September 29, 2025 • 32 mins
In this episode of Investing in Accessibility, hosts Kelvin Crosby and Chris Maher explore how The Accessibility Lab at The Schoolhouse Hotel in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia is transforming the travel and hospitality industry for people with disabilities.
Chris shares how this innovative partnership between Samaritan Partners, The Schoolhouse Hotel, and TravelAbility is turning a boutique hotel into a living lab for testing cutting-edge accessibility solutions. From smart wayfinding tools like RightHear to cost-effective door openers by We Hear You, and comprehensive accessibility assessments from Wheel the World, The Accessibility Lab is creating a model for universal design that could shape the future of hotels everywhere.
The conversation dives deep into the challenges travelers with disabilities face, the exciting technologies being piloted, and how this project fosters not only accessible travel but also entrepreneurship, inclusive employment, and adaptive outdoor experiences.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, investor, hospitality leader, or accessibility advocate, this episode will open your eyes to the opportunities in building a truly inclusive travel experience.
Links & Resources:
The Accessibility Lab: Web Page
The Schoolhouse Hotel: Website
COMING SOON!
American Sign Language (ASL) and Captioning for each episode will be provided on our YouTube channel. Go to handle @SamaritanPartners.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kelvin Crosby (00:06):
Welcome to Investing in Accessibility, a
Samaritan Partners podcast.
We're not waiting for change,we're investing in it.
Join us as we speak withentrepreneurs and thought
leaders that are focused oncreating a more accessible world
.
(00:31):
Hey, it's so good to see you,even though I can't see you.
It's another beautiful day inthe neighborhood and I'm so
excited that you're here atInvesting in Accessibility.
I'm your host, Kelvin Crosby,and this is my co-host, Chris
Maher.
How you doing, man?
Chris Maher (00:48):
Hey, Kelvin, I'm good buddy, it's good to see you
and to be with you.
We've both been super busy thissummer, so it's nice to carve a
little.
Kelvin Crosby (00:57):
I still have never seen you though.
Chris Maher (00:57):
Yes, you have.
Well, you haven't seen me.
Kelvin Crosby (00:59):
No, no, the, the eyes don't work man, the eyes
don't work.
That's right.
But you've been with me in reallife, in IRL
Yeah, I've been with you.
I couldn't resist that one.
I love giving people a hardtime because people get so.
.
.
he said, see, and he's blind.
Chris Maher (01:19):
By the way, have you noticed that, and you tell
me if this is appropriate ornot, but a number of episodes
ago I started saying, it's greatto see you and to be with you
Kelvin Crosby (01:29):
Yeah, and I noticed that and, and then there
was other times you would, youwould correct yourself.
I'm like awe just leave italone.
Just say see you, you know, andlet me play with it.
Chris Maher (01:42):
All right, there you go.
Kelvin Crosby (01:44):
One of the things , as a person with disability,
deaf/blindness, is going tohotels.
And that is one of thestruggles that I have faced when
I travel and everything.
Going to a hotel and having torely on the people there.
Say, oh, I need to find my room, I need to know layout of my
room, I need to know where thewater is, I need to know where
(02:06):
the ice is, I need to know wherethe front door is, the back
door or whatever, and it'salways a struggle.
I'll never forget a couplemonths ago when traveling to
North Carolina and I got to thehotel and I'm like, where am I?
And I've been to this hotelbefore, but where I got dropped
(02:27):
off.
I had no idea.
So I try to pull up mynavigator app thing that I've
been working with and it worked,but I still wasn't fully
confident where I was at.
And I think, as we talk aboutthis today, is accessibility in
regards to hotels and havingtraveling access I think this is
(02:51):
where I want us to talk abouttoday.
Is really focused on how do wemake hotels more accessible for
all.
And what's really cool is,Chris, you're investing in a
hotel that is solely focused onthis.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit about it?
Chris Maher (03:10):
You got it.
Well, thank you for sharingyour personal experience.
And you're right, travel andhospitality is a huge challenge
for many people within thedisability community, and I'm
involved in a really interestingproject.
I'm not an investor per se, butI'm a partner in a project
around creating what we'recalling, or have called, The
(03:31):
Accessibility Lab, and that iswithin a physical hotel.
And so it's a partnershipbetween Samaritan Partners, my
fund, and The Schoolhouse Hotel,which is a boutique hotel in
White Sulphur Springs, WestVirginia, a wonderfully charming
town in the Greenbrier Countyarea, which we'll talk about a
(03:51):
little bit more, but it's anamazing part of West Virginia
that has a ton of outdooractivities and beautiful scenery
.
And a group that I know verywell took over this hotel in the
last year.
The hotel was originallypurchased and renovated by a
disability group, a group calledthe Disability Opportunity Fund
(04:14):
, which is out of the New Yorkarea.
A man, Charlie Hammerman, runsthat and they purchased an old
schoolhouse.
It is literally an old redbrick school that they then
turned into a boutiqueaccessible hotel.
They put a lot of accessibilityinto the hotel in the living
spaces, in the guest rooms.
There's a restaurant, there's arooftop bar, there's meeting
(04:35):
spaces.
It's probably one of the moreaccessible hotels in the country
, but there's still work to bedone.
And so when this new group tookover the hotel from the DOF, we
got to talking.
And then a third party, anothergood friend, a gentleman named
Jake Steinman, who runs awonderful organization called
TravelAbility, which has beenaround for five or six years,
(04:57):
and Travelability is all aboutaccessible travel and
hospitality.
And Jake has had a long careerin travel and hospitality and
saw this gap in the market, toyour point, Kelvin, Jake saw it
many years ago that travel andhospitality is not accessible
enough for people withdisabilities.
(05:18):
And so he started TravelAbility, which is a wonderful
organization that is all aboutaccessible tourism and
hospitality, and they're thethird partner in this lab.
And so what The AccessibilityLab is about is turning this
boutique hotel into anoperational testing lab, a
living lab for accessibleproducts and services and
(05:39):
technology that we can bringinto this physical environment,
a working hotel, and test themout.
We can get guests feedback,give feedback to the
entrepreneurs, we can get it infront of other hospitality
brands and players withintourism and it's a win-win for
everybody.
And so super excited about, thelaunch of The Accessibility Lab
(06:00):
and the work that we're goingto be doing.
Kelvin Crosby (06:01):
Yeah, and I think what's really really, really
cool is it truly is a lab.
It's a lab testing outaccessibility for all, because
the idea of creating a universalaccess type hotel is kind of a
foreign concept.
But at the same time as wepractice and we learn and we
(06:25):
grow and we create and innovate,it's essentially going to be
part of our mold of society,just kind of like the curb
effect or the caption effect, orjust when we think about it,
you start working on thesethings, then it just becomes
(06:45):
part of everybody's life and wejust we live with it, we we mold
to it, we shape to it.
And that that is something thatI think is extremely powerful
about The Accessibility Labbecause, like you guys are
bringing in a new type of dooractuator, you're bringing in
(07:06):
navigation, you're bringing inother access things, and the
other thing is there's evenopportunity for artists and
other people with disabilitiesto grow their businesses and so
forth.
I think this is something thatwe really never had before and
it also gives people theopportunity to really get a
(07:32):
foothold of what it's going tolook like, and with the bigger
hotels and the smaller hotels,we can create what this is going
to look like for all people.
Like if I want to make my hotelmore accessible, here's some
options, here's some cheaperoptions, here's more expensive
options, here's more simpleroptions and here's just options
(07:55):
that are kind of hidden.
But people that havedisabilities that use those type
of hidden navigations or access, they're gonna be able to do it
.
So why don't we get into kindof the key companies that are
currently partnering with youguys at The Accessibility Lab?
Chris Maher (08:12):
Yeah, and, and so thank, thank you for that setup.
I think, before we get intosome of the companies that we're
bringing in, kind of in thefirst phase, just to reiterate
what you said, this is a win,win, win across the board.
And so, first and foremost,this is a win for travelers with
disabilities, right.
We're going to start to testand validate products and
(08:36):
services and technologies thatcan enhance the traveler
experience.
To make that travel experiencemuch more accessible.
And so that obviously is ofprimary importance here.
Part of that is in the testingof these products and services
that we bring in, it's aboutmaking sure they work, making
(08:57):
sure they work the right way,making sure they are delivering
the value that was intended forthe guest, but also starting to
really trying to help theentrepreneur, the companies, how
to scale it.
And you mentioned that before.
Scale is what's criticallyimportant.
It's one thing to put it into aboutique 30 room hotel in West
Virginia.
It's another thing to put itacross the Hilton Hotel Network
(09:19):
or the Wyndham Hotel Network orthe Marriott Hotel Network, and
so, hopefully, what TheAccessibility Lab can do is to
help figure out the scale aspectof these products and services
for these companies andentrepreneurs.
So, first and foremost, it'sabout enhancing the traveler
experience.
It's obviously great for theentrepreneurs.
They have the chance to bringtheir products into a working
(09:43):
operational environment toimplement it, to get guest
feedback, to iterate it, etcetera.
And then, part of our goal iswe want to also give them some
free advice and mentoring.
There might be some opportunityfor investment from our
partnership group that's runningthe lab, but it's also giving
them exposure to the broaderhospitality network.
To other hospitality brands andtourism brands, to really help
(10:05):
them accelerate their revenuefrom a commercial standpoint.
It's good for hospitalityleaders, right, the brands out
there that are running andoperating physical locations.
We're going to give theminsight into these early stage
innovative solutions that we'rebringing into the lab as
solutions that they can thenimplement, bring to their larger
(10:26):
platforms of tourism andhospitality.
So it's a win for them.
And then, lastly, for investorslike myself, and we're going to
bring other private capital tothe table and not just
disability investors but impactinvestors and more traditional
investors, it's a chance tomarket validate and de-risk
investment opportunities becausewe're going to see it in action
in a live operationalenvironment.
(10:47):
So, it just checks the win boxfor everybody that's involved,
which is great.
So, the hotel, as I said, theSchoolhouse Hotel, already had a
lot of accessibility in it.
That was the vision of theoriginal owners, the DOF.
There's more work to be done.
We decided that the first thingthat we needed to do was to
(11:08):
just do an assessment of thepresent accessibility in the
physical hotel.
And so to do that we actuallybrought in a company that
Samaritan has already investedin called Wheel the World.
And Wheel the World has twoparts to their business.
One is they are a traditionalbooking travel site like an
Expedia or a Priceline, but forpeople with disabilities.
(11:31):
So all the inventory— thehotels, the resorts, et cetera
on their website— have all beenvalidated for accessibility by
the Wheel the World team, andthen they guarantee those
bookings on their site.
That's how they started as abusiness.
But over the last couple ofyears, probably the faster
growing part of their businessis a B2B software business that
(11:56):
they have launched, which iscalled Accessibility Verified or
Destination Verified.
That is where they go intolocations, destinations or
hotels like The Schoolhouse, andthey'll do an assessment.
They will go through, top tobottom, they validate on 200
plus data points ofaccessibility of how that
(12:18):
property, in this case TheSchoolhouse Hotel was doing for
accessibility.
Now The Schoolhouse Hotel gradedout very high on accessibility,
but we also identified someareas of opportunities for
improvement.
And you named two of them aboutyour own personal experience.
So blind/ low vision and deaf/hard of hearing, right.
So navigation and wayfinding isan area where the hotel can
(12:43):
improve and we've brought in acompany around navigation and
wayfinding and the other one isaround ASL interpretation.
And so that was an area ofimprovement for the hotel and
we're talking to a company aboutbringing their service into the
hotel.
So the first thing we did wasbaseline assessment of the
present accessibility for thephysical hotel with Wheel of the
(13:05):
World, and then we're bringingin additional companies around
some of the areas of opportunitythat we've seen.
Kelvin Crosby (13:11):
Well, and I think that's what's exciting, like,
let's just be honest.
Has there ever been a hotelfully accessible to people who
are deaf/ blind?
I mean, think about it.
Helene Keller, let's talk aboutthat story because when Ann
Sullivan and, I forget herhusband's name, but there was
(13:33):
one time they were extremelysick at a hotel, Helen Keller
was by herself.
She didn't have a way tocommunicate to the front desk,
she didn't have any access tothe world to get that
information back.
And from the story, she wasguided there so she didn't have
(13:54):
everything fully mapped out tohave access.
This is something that isextremely concerning.
I mean, today, deaf/blindpeople, we have our equipment,
we have Braille displays, wehave our phones where we can
receive audio in and try tocapture that information.
Do different things like that.
(14:15):
When we think aboutaccessibility and creating these
opportunities for people withdisabilities, and I'm a little
biased, but kind of focusing onthe deaf/blind side is one of
the hardest things to createaccessibility for, because those
are two senses that we use tocommunicate.
(14:43):
And that's where, how do wecreate that accessibility for
all, and for all people withdifferent types of disabilities.
And I think you're hittingright on it.
How are we going to do that?
What does that look like?
What is that innovation goingto be needed to do that?
Chris Maher (14:59):
Kelvin you've talked about that on previous
episodes where if you can solvefor the deaf/blind, you're
solving for everybody becauseit's so complex and that I think
speaks to universal design orhuman centered design that we
talk we've talked a lot about onthe podcast over many episodes
(15:20):
where when you're, when you'retaking that sort of approach,
you know a universal designapproach, then typically it's
going to be better for thelargest group of people, not for
a small portion of the people.
Is it going to be perfect foreveryone?
Probably not, and you'll stillneed some accommodations.
(15:41):
But when you take that approachwhere you're involving the
community in that design processand that development process,
then you're likely to makesomething that's not only good
for the people that it'sinitially intended to, but it's
going to good for probably amuch larger portion of the
general population.
Hence the curb cut effect andwhich our friend Larry Goldberg
(16:05):
has moved us on from curb cuteffect to the captioning effect.
And there are a growing numberof examples of that when most of
what is designed and built forpeople with disabilities ends up
being also good for the generalpopulation.
The opposite of that is rarelytrue.
When your building for thegeneral population that's
typically excluding people withdisabilities and it is not
(16:27):
useful or valuable to them.
So we're trying to take thatapproach with The Accessibility
Lab and incorporate as much ofthat as we can.
A couple of other companiesthat we're bringing into the lab
and we'll hopefully have theirCEOs on the podcast.
We've already had AlvaroSilberstein, who's the
co-founder and CEO of Wheel ofthe World.
He was on one of our earliestpodcasts to talk about
(16:48):
accessible travel, which is agreat episode and people should
go listen to it if they have thetime.
But a company you referencedearlier has developed a new door
hinge that can essentially turnany door into an accessible
door, and it's a company thatthe product is called the Hero
Door Opener.
The parent company is called WeHear you, but the Hero Door
(17:11):
Opener is a lightweight, muchmore affordable door hinge
versus a traditional ADA doorthat you or I could install
ourselves.
And you don't need anelectrician to hardwire it.
You just plug it into an outletand you're good to go.
What's really cool about thatis, and Kelvin I'd love for you
to speak to this, it's one thingto have ADA doors for the doors
(17:35):
going into the hotel and thepublic spaces, but usually none
of the guest room doors are theADA, the accessible button and
hinge, and those doors areridiculously heavy.
And so what's really excitingabout their product in a very
affordable way, that you couldput their hinges on every guest
(17:56):
room in a hotel, because it'snot just say a person who's a
wheelchair user.
It could be a person who hasmobility challenges or somebody
who is maybe older in age andstrength and grip is a challenge
for them, and it ends up beinggood for everybody.
And just think about a mom witha couple of kids and she's
carrying a ton of bags.
How does she get the key cardout and not only do that, but
(18:20):
then open this really heavy doorand get everybody inside.
And so you know the Hero dooropener they're putting a number
of their hinges in the hotel andwe'll have more on that at a
future date, but super excitedabout that.
And then another company thatwe've brought into the hotel is
around wave, is aroundnavigation and wayfinding, which
(18:41):
is a company called Right Hear,and they've got a technology
that's mostly QR code based andwith a little bit of beacons,
that they can turn any physicalor, honestly, even outdoor
space, they're doing a lot ofwork with, like national parks
and state parks, where, with theuse of a smartphone, all of a
sudden a space— take a lobby,hotel, or the lobby of a hotel,
(19:04):
a restaurant, your room, ahallway— you can now navigate
that with their, simply theirapp on a phone within that
environment, which is reallycool.
And it's not just hey, take fivesteps forward, take a right,
take two steps forward, take aleft.
It's also providing context.
So it's letting you know oh,you're standing in the lobby and
they'll describe the lobby.
(19:24):
It'll tell you oh, over to theright is the front desk.
If you go past the front deskon the left, you walk into the
restaurant.
So it's providing not onlywayfinding, specific navigation,
but also context of theenvironment.
Kelvin Crosby (19:38):
Yeah, Well, I mean, I think I'm looking
forward to testing this out.
I've actually never tried thismyself and so I'm looking to see
how accurate it is.
I mean, Mike May and I, weshould go do this together.
Chris Maher (19:52):
That would be awesome.
You know we would love to getyou to the hotel to test out a
lot of this stuff.
Kelvin Crosby (20:00):
Yeah, I mean, I'm looking forward to be able to
kind of have that experience andbecause, honestly, it sounds
like this almost could besomething that it could be crowd
built, where, all right, we goto a conference or go to a hotel
and say, all right, can I putthese QR codes throughout the
(20:26):
hotel to navigate where my dooris, or something like that.
I mean, man, that could solve alot of problems really fast and
give you really goodinformation to be able to work
through some of those strugglesfor visually impaired
individuals.
And I'm curious, as TheAccessibility Lab is kind of
moving forward, how is TheAccessibility Lab looking at not
(20:51):
just accessibility but lookingat entrepreneurs that have
disabilities and really growingthat opportunity?
Chris Maher (21:00):
It's a great question.
So there's a couple otheraspects of The Accessibility Lab
and the hotel that the newowners really want to expand
upon as things go forward.
So one is, you know, certainlywith the companies that we bring
into The Accessibility Lab totest out their products and
(21:21):
services in the physical andoperational environment, many of
those companies, the foundersand leaders are people with
disabilities.
You know, you look at Alvaro ofWheel of the World, the first
company we brought into the lab.
He's a wheelchair user, right,he had an accident when he was a
teenager and he's aquadriplegic and as a wheelchair
(21:42):
user, and he started hiscompany out of that lived
experience.
Like you, have the manyfrustrations of trying to travel
as a wheelchair user.
And so I think that will.
It may not be a hundred percentof the companies we bring in,
but certainly I think asignificant number will be led
by entrepreneurs withdisabilities.
A nd by the way, certainly wewant to bring in companies that
(22:05):
have products and services thathave the potential to scale, but
there may be others we bring inthat, you know, this probably
isn't a big market opportunity,but it's going to be really good
, specifically for TheSchoolhouse Hotel, and so it
might be more of like, as we'vetalked in previous episodes, a
lifestyle business or somethingthat maybe isn't venture
investment worthy but is still avery worthwhile product or
(22:29):
service to build because it'sgoing to create a lot of value
and enhance the lives of manypeople, and so I think we'll
also have companies like that.
There are kind of two otherstools to the three-legged stool
that the hotel has a vision for, one of which the previous
owner was doing and the newowners are continuing to do,
(22:49):
which is inclusive orintegrative employment, and so
they do have people withdisabilities in the local
community who work at the hotel.
They have a couple that Ibelieve are part-time and or
full-time, you know, fullsalaried, and then they also
work with a local organizationin the community there in
Greenbrier that support adultswith disabilities, and they are
(23:14):
working with them to bring anumber of people from the local
community into the hotel on aweekly basis to do work at
work-related activities.
And so that's something theywant to expand upon.
And there are some wonderfulexamples in hospitality.
One of which I think is kind oflike a beacon for inclusive and
(23:34):
integrated employment is ahotel in Clemson, South Carolina
, called The Shepherd Hotel, andthey've got I think it's close
to 50% of their employees arepeople with disabilities.
And so there is an example anda playbook out there for how to
do that well, and so they wantto expand upon that.
(23:54):
And then the third thing thatthey haven't touched yet but is
a big opportunity which I thinkwill enhance their business, is
connecting with local groupsthat are providing outdoor
activities for people and topartner with them and to get
them to develop adaptive andaccessible experiences.
(24:15):
So kayaking, archery there'scamping, hiking, climbing,
skiing.
There's a couple of skimountains that are within like
an hour drive from from thehotel.
There are several lakes.
It's a wonderfully beautifulcommunity with lots of outdoor
activities, horseback ridinganother one, that they want to
(24:39):
really work with those groups,not only to serve their guests
for typical experiences, butalso adaptive and accessible
experiences.
So that's kind of, if you thinkabout it, it's like making the
physical hotel as accessible andadaptable as possible,
enhancing and increasing theintegrated employment they're
(25:00):
doing, and then also connectingwith outdoor adaptive and
accessible experiences.
And so I think it's a wonderfulvision they have.
I'm super excited to just playa role in that.
First phase is very much TheAccessibility Lab, the physical
environment of the operationalhotel, and then we'll build upon
that with employment and theoutdoor experiences beyond that.
Kelvin Crosby (25:19):
Well, I mean it's just super exciting.
And it's super exciting to kindof see this start coming
together and like we gotinnovation, we're giving access
to employment opportunities andwe're literally creating more
environments for access for all.
And that's the part that I'mjust like man, this is going to
(25:41):
be good, this is going to beawesome.
And I'd be interested if youwere an entrepreneur and you
were more on like a product,like pottery or painting, or
more on the artsy side, like doyou think The Accessibility Lab
would have a space for somethinglike that?
Chris Maher (26:04):
I think there's the potential for it, and you and I
have talked about that withyour own pottery, and I think
that, as the new owners justkind of get settled in running
the operation and really gettheir arms around everything,
yeah, I do think there ispotentially an opportunity for
that.
I mean, they've got they've gotsome open spaces there where you
know I think they could createsome space to highlight artists
(26:29):
like yourself around artwork andpottery etc.
I also think they have a visionof trying to make the hotel a
destination for groups to haveevents there.
And they're doing a lot of that, but that's more probably like
weddings and family reunions andstuff, but but more businesses
coming there to convene aroundaccessibility, inclusion, et
(26:51):
cetera for their own businessesor for their customers and
holding that meeting in ahopefully what's going to soon
to be a almost fully accessiblehotel.
So I think that's a possibilityand something that I know you
and I are going to talk aboutmore with the new owners and see
(27:12):
where we can get on that.
But it's exciting, it's anexciting time.
I think that we're just at thebeginning of it.
I think you and I willperiodically continue to talk
about this on future episodesand certainly bring in the
entrepreneurs whose products andservices that we're bringing
into the hotel for forconversations to talk about what
that experience is like.
Kelvin Crosby (27:32):
It's super and in so many, so many ways it
becomes, it's something that isit's going to be a model for so
many different other spacesthroughout the country.
And it's just, oh man, I'm justexcited about it, you know so
it's fun.
Chris Maher (27:52):
On that about kind of becoming a model, becoming a
template, right, that's one ofthe things the owners of the
hotel, they want to createsomething that is an example for
the rest of the industry.
What they did when they tookover the hotel, and this was
intentional on their part, isthey started a partnership with
(28:13):
Wyndham, the hotel chain.
And so The Schoolhouse Hotel isnow a part of what's called the
Wyndham Trademark Collection,so they're part of the Wyndham
Hotel Network and that's tens ofthousands of hotels around the
country.
And so, I am hopeful that ispartly because Wyndham see what
they are doing aroundaccessibility and they realize
that that is a template for thefuture.
And if we go back to some ofthe numbers that Alvaro threw
(28:41):
out on the episode with himabout the size of the travel
market and specifically likeaccessible tourism, I mean it's
a multi hundred billion dollarmarket.
And when you really think aboutit, and I think this is where
tourism and hospitality they getit and they're leaning into
this, which is super exciting.
(29:03):
They know that people withdisabilities like to travel just
as much as people withoutdisabilities, and they have
realized that people withdisabilities tend to travel with
their friends and families andcaregivers.
And if you can't accommodate,say, the one person with a
disability in the group, wellthen the whole group is likely
going somewhere else.
And so you go from thinking, oh, people with disabilities, it's
(29:25):
one in six people you know inthe population, and so what's it
15 to 18 percent of my customeropportunity.
But when you add in the family,friends, and caregivers, that
number jumps to like 60 pluspercent.
And so that's a massive part ofyour customer base and you're
(29:53):
leaving a lot of money on thetable If you're not thinking
about how to provide them withmore accessible and better and
equitable experiences, you aregoing to be at a disadvantage
very soon, I think, in tourismand hospitality and travel, if
you're not thinking about thattoday.
Kelvin Crosby (30:04):
As we wrap up here.
The opportunities are massiveand the growth in some ways.
We're not sure where the growthis, but the numbers, the data
is all showing a really good foryour return on investment.
You really think this throughand that's the really cool part
(30:27):
behind all of this.
So is there any last words youwant to kind of drop down here?
Chris Maher (30:32):
The only thing I would say is, and we'll put a
link in the show notes, but ifthere are any companies that are
listening to this, orhospitality brands, if you're
interested in getting in touchwith us at The Accessibility Lab
about partnerships and or youfeel like you've got a product
or service that would beappropriate for The
(30:53):
Accessibility Lab and cominginto the physical environment,
if you just go to thesamaritanpartners.
com website, there is a tab forThe Accessibility Lab.
We have a form there that youcan fill out and submit and that
will come through to us andthen we'll follow up.
That's probably the best way toreach out and get in touch with
us about The Accessibility Laband we'll put that in the show
notes.
Kelvin Crosby (31:13):
Awesome.
Well, Chris, this has been funand that wraps up Investing in
Accessibility.
Go live beyond your challengesand we'll see you in two weeks.
Thank you for listening toInvesting in Accessibility, a
(31:37):
Samaritan Partners podcast wherewe invest in change, for
accessibility, not wait forchange.
If you want to follow us, youcan find us on YouTube or
LinkedIn at @Samaritan Partners.
If you would like to invest inSamaritan Partners, email Chris
at chris@samaritanpartners.
com.
If you'd like to learn moreabout us, go to www.
(31:57):
samaritanpartners.
com.
You can take the first step ininvesting in change by giving us
five stars and sharing thispodcast with everybody that you
know, so we can spread the word,so that we can give access to
all by Investing inAccessibility.
Welcome to Investing in Accessibility, a
Samaritan Partners podcast.
We're not waiting for change,we're investing in it.
Join us as we speak withentrepreneurs and thought
leaders that are focused oncreating a more accessible world
.
(00:31):
Hey, it's so good to see you,even though I can't see you.
It's another beautiful day inthe neighborhood and I'm so
excited that you're here atInvesting in Accessibility.
I'm your host, Kelvin Crosby,and this is my co-host, Chris
Maher.
How you doing, man?
Chris Maher (00:48):
Hey, Kelvin, I'm good buddy, it's good to see you
and to be with you.
We've both been super busy thissummer, so it's nice to carve a
little.
Kelvin Crosby (00:57):
I still have never seen you though.
Chris Maher (00:57):
Yes, you have.
Well, you haven't seen me.
Kelvin Crosby (00:59):
No, no, the, the eyes don't work man, the eyes
don't work.
That's right.
But you've been with me in reallife, in IRL
Yeah, I've been with you.
I couldn't resist that one.
I love giving people a hardtime because people get so.
.
.
he said, see, and he's blind.
Chris Maher (01:19):
By the way, have you noticed that, and you tell
me if this is appropriate ornot, but a number of episodes
ago I started saying, it's greatto see you and to be with you
Kelvin Crosby (01:29):
Yeah, and I noticed that and, and then there
was other times you would, youwould correct yourself.
I'm like awe just leave italone.
Just say see you, you know, andlet me play with it.
Chris Maher (01:42):
All right, there you go.
Kelvin Crosby (01:44):
One of the things , as a person with disability,
deaf/blindness, is going tohotels.
And that is one of thestruggles that I have faced when
I travel and everything.
Going to a hotel and having torely on the people there.
Say, oh, I need to find my room, I need to know layout of my
room, I need to know where thewater is, I need to know where
(02:06):
the ice is, I need to know wherethe front door is, the back
door or whatever, and it'salways a struggle.
I'll never forget a couplemonths ago when traveling to
North Carolina and I got to thehotel and I'm like, where am I?
And I've been to this hotelbefore, but where I got dropped
(02:27):
off.
I had no idea.
So I try to pull up mynavigator app thing that I've
been working with and it worked,but I still wasn't fully
confident where I was at.
And I think, as we talk aboutthis today, is accessibility in
regards to hotels and havingtraveling access I think this is
(02:51):
where I want us to talk abouttoday.
Is really focused on how do wemake hotels more accessible for
all.
And what's really cool is,Chris, you're investing in a
hotel that is solely focused onthis.
Why don't you tell us a littlebit about it?
Chris Maher (03:10):
You got it.
Well, thank you for sharingyour personal experience.
And you're right, travel andhospitality is a huge challenge
for many people within thedisability community, and I'm
involved in a really interestingproject.
I'm not an investor per se, butI'm a partner in a project
around creating what we'recalling, or have called, The
(03:31):
Accessibility Lab, and that iswithin a physical hotel.
And so it's a partnershipbetween Samaritan Partners, my
fund, and The Schoolhouse Hotel,which is a boutique hotel in
White Sulphur Springs, WestVirginia, a wonderfully charming
town in the Greenbrier Countyarea, which we'll talk about a
(03:51):
little bit more, but it's anamazing part of West Virginia
that has a ton of outdooractivities and beautiful scenery
.
And a group that I know verywell took over this hotel in the
last year.
The hotel was originallypurchased and renovated by a
disability group, a group calledthe Disability Opportunity Fund
(04:14):
, which is out of the New Yorkarea.
A man, Charlie Hammerman, runsthat and they purchased an old
schoolhouse.
It is literally an old redbrick school that they then
turned into a boutiqueaccessible hotel.
They put a lot of accessibilityinto the hotel in the living
spaces, in the guest rooms.
There's a restaurant, there's arooftop bar, there's meeting
(04:35):
spaces.
It's probably one of the moreaccessible hotels in the country
, but there's still work to bedone.
And so when this new group tookover the hotel from the DOF, we
got to talking.
And then a third party, anothergood friend, a gentleman named
Jake Steinman, who runs awonderful organization called
TravelAbility, which has beenaround for five or six years,
(04:57):
and Travelability is all aboutaccessible travel and
hospitality.
And Jake has had a long careerin travel and hospitality and
saw this gap in the market, toyour point, Kelvin, Jake saw it
many years ago that travel andhospitality is not accessible
enough for people withdisabilities.
(05:18):
And so he started TravelAbility, which is a wonderful
organization that is all aboutaccessible tourism and
hospitality, and they're thethird partner in this lab.
And so what The AccessibilityLab is about is turning this
boutique hotel into anoperational testing lab, a
living lab for accessibleproducts and services and
(05:39):
technology that we can bringinto this physical environment,
a working hotel, and test themout.
We can get guests feedback,give feedback to the
entrepreneurs, we can get it infront of other hospitality
brands and players withintourism and it's a win-win for
everybody.
And so super excited about, thelaunch of The Accessibility Lab
(06:00):
and the work that we're goingto be doing.
Kelvin Crosby (06:01):
Yeah, and I think what's really really, really
cool is it truly is a lab.
It's a lab testing outaccessibility for all, because
the idea of creating a universalaccess type hotel is kind of a
foreign concept.
But at the same time as wepractice and we learn and we
(06:25):
grow and we create and innovate,it's essentially going to be
part of our mold of society,just kind of like the curb
effect or the caption effect, orjust when we think about it,
you start working on thesethings, then it just becomes
(06:45):
part of everybody's life and wejust we live with it, we we mold
to it, we shape to it.
And that that is something thatI think is extremely powerful
about The Accessibility Labbecause, like you guys are
bringing in a new type of dooractuator, you're bringing in
(07:06):
navigation, you're bringing inother access things, and the
other thing is there's evenopportunity for artists and
other people with disabilitiesto grow their businesses and so
forth.
I think this is something thatwe really never had before and
it also gives people theopportunity to really get a
(07:32):
foothold of what it's going tolook like, and with the bigger
hotels and the smaller hotels,we can create what this is going
to look like for all people.
Like if I want to make my hotelmore accessible, here's some
options, here's some cheaperoptions, here's more expensive
options, here's more simpleroptions and here's just options
(07:55):
that are kind of hidden.
But people that havedisabilities that use those type
of hidden navigations or access, they're gonna be able to do it
.
So why don't we get into kindof the key companies that are
currently partnering with youguys at The Accessibility Lab?
Chris Maher (08:12):
Yeah, and, and so thank, thank you for that setup.
I think, before we get intosome of the companies that we're
bringing in, kind of in thefirst phase, just to reiterate
what you said, this is a win,win, win across the board.
And so, first and foremost,this is a win for travelers with
disabilities, right.
We're going to start to testand validate products and
(08:36):
services and technologies thatcan enhance the traveler
experience.
To make that travel experiencemuch more accessible.
And so that obviously is ofprimary importance here.
Part of that is in the testingof these products and services
that we bring in, it's aboutmaking sure they work, making
(08:57):
sure they work the right way,making sure they are delivering
the value that was intended forthe guest, but also starting to
really trying to help theentrepreneur, the companies, how
to scale it.
And you mentioned that before.
Scale is what's criticallyimportant.
It's one thing to put it into aboutique 30 room hotel in West
Virginia.
It's another thing to put itacross the Hilton Hotel Network
(09:19):
or the Wyndham Hotel Network orthe Marriott Hotel Network, and
so, hopefully, what TheAccessibility Lab can do is to
help figure out the scale aspectof these products and services
for these companies andentrepreneurs.
So, first and foremost, it'sabout enhancing the traveler
experience.
It's obviously great for theentrepreneurs.
They have the chance to bringtheir products into a working
(09:43):
operational environment toimplement it, to get guest
feedback, to iterate it, etcetera.
And then, part of our goal iswe want to also give them some
free advice and mentoring.
There might be some opportunityfor investment from our
partnership group that's runningthe lab, but it's also giving
them exposure to the broaderhospitality network.
To other hospitality brands andtourism brands, to really help
(10:05):
them accelerate their revenuefrom a commercial standpoint.
It's good for hospitalityleaders, right, the brands out
there that are running andoperating physical locations.
We're going to give theminsight into these early stage
innovative solutions that we'rebringing into the lab as
solutions that they can thenimplement, bring to their larger
(10:26):
platforms of tourism andhospitality.
So it's a win for them.
And then, lastly, for investorslike myself, and we're going to
bring other private capital tothe table and not just
disability investors but impactinvestors and more traditional
investors, it's a chance tomarket validate and de-risk
investment opportunities becausewe're going to see it in action
in a live operationalenvironment.
(10:47):
So, it just checks the win boxfor everybody that's involved,
which is great.
So, the hotel, as I said, theSchoolhouse Hotel, already had a
lot of accessibility in it.
That was the vision of theoriginal owners, the DOF.
There's more work to be done.
We decided that the first thingthat we needed to do was to
(11:08):
just do an assessment of thepresent accessibility in the
physical hotel.
And so to do that we actuallybrought in a company that
Samaritan has already investedin called Wheel the World.
And Wheel the World has twoparts to their business.
One is they are a traditionalbooking travel site like an
Expedia or a Priceline, but forpeople with disabilities.
(11:31):
So all the inventory— thehotels, the resorts, et cetera
on their website— have all beenvalidated for accessibility by
the Wheel the World team, andthen they guarantee those
bookings on their site.
That's how they started as abusiness.
But over the last couple ofyears, probably the faster
growing part of their businessis a B2B software business that
(11:56):
they have launched, which iscalled Accessibility Verified or
Destination Verified.
That is where they go intolocations, destinations or
hotels like The Schoolhouse, andthey'll do an assessment.
They will go through, top tobottom, they validate on 200
plus data points ofaccessibility of how that
(12:18):
property, in this case TheSchoolhouse Hotel was doing for
accessibility.
Now The Schoolhouse Hotel gradedout very high on accessibility,
but we also identified someareas of opportunities for
improvement.
And you named two of them aboutyour own personal experience.
So blind/ low vision and deaf/hard of hearing, right.
So navigation and wayfinding isan area where the hotel can
(12:43):
improve and we've brought in acompany around navigation and
wayfinding and the other one isaround ASL interpretation.
And so that was an area ofimprovement for the hotel and
we're talking to a company aboutbringing their service into the
hotel.
So the first thing we did wasbaseline assessment of the
present accessibility for thephysical hotel with Wheel of the
(13:05):
World, and then we're bringingin additional companies around
some of the areas of opportunitythat we've seen.
Kelvin Crosby (13:11):
Well, and I think that's what's exciting, like,
let's just be honest.
Has there ever been a hotelfully accessible to people who
are deaf/ blind?
I mean, think about it.
Helene Keller, let's talk aboutthat story because when Ann
Sullivan and, I forget herhusband's name, but there was
(13:33):
one time they were extremelysick at a hotel, Helen Keller
was by herself.
She didn't have a way tocommunicate to the front desk,
she didn't have any access tothe world to get that
information back.
And from the story, she wasguided there so she didn't have
(13:54):
everything fully mapped out tohave access.
This is something that isextremely concerning.
I mean, today, deaf/blindpeople, we have our equipment,
we have Braille displays, wehave our phones where we can
receive audio in and try tocapture that information.
Do different things like that.
(14:15):
When we think aboutaccessibility and creating these
opportunities for people withdisabilities, and I'm a little
biased, but kind of focusing onthe deaf/blind side is one of
the hardest things to createaccessibility for, because those
are two senses that we use tocommunicate.
(14:43):
And that's where, how do wecreate that accessibility for
all, and for all people withdifferent types of disabilities.
And I think you're hittingright on it.
How are we going to do that?
What does that look like?
What is that innovation goingto be needed to do that?
Chris Maher (14:59):
Kelvin you've talked about that on previous
episodes where if you can solvefor the deaf/blind, you're
solving for everybody becauseit's so complex and that I think
speaks to universal design orhuman centered design that we
talk we've talked a lot about onthe podcast over many episodes
(15:20):
where when you're, when you'retaking that sort of approach,
you know a universal designapproach, then typically it's
going to be better for thelargest group of people, not for
a small portion of the people.
Is it going to be perfect foreveryone?
Probably not, and you'll stillneed some accommodations.
(15:41):
But when you take that approachwhere you're involving the
community in that design processand that development process,
then you're likely to makesomething that's not only good
for the people that it'sinitially intended to, but it's
going to good for probably amuch larger portion of the
general population.
Hence the curb cut effect andwhich our friend Larry Goldberg
(16:05):
has moved us on from curb cuteffect to the captioning effect.
And there are a growing numberof examples of that when most of
what is designed and built forpeople with disabilities ends up
being also good for the generalpopulation.
The opposite of that is rarelytrue.
When your building for thegeneral population that's
typically excluding people withdisabilities and it is not
(16:27):
useful or valuable to them.
So we're trying to take thatapproach with The Accessibility
Lab and incorporate as much ofthat as we can.
A couple of other companiesthat we're bringing into the lab
and we'll hopefully have theirCEOs on the podcast.
We've already had AlvaroSilberstein, who's the
co-founder and CEO of Wheel ofthe World.
He was on one of our earliestpodcasts to talk about
(16:48):
accessible travel, which is agreat episode and people should
go listen to it if they have thetime.
But a company you referencedearlier has developed a new door
hinge that can essentially turnany door into an accessible
door, and it's a company thatthe product is called the Hero
Door Opener.
The parent company is called WeHear you, but the Hero Door
(17:11):
Opener is a lightweight, muchmore affordable door hinge
versus a traditional ADA doorthat you or I could install
ourselves.
And you don't need anelectrician to hardwire it.
You just plug it into an outletand you're good to go.
What's really cool about thatis, and Kelvin I'd love for you
to speak to this, it's one thingto have ADA doors for the doors
(17:35):
going into the hotel and thepublic spaces, but usually none
of the guest room doors are theADA, the accessible button and
hinge, and those doors areridiculously heavy.
And so what's really excitingabout their product in a very
affordable way, that you couldput their hinges on every guest
(17:56):
room in a hotel, because it'snot just say a person who's a
wheelchair user.
It could be a person who hasmobility challenges or somebody
who is maybe older in age andstrength and grip is a challenge
for them, and it ends up beinggood for everybody.
And just think about a mom witha couple of kids and she's
carrying a ton of bags.
How does she get the key cardout and not only do that, but
(18:20):
then open this really heavy doorand get everybody inside.
And so you know the Hero dooropener they're putting a number
of their hinges in the hotel andwe'll have more on that at a
future date, but super excitedabout that.
And then another company thatwe've brought into the hotel is
around wave, is aroundnavigation and wayfinding, which
(18:41):
is a company called Right Hear,and they've got a technology
that's mostly QR code based andwith a little bit of beacons,
that they can turn any physicalor, honestly, even outdoor
space, they're doing a lot ofwork with, like national parks
and state parks, where, with theuse of a smartphone, all of a
sudden a space— take a lobby,hotel, or the lobby of a hotel,
(19:04):
a restaurant, your room, ahallway— you can now navigate
that with their, simply theirapp on a phone within that
environment, which is reallycool.
And it's not just hey, take fivesteps forward, take a right,
take two steps forward, take aleft.
It's also providing context.
So it's letting you know oh,you're standing in the lobby and
they'll describe the lobby.
(19:24):
It'll tell you oh, over to theright is the front desk.
If you go past the front deskon the left, you walk into the
restaurant.
So it's providing not onlywayfinding, specific navigation,
but also context of theenvironment.
Kelvin Crosby (19:38):
Yeah, Well, I mean, I think I'm looking
forward to testing this out.
I've actually never tried thismyself and so I'm looking to see
how accurate it is.
I mean, Mike May and I, weshould go do this together.
Chris Maher (19:52):
That would be awesome.
You know we would love to getyou to the hotel to test out a
lot of this stuff.
Kelvin Crosby (20:00):
Yeah, I mean, I'm looking forward to be able to
kind of have that experience andbecause, honestly, it sounds
like this almost could besomething that it could be crowd
built, where, all right, we goto a conference or go to a hotel
and say, all right, can I putthese QR codes throughout the
(20:26):
hotel to navigate where my dooris, or something like that.
I mean, man, that could solve alot of problems really fast and
give you really goodinformation to be able to work
through some of those strugglesfor visually impaired
individuals.
And I'm curious, as TheAccessibility Lab is kind of
moving forward, how is TheAccessibility Lab looking at not
(20:51):
just accessibility but lookingat entrepreneurs that have
disabilities and really growingthat opportunity?
Chris Maher (21:00):
It's a great question.
So there's a couple otheraspects of The Accessibility Lab
and the hotel that the newowners really want to expand
upon as things go forward.
So one is, you know, certainlywith the companies that we bring
into The Accessibility Lab totest out their products and
(21:21):
services in the physical andoperational environment, many of
those companies, the foundersand leaders are people with
disabilities.
You know, you look at Alvaro ofWheel of the World, the first
company we brought into the lab.
He's a wheelchair user, right,he had an accident when he was a
teenager and he's aquadriplegic and as a wheelchair
(21:42):
user, and he started hiscompany out of that lived
experience.
Like you, have the manyfrustrations of trying to travel
as a wheelchair user.
And so I think that will.
It may not be a hundred percentof the companies we bring in,
but certainly I think asignificant number will be led
by entrepreneurs withdisabilities.
A nd by the way, certainly wewant to bring in companies that
(22:05):
have products and services thathave the potential to scale, but
there may be others we bring inthat, you know, this probably
isn't a big market opportunity,but it's going to be really good
, specifically for TheSchoolhouse Hotel, and so it
might be more of like, as we'vetalked in previous episodes, a
lifestyle business or somethingthat maybe isn't venture
investment worthy but is still avery worthwhile product or
(22:29):
service to build because it'sgoing to create a lot of value
and enhance the lives of manypeople, and so I think we'll
also have companies like that.
There are kind of two otherstools to the three-legged stool
that the hotel has a vision for, one of which the previous
owner was doing and the newowners are continuing to do,
(22:49):
which is inclusive orintegrative employment, and so
they do have people withdisabilities in the local
community who work at the hotel.
They have a couple that Ibelieve are part-time and or
full-time, you know, fullsalaried, and then they also
work with a local organizationin the community there in
Greenbrier that support adultswith disabilities, and they are
(23:14):
working with them to bring anumber of people from the local
community into the hotel on aweekly basis to do work at
work-related activities.
And so that's something theywant to expand upon.
And there are some wonderfulexamples in hospitality.
One of which I think is kind oflike a beacon for inclusive and
(23:34):
integrated employment is ahotel in Clemson, South Carolina
, called The Shepherd Hotel, andthey've got I think it's close
to 50% of their employees arepeople with disabilities.
And so there is an example anda playbook out there for how to
do that well, and so they wantto expand upon that.
(23:54):
And then the third thing thatthey haven't touched yet but is
a big opportunity which I thinkwill enhance their business, is
connecting with local groupsthat are providing outdoor
activities for people and topartner with them and to get
them to develop adaptive andaccessible experiences.
(24:15):
So kayaking, archery there'scamping, hiking, climbing,
skiing.
There's a couple of skimountains that are within like
an hour drive from from thehotel.
There are several lakes.
It's a wonderfully beautifulcommunity with lots of outdoor
activities, horseback ridinganother one, that they want to
(24:39):
really work with those groups,not only to serve their guests
for typical experiences, butalso adaptive and accessible
experiences.
So that's kind of, if you thinkabout it, it's like making the
physical hotel as accessible andadaptable as possible,
enhancing and increasing theintegrated employment they're
(25:00):
doing, and then also connectingwith outdoor adaptive and
accessible experiences.
And so I think it's a wonderfulvision they have.
I'm super excited to just playa role in that.
First phase is very much TheAccessibility Lab, the physical
environment of the operationalhotel, and then we'll build upon
that with employment and theoutdoor experiences beyond that.
Kelvin Crosby (25:19):
Well, I mean it's just super exciting.
And it's super exciting to kindof see this start coming
together and like we gotinnovation, we're giving access
to employment opportunities andwe're literally creating more
environments for access for all.
And that's the part that I'mjust like man, this is going to
(25:41):
be good, this is going to beawesome.
And I'd be interested if youwere an entrepreneur and you
were more on like a product,like pottery or painting, or
more on the artsy side, like doyou think The Accessibility Lab
would have a space for somethinglike that?
Chris Maher (26:04):
I think there's the potential for it, and you and I
have talked about that withyour own pottery, and I think
that, as the new owners justkind of get settled in running
the operation and really gettheir arms around everything,
yeah, I do think there ispotentially an opportunity for
that.
I mean, they've got they've gotsome open spaces there where you
know I think they could createsome space to highlight artists
(26:29):
like yourself around artwork andpottery etc.
I also think they have a visionof trying to make the hotel a
destination for groups to haveevents there.
And they're doing a lot of that, but that's more probably like
weddings and family reunions andstuff, but but more businesses
coming there to convene aroundaccessibility, inclusion, et
(26:51):
cetera for their own businessesor for their customers and
holding that meeting in ahopefully what's going to soon
to be a almost fully accessiblehotel.
So I think that's a possibilityand something that I know you
and I are going to talk aboutmore with the new owners and see
(27:12):
where we can get on that.
But it's exciting, it's anexciting time.
I think that we're just at thebeginning of it.
I think you and I willperiodically continue to talk
about this on future episodesand certainly bring in the
entrepreneurs whose products andservices that we're bringing
into the hotel for forconversations to talk about what
that experience is like.
Kelvin Crosby (27:32):
It's super and in so many, so many ways it
becomes, it's something that isit's going to be a model for so
many different other spacesthroughout the country.
And it's just, oh man, I'm justexcited about it, you know so
it's fun.
Chris Maher (27:52):
On that about kind of becoming a model, becoming a
template, right, that's one ofthe things the owners of the
hotel, they want to createsomething that is an example for
the rest of the industry.
What they did when they tookover the hotel, and this was
intentional on their part, isthey started a partnership with
(28:13):
Wyndham, the hotel chain.
And so The Schoolhouse Hotel isnow a part of what's called the
Wyndham Trademark Collection,so they're part of the Wyndham
Hotel Network and that's tens ofthousands of hotels around the
country.
And so, I am hopeful that ispartly because Wyndham see what
they are doing aroundaccessibility and they realize
that that is a template for thefuture.
And if we go back to some ofthe numbers that Alvaro threw
(28:41):
out on the episode with himabout the size of the travel
market and specifically likeaccessible tourism, I mean it's
a multi hundred billion dollarmarket.
And when you really think aboutit, and I think this is where
tourism and hospitality they getit and they're leaning into
this, which is super exciting.
(29:03):
They know that people withdisabilities like to travel just
as much as people withoutdisabilities, and they have
realized that people withdisabilities tend to travel with
their friends and families andcaregivers.
And if you can't accommodate,say, the one person with a
disability in the group, wellthen the whole group is likely
going somewhere else.
And so you go from thinking, oh, people with disabilities, it's
(29:25):
one in six people you know inthe population, and so what's it
15 to 18 percent of my customeropportunity.
But when you add in the family,friends, and caregivers, that
number jumps to like 60 pluspercent.
And so that's a massive part ofyour customer base and you're
(29:53):
leaving a lot of money on thetable If you're not thinking
about how to provide them withmore accessible and better and
equitable experiences, you aregoing to be at a disadvantage
very soon, I think, in tourismand hospitality and travel, if
you're not thinking about thattoday.
Kelvin Crosby (30:04):
As we wrap up here.
The opportunities are massiveand the growth in some ways.
We're not sure where the growthis, but the numbers, the data
is all showing a really good foryour return on investment.
You really think this throughand that's the really cool part
(30:27):
behind all of this.
So is there any last words youwant to kind of drop down here?
Chris Maher (30:32):
The only thing I would say is, and we'll put a
link in the show notes, but ifthere are any companies that are
listening to this, orhospitality brands, if you're
interested in getting in touchwith us at The Accessibility Lab
about partnerships and or youfeel like you've got a product
or service that would beappropriate for The
(30:53):
Accessibility Lab and cominginto the physical environment,
if you just go to thesamaritanpartners.
com website, there is a tab forThe Accessibility Lab.
We have a form there that youcan fill out and submit and that
will come through to us andthen we'll follow up.
That's probably the best way toreach out and get in touch with
us about The Accessibility Laband we'll put that in the show
notes.
Kelvin Crosby (31:13):
Awesome.
Well, Chris, this has been funand that wraps up Investing in
Accessibility.
Go live beyond your challengesand we'll see you in two weeks.
Thank you for listening toInvesting in Accessibility, a
(31:37):
Samaritan Partners podcast wherewe invest in change, for
accessibility, not wait forchange.
If you want to follow us, youcan find us on YouTube or
LinkedIn at @Samaritan Partners.
If you would like to invest inSamaritan Partners, email Chris
at chris@samaritanpartners.
com.
If you'd like to learn moreabout us, go to www.
(31:57):
samaritanpartners.
com.
You can take the first step ininvesting in change by giving us
five stars and sharing thispodcast with everybody that you
know, so we can spread the word,so that we can give access to
all by Investing inAccessibility.
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