make more effective use of the web then they need to ensure that their web pages are designed from the outside-in — from the user's perspective.

Keywords

e-commerce internet hotel tourism web accessibility

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