The travel industry had always assumed that change would come with a high cost. But the fascinating thing about these changes is that they are ‘soft’. They don’t involve heavy spend on equipment, infrastructure or architecture; they are simply about shifts in the way customers are treated and communicated with. The industry was discovering that small things could have a huge impact. There are powerful knock-on effects too.
Al Butler, senior client programme manager of SilverDoor, a global serviced apartment agent for business travellers, cites a small change introduced with dyslexic and ADHD clients in mind, which ultimately makes the experience better for everyone. “A dyslexic client might find large volumes of text a challenge,” he says. “So we communicate key information such as check-in process, amenities, information on the local area more visually instead of text-heavy arrival instructions.”
Emirates is also introducing a range of “neurodiverse sensory products”, for use inflight – such as sensory fidget toys that encourage focus and help to reduce self-stimulatory behaviour and de-stress in a way that’s not just helpful for neurodivergent travellers, but work to mitigate the restlessness that children often experience too – and in a way that’s genuinely empathetic.
Meanwhile, Emirates’ Airport Sensory Guides divide parts of the airport into the five senses. “Sounds echo in this area.” “This area can be crowded or noisy.” “Slight scent of new equipment.” These guides give the neurodivergent traveller back a sense of control over their experience that’s often been missing. And who doesn’t want that, neurodivergent or otherwise? “The sunflower lanyard is a great example of something so cheap to adopt, and so instantly effective in terms of outcomes,” says one female tech worker from Kuala Lumpur. “You can see people who were about to ask the impossible of travellers suddenly click and go, ‘OK, I get it. Let’s do this.’”
As it happens, “OK, I get it” is a really good summary of the travel industry’s sweeping change. Jeff Strachan talks about how the old ways of modelling huge demographics of customers and serving them as monolithic blocs are giving way to something far more individual and intuitive. “A business traveller from one country, or industry, or with one set of needs, is not the same as another. So we introduced that personal empathy – standing in that person’s shoes – as the new standard.” In other words, once they started thinking about what a customer was feeling – rather than the easy data points on the ticket – everything fell into place.
And as any one of my fellow neurodivergent travellers will tell you, a little bit of empathy goes a long way.
