ACCESSIBILITY

What guests should check and ask — and how hosts can list (and improve) accessibility honestly

What Guests Should Look For and Ask

Start with the dedicated Accessibility filters in search — Step-free entrance, Wide doorways, Accessible bathroom, Ground-floor bedroom, Single-level home, and Lift are all filterable directly, so you can narrow results to properties a host has specifically confirmed rather than reading every listing to find out. That said, a filter only reflects what a host has ticked, so it's still worth reading the description and photos closely for anything relevant beyond those six — a genuine look at an entrance, a bathroom, or a doorway often tells you more than a single line of text ever will.

Once you've identified a property that looks promising, message the host directly with your specific need rather than a general question — "Is there a step-free route from parking to the front door?" gets a far more useful answer than "Is this place accessible?", which means different things to different guests depending on the need in question. A host's response, and how directly and confidently they answer, tells you a lot: a host who clearly knows their own property's layout and answers precisely is a good sign; a vague or uncertain answer is worth a follow-up question before you book, not after you arrive.

If a specific feature genuinely matters to your stay — a lift of a certain minimum size, a walk-in shower rather than a bath, a ground-floor bedroom — get it confirmed directly through messaging before booking, not just from the listing description, so there's a clear record if anything turns out to be different from what was said.

How Hosts Can List Accurately

Be genuinely accurate about accessibility-relevant details rather than optimistic — an inaccurate "accessible" claim is worse for a guest than no claim at all, since it sets an expectation that then fails at exactly the moment it matters most. If your property has a lift, note its actual dimensions if you know them; if there's a step at the entrance, say so plainly rather than describing it as "just one small step," which reads very differently to a guest using a wheelchair than it does to you.

Tick the Accessibility amenities that genuinely apply — Step-free entrance, Wide doorways, Accessible bathroom, Ground-floor bedroom, Single-level home, and Lift — in your property's amenities editor, since these are exactly what guests can filter search results by; leaving an accurate one unticked simply means an accessibility-focused guest never sees your property at all. Beyond those six, describe any other practical detail clearly in your listing description itself — exact doorway widths, whether there's a step-free route from parking to the entrance, bathroom layout — since the amenity list covers the most commonly needed features, not every possible one. Treat a guest's accessibility question with the same seriousness and directness you'd want if you were the one asking it, and answer specifically rather than reassuringly — a specific, honest answer serves everyone far better than a vague, encouraging one that turns out not to hold up.

Improving Accessibility Over Time

If you're planning any renovation or change to the property, even a modest one, it's worth considering whether a small adjustment — a ramp instead of a single step, a wider doorway, grab rails in a bathroom — could open the property up to guests who currently rule it out without ever messaging you to ask. These changes don't need to be extensive to make a genuine difference, and they often benefit every guest, not only those who specifically need them.

If you're not certain how your property would read to a guest with a specific need, it's worth asking a guest who's stayed and mentioned something relevant, or simply looking at your own property with fresh eyes for anything you've stopped noticing because you're used to it.

Bringing It Together

The dedicated Accessibility filter narrows a search to properties that genuinely fit, but it works alongside the same tool that works well for almost everything else on the platform: direct, specific communication between guest and host. A guest who asks precisely, and a host who answers honestly and in detail, closes the gap between a ticked amenity and how it actually plays out in person — and a host who takes the time to tick those amenities accurately and describe the rest in the listing itself saves both sides that conversation in the first place.