Airbnb has acquired a UK-based company which helps people with disabilities find accessible places to stay.
Accomable was founded in 2015 by Srin Madipalli and Martyn Sibley, two friends with Spinal Muscular Atrophy who had traveled extensively and experienced frustration finding suitable accommodations.
The Accomable site will be wound down over the coming months and its information will be added to Airbnb listings in more than 60 countries.
The founders and most of its seven-strong team will stay on and help Airbnb make its community more accessible.
Airbnb said it had already been working on new ‘accessibility needs’ checklists for hosts.
"While Srin and his team haven’t been involved in the development of these new tools, we’re confident that they will improve the accuracy of its accessibility listings," it said.
The new features allow hosts to share whether their listings have step-free entry to rooms, entryways that are wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair, and other features.
"We’ve already begun to roll out this new feature to allow guests to search based on accessibility criteria that is important to them on the web, and Apple iOS and Android will follow over the next few months," said Airbnb.
