Turning travel agencies into accessibility experts
Lioz Amar. CEO, Travaxy
” I got injured during my military service when I was 20 years old and the injury left me confined to a wheelchair. As part of my rehabilitation, I started swimming, which began as a form of physical therapy but very soon became professional and I represented Israel in the 2008 Paralympic Games at the Beijing Olympics in 2008. I got to the finals, placing 8th in the world.”
His motivation to start Travaxy: Traveling can be a hard and exhausting experience for anyone, but for those with disabilities, it is more difficult. I had enough after getting promises from travel agencies that my next holiday will be perfect with the most accessible accommodation. After getting disappointed time after time, I decided that I am going to be the one to change it.
Challenges experienced on his travels: I have quite a few horrifying stories, but one would be a hotel I booked on one of the biggest working online travel agencies. I booked an accessible room and they did have one, but the problem was getting to it. The hotel had two steps getting into the reception area. They promised me that it won’t be a problem, they will help me when going in and out of the hotel whenever I needed to do so, but basically, they didn’t understand the concept of wanting to be independent.
How Travaxy is different from other booking platforms: We have pivoted and are a B2B company. Travaxy Accessible Travel Solutions is turning travel agencies into accessibility experts. Travaxy provides travel agencies, Travel APIs (Application Programming Interface) and Global Distribution Systems a means of booking worry-free holidays. Tailor-made bookings are offered according to specific disability types and needs within seconds, instead of hours and sometimes days. The system operates automatically with existing hotel and flight booking providers allowing travel agencies the added value by not needing to disconnect from existing solutions.
Travaxy is fully automated: We are fully automated for agencies: Hotel offerings by disability type and need + hotel accessibility certificate with more than 90 accessibility parameters, and airline notifications API.
Destinations: We have overall 15 destinations and we keep growing more and more destinations to be served on our B2B side.
Anyone can use Travaxy’s services: Although our initial concept was catering to travelers with disabilities, senior travelers, and their friends and families, anyone can now book through partner agencies.
Most accessible city he’s visited so far:
(1). Berlin
(2). Los Angeles
Main priority areas the travel industry should focus on now that travel is resuming: Attractions and destination services are still one of the top untapped segments.