Can a visually impaired person book on Booking.com?

With the May holidays approaching, many of us are gearing up for a well-earned holiday. But how easy is it really for everyone to book a holiday?

In our latest user test video, we take a look at booking.com . Like other travel organisations, booking.com must also comply with the requirements of the European Accessibility Act, which comes into force in June 2025. In our previous user tests video, you already saw how Karin and Huub, who are visually impaired, and Marjo, who is blind, encountered quite a few obstacles when ordering a towel on hema.nl. That was a clear signal that we need to make our websites much more accessible. Now we are continuing that line and looking at how accessible Booking.com is for people with visual impairments.

Let me introduce, who is Myrna?

Two years ago, I met Myrna, a 23-year-old student from Amersfoort, during the Mentility Games. This four-day event, focused on skiing and snowboarding, offers people with physical challenges the chance to be active in the snow.

Despite having only 8% vision, Myrna loves active holidays and was keen to collaborate on a user-test video to test Booking.com. In doing so, she ran into several accessibility errors.

User test

Through this video, I would like to give you insights into what someone experiences when a website is not accessible. The aim is also certainly not to put this webshop in a bad light. In this video, several problems arise when Myrna tries to book an overnight trip to Sweden.

Using read-aloud software in particular proves challenging; although she can still read to some extent, it takes a lot of energy and she does not prefer this. She then has to use zooming in, causing the website to jump. Also because it takes so much time and energy, she ultimately failed to book. This causes a lot of frustration, while booking a holiday is something to look forward to.

For tips on how to make your website, app or online document more accessible to people like Myrna, who are visually impaired, find more information inthis article. These adaptations would significantly improve her internet experience and make it less tiring.

I don't actually know now what I've been listening to

Myrna

In nu?

With the imminent introduction of the European Accessibility Act in June 2025, there are specific requirements for various goods and services. There is often a lack of in-house knowledge about digital accessibility, which complicates ensuring accessible online services. How can we address this? A good start is to consider the following steps:

Start met awareness!

Define for whom you want to be digitally accessible and why. When this is clear within your team, you have a good starting point to get started on digital accessibility.

Develop more knowledge

Invest in developing more knowledge about digital accessibility. In the long run, this will help develop better digitally accessible products, preventing repairs a costs.

Gap-analyse

Do a gap analysis to determine where you are now and where you want to go. By getting a clear picture of how accessible your online service is, you can take targeted action. A WCAG audit can help with this.

Getting started

Once it is clear how digitally accessible your product is, you can start working on any areas for improvement that have emerged from the analysis.