Abletogo.com

Review by Adrian Mann, owner of Adrian Mann Design, providing independent reviews and analysis of travel web sites in the UK.

Recently launched Abletogo.com aims to allow disabled and elderly people to search for hotels, guesthouses and self-catering accommodation that suit their specific needs. It was set up by a team of two, both of whom are disabled, with a history of working as disability advisors. They also wrote a popular guide to pubs, clubs and restaurants, and have used their experience to create this site.

Overall
It looks great – not unlike some brand-name flights sites. The layout is the common ‘buttons on the left, bar across the top’ variety, with a search facility on the home page. It’s light on graphics, so it loads quickly, and doesn’t have any cryptic icons or logos to figure out. The main areas of the site can be reached via the buttons, and there’s an option to take up free membership, which entitles the user to a range of additional benefits and services. This is available to those who are promoting their properties as well as those who are searching.

Content
The core of the site is the property search, which covers hotels and motels, guest houses, self catering, holiday centres and caravans. This has a ‘Quick Search’ and an advanced option, and is accessible from anywhere on the site. Searches can be narrowed down to regions of the UK, and works with a minimum of delay. A sample search for hotels in the Heart of England produced four pages of results, with each one getting a short description, a rating, and a set of self-explanatory icons to show the services provided. Clicking on ‘More’ brings up a page of more detailed information, which specifically addresses issues of concern to the disabled, for instance the provision of specially adapted rooms, slopes and steps, and friendly and helpful staff. The page also covers the location, which includes a map provided by Streetmap.co.uk, a list of facilities, e.g. bar, restaurant, meetings rooms, and the features of the rooms, such as air conditioning, satellite TV and smoking or non-smoking rooms. There’s a separate pop-up window of access information. The level of information here is excellent, including the dimensions of the doors and lifts, the space around the bed, the height of the toilet and bath, car parking and access around the site, and whether or not the premises are classified under the National Accessibility Accommodation Standard.
The search really comes into its own once you’re a registered user. Basic registration takes a few seconds, but there’s a more detailed questionnaire that goes into specific accessibility requirements. Once this information is entered, it’s compared with any premises you select, and gives a ‘Best Fit’ rating, which uses a percentage scale, with 100% being perfect, and 0% completely unsuitable. When the Accessibility Information pop-up appears, the areas are colour coded, with green and a ‘thumbs-up’ showing your requirements are met or exceeded, and red and a ‘thumbs-down’ where they are not.
At the bottom of the page there’s an option to send the information to an email address, which by default is the one entered when you registered, and a link to a printable page, which has all the relevant information on a single A4 page.
Where available the properties have links to their own web sites and email, as well as the address, telephone and fax numbers.
The Members Area has options to change or update your profile, and links to special offers, and a lucky dip, which seems to select a suitable property at random. There’s also an advertisers area for those who have properties featured on the site, and the usual ‘About’ and ‘Terms and Conditions’ pages.

Summary
As I’m neither disabled nor elderly, it’s perhaps presumptuous to pass comment. What I can say is that this is a site of the highest quality, and the level of information contained is comprehensive to say the least. It seems that the authors have gone to great lengths to provide relevant and detailed descriptions of all the featured properties, down to the grade of the slopes that might be encountered.
The use of the persona profile to define the suitability of the accommodation is excellent – I can think of many mainstream travel sites that could learn a thing or two from this site. The design is consistent throughout, no dead links or missing images were encountered, and the whole site was quick and easy to use. Highly recommended – even if you think this site isn’t relevant to you, I would urge you to have a look and see what a properly researched, well made and useful site looks like.