The Journey To Include People With Disabilities In Research
summary
Hilton describes a phased inclusive research program that started with a paid pilot using an accessibility agency and assistive-technology setups, exposed a call-center non-sighted agent stuck on an inaccessible booking flow, and produced concrete changes: updated personas, a recruiting screener (QR), a panel of 100 -> 500 target, and a 20% quota of participants with disabilities per study. Tools include userTesting and screeners, findings drove leadership buy-in and showed business impact (guests filtering for accessible rooms are ~5× likelier to book).
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chapters (21)
- 0:00Introduction and team overview
- 1:10Level setting on accessibility
- 3:40Disability vs technology focus
- 6:11Accessibility in development lifecycle
- 7:16Why Hilton invests in accessibility
- 9:48Accessibility drives loyalty
- 10:10Curb cut effect and innovation
- 11:37Emerging accessible travel markets
- 13:04User research team structure
- 16:14Inclusive research journey begins
- 18:00Challenges in sustainable research
- 18:20Call center accessibility study
- 19:45Service animal travel research
- 21:09Building the inclusive research framework
- 22:13Accessibility pilot study insights
- 23:44Screen reader usability findings
- 26:30Creating disability personas
- 27:58Formalizing the research program
- 29:23The impact of small inclusive changes
- 31:17Q&A session begins
- 49:35Closing and next steps
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