Beyond Getting Sued: How Hospitality Businesses Can Increase Bookings and Boost SEO with ADA Compliant, Accessible Websites

ADA compliant/accessible website – what does that mean and why should you care? Having your website be accessible (ADA compliant) not only helps you avoid ADA lawsuits, it increases bookings, boosts SEO, improves your property’s reputation, and uplevels your DEI (diversity, equality & inclusion). This webinar will show you how to lean into the opportunity that website accessibility presents for hoteliers.

In this presentation, Accessibility Expert Denise Páne will take you on an interactive and enlightening journey of what “accessible” means in the online world, how to achieve it, the ROI of website accessibility, the risks of ignoring it, and why simply adding an accessibility toolbar to your website is not sufficient to protect you from lawsuits.

Why this topic is essential knowledge:

• There are 1 billion people worldwide who have a disability.
• Everyone deserves equal access to the web and the info and opportunities it provides.
• 71% of websites are not accessible to people with disabilities.
• All websites, unless private (password protected), are required to be accessible.
• There is huge ROI to having an accessible site.
• Legal penalties for non-accessible sites run $50K+.
• $5000 in tax credits for businesses that address website accessibility.
• Accessibility is socially responsible.

Benefits attendees will take away:

1. Relieving the sense that accessibility is something too huge or too confusing to deal with.
2. Empowered and motivated to move forward with accessibility for their site.
3. Sleeping better at night knowing they can greatly reduce their risk of lawsuit.
4. Strategy to increase bookings and profits.
5. Knowledge of how accessibility improves SEO.
6. The ability to greatly uplevel their CSR (corporate social responsibility) and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) policies overnight.

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Speakers

Denise Pane

Founder and CEO

Access Design Studio

Denise Páne is the Founder and CEO of Access Design Studio, the leading expert in ADA compliant, accessible websites for the hospitality industry. A lifelong advocate of people with disabilities (starting with her own Special Olympian brother), Denise boasts over 20 years of hospitality business design expertise, with a special focus on making websites compelling and inviting for people of all abilities. Denise is an Accredited Accessibility Expert and a member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals and the World Wide Web Consortium.