During a recent period of unrest, an American Express Global Business Travel client needed to evacuate a traveler, a wheelchair user, from Russia. Ensuring her evacuation required extra assurances—chartering a flight on which she would be able to maneuver, making sure someone would be able to help her on and off the aircraft and confirming the hotel had what she needed in her room—but it also required a high-touch service with the traveler throughout her journey.
"It was about compassion, because of the time of unrest she was in and the anxiety," said Penny Clauson, Amex GBT director of global First and VIP services and strategy. "It was staying one step ahead and constant communication throughout the trip that we pride ourselves in."
That's the type of situation for which Amex GBT launched its global accessibility solution, designed to help business travelers with both visible and invisible disabilities during every stage of a business trip. IBM in December was announced as the launch client for the solution, though its origins date back more than a year prior when another client, Google, came to the travel management company with its own vision about accessibility and travel, Clauson said.
In creating the solution, the aim was to have something that is "separate and distinct" to recognize the challenges and needs for travelers with disabilities, which have been "minimally recognized" in business travel, she said. It was designed to go beyond the obvious needs, such as supporting travelers with wheelchair access at airports or those who need service animals.
"It is about us taking that anxiety and trepidation off the plate of the traveler for individuals who have historically shied away from taking jobs in travel, because there are so many challenges for them," Clauson said. "We really wanted to provide guardianship for anyone with auditory, visual, mobility or neurodivergency needs in a deeper fashion."
Among the services in the solution are the Travelers Requiring Specialty Assistance desk, which is staffed by travel counselors specially trained to support accessibility needs. Consultants go through two certification types: one for managing VIP travelers and a special training around different case studies that they might encounter, Clauson said.
When putting the team together, special consideration was given to those employees who have personal experience in working with disabilities. One team coach, for example, has a daughter with cerebral palsy, and one consultant's husband has multiple sclerosis, she said.
The platform also captures special requirements for travelers, with an eye for maintaining their privacy, she said. Anyone who wants to use the desk begins with a one-on-one welcome session where its services are detailed and data is collected.
"We never ask what is your condition or your disability," Clauson said. "What we do is ask if there are any things you need every time you travel—if you travel with an assistant, an emotional support animal or a wheelchair—so they don't have to repeat themselves over and over again."
Such a resource can significantly reduce burdens on travelers, she said. One client, for example, had a traveler who uses a power wheelchair and travels with an assistant and needed to take a long journey by rail. Preparations included knowing where specialty desks were at train stations, which trains have ramps and compartments usable by the traveler and finding a rental company in Munich that could provide the sling the traveler needed to get out of the chair and into bed.
For a neurodivergent traveler, services might include alerting vendors to such needs as having the lights off in the hotel room on arrival or knowing a quiet place in a hotel or airport the traveler can access.
"In today's environment, it would take [travelers] calls to several vendors to figure things out." Clauson said. "We want it to be a very differentiated experience where they won't have to think about those components."
Since its launch in December, the global accessibility solution has added Salesforce as a client and has about eight customers in "various stages of onboarding," Clauson said. Services currently are available in North America and the U.K., and Amex GBT intends to roll it out globally throughout this year, she said.
Clauson said she expects to see "a lot of growth" in the service this year, and every client will bring their own set of needs to be adapted. One client has needs for more than 50 travelers, and others might only have one traveler, but it also can open the doors to employees who are not yet at the company.
"You can bring in more diverse talent if you can find a way to support them," Clauson said. "It's for recruitment internally and externally and is to drive into individuals that they have a safe place to land in their organization and people to support them as they do their job."