In 2007, entrepreneur Andrew Garnett was a one-man band who’d just launched Special Needs Group (SNG) in South Florida. On cruise embarkation days, he’d get up at 3 a.m. and personally load scads of mobility equipment such as electric scooters, wheelchairs or oxygen concentrators onto a large truck in Miami.
After driving for several hours north to Port Canaveral along Florida’s Space Coast, he'd offload mobility equipment rented by travelers embarking cruise ships on vacation. Then he’d hop in the truck again and crisscross I-4 in central Florida. After several hours, he'd reach the port of Tampa, once again physically offloading more rental equipment, and then drive back to Miami in South Florida.
In total, he'd make this tiring 600-mile journey several times a week. But Garnett viewed it as a way to combine his passion for travel with the ability to assist travelers—slow walkers, people with injuries, disabled travelers and others with special needs—who needed the mobility/accessibility equipment to head out on a cruise.
Building a Special Needs Company
Fast forward 17 years and Garnett, Special Needs Group's founder, president and CEO, now heads a company of 35 employees. While Florida remains a top market, Special Needs at Sea has also extended its reach to serve 217 metropolitan areas in 70 countries. With offices in Dania Beach, FL, the company has served more than a half million customers of all ages over the years.
Who are the clients? Some are cruise travelers temporarily laid up with an injury such as a broken ankle. Others are being treated for a medical condition (perhaps recovering from chemotherapy), while many others have disabilities or age-related mobility challenges. So, clients have need for renting everything from wheelchairs, power chairs and electric scooters to oxygen units or other oxygen equipment, audio/visual aids, baby cribs, hospital beds and more.
Last month, Travel Agent caught up with Garnett on Royal Caribbean International’s Utopia of the Seas at Port Canaveral. We chatted with the executive about the mobility and accessibility travel marketplace, as well as trends in mobility equipment rentals and how travel advisors can both assist clients who have special needs and also create a revenue stream for their agency.
“Our company has grown based on our own passion for travel coupled with a conviction that the fun and adventure of traveling the world should be available to everyone, despite physical challenges,” says Garnett. Today, an estimated 25.5 million people, or 8.5 percent of the U.S. population over the age of five, have mobility/accessibility needs, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That represents $220 billion in disposable income and those travelers spend $13.6 billion on vacations each year. So, he’s both doing good business and striving to “make travel easy, comfortable and accessible.”
Mobility Market Growth
Separately, a 2022 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) looked at travel behavior for Americans with mobility issues. Produced by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Highway Administration, the survey estimated that 18.6 million people five years of age and older or 6.1 percent of all Americans had temporary or permanent conditions that impacted their ability to travel. That number increased to 14.1 percent for those 65 years of age and older.
Garnett also tells us that each year some 3.65 million Americans turn 65 years of age. That’s more than 10,000 a day. More than 340 million vacations annually are by mature travelers, his group’s research shows. Despite aging and changes in physical abilities, many of older consumers are remaining as active as possible and “getting out there” on vacation.
Fortunately, “our partnerships with the cruise lines have led to expanded opportunities for travel and a streamlined process for equipment delivery,” says Garnett. That’s proven a big plus for clients of Kristi Lacroix, travel advisor and franchise owner, Cruise Planners, based in Newton, NH, who tells us: “Once clients with special needs find out that, yes, they can travel and there are companies that will meet their supply needs, they are ready to go.”
As a certified accessible travel specialist with more than three decades of hands-on wheelchair travel experience, Lacroix is “always being contracted by clients with special needs because they do web searches and find me. Clients are surprised to find out they can have a guest 'lift' or a hospital bed delivered to them on a ship or a hotel.”
Trend-wise, when Special Needs Group first started renting equipment, the “vast majority of rentals were for oxygen-related equipment, but now that’s shifted to electric scooters or electric wheelchairs,” emphasizes Garnett. He adds that post-pandemic, as with all travelers, those with accessibility needs couldn’t wait to take vacations after being cooped up at home.
But, at the same time, during that early era of travel reopening, many news stories focused on the uncertainty of travel and processes at borders created concern—and often a higher level of concern for those with accessible needs. “Over and over, we had some customers who booked, cancelled and rebooked, then cancelled again and rebooked,” he says. “Some did it five or six times.”
Now, he says that, thankfully, the marketplace has regained more stability as consumers with accessibility needs are becoming more confident about travel. One trend? Customers who rent a scooter for the first time, may have done three cruises without one in recent years. But after the fourth cruise when renting an electric scooter, Garnett often hears: “I didn’t realize how much I needed it.”
Opportunities for Advisors
Travel advisors who desire to assist their clients with equipment rentals are on the rise, says Garnett, who reports that nearly 31,000 travel advisors have registered with Special Needs Group to provide services to their clients. More than 8,000 of them—including Cruise Planners' Lacroix—have completed specialized training to become SNG Certified Accessible Travel Advocates.
One opportunity for advisors? A great grandma with special needs may actually pay to bring 25 to 50 other family members and friends to travel with her. Otherwise, that trip might simply not happen at all. Or as advisors have told us, often it could be a much smaller group without a matriarch/patriarch who is paying for the rest of the group.
Similarly, advisors tell us that they often enhance their revenue stream by simply suggesting that an already-booked family group of 25 people expand a bit. So, the advisor might ask: “Why not include your Aunt Martha, or is there another relative not going for whom we could rent a scooter so that person can also go and enjoy the trip?” Often, that can trigger expansion of the group with even more people traveling, as again, Aunt Martha may be paying.
Each mobility company has its own price policies, so comparing pricing inclusions is important. For instance, Garnett says that Special Needs Group pays 10 percent commission on all equipment rentals for those who register with the group. There are no NCFs, carve-outs or caps. Commission is also paid on the total rental price, inclusive of the damage/loss waiver, which is already included in the price (some companies don’t include this but add it on later); one-way fees; and cruise or hotel delivery/pick-up fees.
Equipment Delivery and Onboard Tips
Typically, for cruise guests, Garnett says that rental equipment will be either waiting outside the cruise terminal (depending on port and cruise line) or inside the guest’s cabin aboard. He counsels travel advisors to “order well in advance.” That way, travelers and advisors will learn what’s available, how the process works and how to complete the rental in a timely manner. That's important as post-pandemic, “there are still supply chain quirks at times, he acknowledges.
Not all services to assist those needing greater accessibility are provided by individual companies such as Special Needs Group or other rental companies. For instance, upon request, some cruise lines may provide a shower chair or assistive listening devices for staterooms and suites to assist guests who have a hearing impairment. But it can vary by line, ship and even departure date in terms of equipment availability. So, ask the line well prior to the guest's sailing.
Guests also can request wheelchair assistance in embarking/disembarking the ship. Generally, the port will provide a wheelchair and a person to push it when guests are transiting from the terminal to the ship, and vice versa. The line's own crew members then handle pushing from the ship entry point to a public area or the guest's stateroom or suite.
But typically, beyond that on the ship, cruise lines don’t provide a crew member to serve as a wheelchair pusher. Instead, a family member, friend or companion typically must push the guest throughout the cruise. Even then, ask the cruise line about wheelchair availability (or not) for use during the full length of the cruise.
Many travelers who desire flexibility for independent exploring on a ship simply choose to rent an electric scooter or power chair, says Garnett. Those can also possibly be used ashore, depending on the port, destination infrastructure and the rental company's policies. That said, typically when a ship must "tender" guests ashore using the ship's lifeboats, scooters are not permitted on those watercraft.
Scooter Options and Considerations
Garnett explains that several types of rental options exist for electric scooters—standard, heavy duty or bariatric scooters; the type needed is based on the traveler’s weight. Most are three-wheeled for the easiest maneuverability, but four-wheel scooters may also be available upon request—although they typically have more limited availability.
In the past, due to our knee challenges, we have rented an electric scooter multiple times to help with “distance walking." Recently, we did so on the humongous Icon of the Seas and also most recently on the new Utopia of the Seas. Our three-wheeled scooter pivoted well in elevators, public spaces and our stateroom.
Special Needs Group advises potential renters that standard and even some heavy-duty scooters typically can fit through most stateroom/suite doors to be parked in the stateroom or suite. We've experienced this with multiple rentals, but we've also had one stateroom where the door was too narrow in width and the scooter would not fit. So, it's still a good idea for advisors to confirm door width and scooter width before booking the client's specific accommodations.
Stateroom layout is also important. Certainly, designated "accessible accommodations" on ships are a good option for those with mobility challenges. But even if one doesn't have one of those so-designated accessible staterooms/suites, other accommodations may work, depending on layout. On several recent scooter rentals, we've learned that stateroom layouts with the living area closer to the door than the bedroom area are optimum. In three instances, we simply drove our scooter beyond the stateroom entry area into our living area for easy parking and charging (required at least once daily). If the layout is flipped, however, with the bedroom area closest to the entry hallway, there simply may not be enough room for an electric scooter to park without blocking either the entryway, bathroom door or access to the rest of the living area. We discovered that on one cruise, too.
As for clients who say, "I'll just leave the scooter in the corridor outside," consider this: Many cruise lines don’t permit guests to park a scooter in an accommodation corridor; that's considered a safety issue. Plus, some corridors lack plugs for charging.
So, finding a stateroom or suite in which the scooter can not only be stored but also charged is important. Otherwise, the scooter may need to be charged in a public venue and/or kept with guest services until needed by the guest. That said, we've found that by picking the right shipboard accommodations with the right layout, it's a breeze to rent and use an electric scooter on a ship.
On and Off the Ship
As for exploring, guests will discover that scooters or power chairs can navigate to most spaces around ADA-accessibly designed cruise ships. Garnett tells us that Special Needs Group also allows guests to take the rental scooters or power chairs off the ship to explore at ports of call. That’s dependent, though, on the individual rental firm, as well as destination infrastructure.
One recent development is some cruise lines now provide accessible tours. Among them is Holland America Line, which has unveiled 24 accessible tours in the Caribbean.
Special Needs at Sea also serves hotel guests in select markets, such as in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Port Canaveral, Tampa, Los Angeles and so on. For instance, hotel guests heading to a local beach during a pre-cruise stay may desire to rent a beach wheelchair. Whatever the need, the market for cruise guests who desire equipment rentals is providing travel advisors with opportunities to both assist their clients and increase their own revenue.
Yes, some clients may choose to bring their own equipment. Certainly, compact, fold-up scooters for personal mobility use are growing in popularity. For tips and articles about accessible travel, one helpful resource is the travel blog, "Emerging Horizons" by veteran accessibility editor Candy Harrington at https://emerginghorizons.com.
That said, Lacroix's business has definitely grown because of increased client interest in mobility equipment rentals and companies such as Special Needs at Sea and others that provide those services. “They’ve made such a huge difference in so many lives,” the advisor emphasizes. “They give clients hope, that, yes, they can get out there and enjoy travel.”
For more information on Special Needs Group, visit www.specialneedsgroup.com
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