@Chris, it was my understanding that as long as you didn’t claim to be accessible, or make any claims at all about your property beyond the fact that it is a vacation rental, but simply posted photos and allowed people to draw their own conclusions from the descriptions, you could not be held liable for anything beyond what someone who is providing things like shower mats in case of slippage or banisters for steep steps. In other words, avoiding landlord negligence. There is always going to be liability, but I don’t claim that my STR is danger free. I claim that I have done everything, to the best of my knowledge, to make it reasonably safe. I have STR insurance, but I cannot cover every possibility. I am certainly looking into this, of course, but I want to outfit my place to make it easier for those with disabilities to use it, so I am very interested in your comments. I think it would be such a shame to put the kibosh on the idea because of fear if there is no reason to do so. However, maybe this is why there are so few places! Phooey!!
I thought it was a guide for people hosting people “on the spectrum” not a general guide. My mistake. I also confused him with the OP who was new. Dontcha hate it when people hijack threads? 
I think this is a great idea. I’ve had a few guests with special needs that weren’t disclosed beforehand. But we managed and everything was ok. It’s probably a long-shot but you could try tweeting/emailing airbnb with the suggestion that they add a category. But then you get into all kinds of legal stuff… what counts as a disability, are we discriminating against people who are “just different” and is the word “different” in itself discriminatory? And on it goes.
Airbnb won’t touch it with a barge pole, I reckon. But it would be good to poke them about it.
This is my experience, exactly. I had a gentleman show up with a wheelchair in tow. They hauled it down the stairs without a word. I wish I had known, as I have a transport chair already in the rental I could have offered them. I have had mothers tell me that their little ones were able to enjoy the place so freely as there are no real hazards, no glass to break, few sharp edges or things to bang into. I also have a well stocked playroom. The disabled and differently abled are already making use of the place, I just want to make it nicer and easier for them.
Sorry for the late reply. Starting a new job and having a cold at the same time, I went to bed early yesterday.
First off all, it there will be a lot of differences between countries. I can only speak about our local rules.
If you just offer an accessible place, without any extra equipment or services there are very little issues. There are quite a few places like that, but not enough unfortunately. But from my understanding the OP wants to offer a lot more than that.
If you include equipment in your listing (manipulators, lifts or even a wheelchair) it has to be certified and serviced regularly. This would be costly, but still manageable.
But if you, like the OP suggests, offer caretaker services, then it is a completely different ballgame, and nearly impossible to get all the needed qualifications and certifications, unless you are already a professional caretaker starting your own business.
We also do not offer have any accessible listings at this moment. But in 2 years the plan is to convert our 60m² breakfast room into a accessible apartment, with a separate entrance.
But I am still not sure if I will add any kind of manipulators, because that is very costly, and very few guests will be able to afford it.
Hi @Helsi ! Thanks for the intro and sharing one of our articles. But actually, we meant another (much more profound) guide. It is almost 4,000 words! and has all the info on vacation rental marketing that we could think of.
The system won’t let me post the new link (I have tried). Can you help me with that?
You have a fab idea so run with it. @Helsi has sent a link, but we have a new (much more comprehensive guide) out now. It’s free to access so grab a cuppa and check it out. Now, I can’t add a link here (I have asked @Helsi for help with that).
The guide is on the iGMS website blog, listed as the “Vacation rental marketing guide” Hopefully we can send the link to you directly!
We aren’t going to let you post links to your guides. You are, in effect, a competitor to this forum’s owners as it is. We allow you to post and if someone thinks your posts are really that “profound” I’m sure they can go find your blog posts.
They are persistent I’ll give them that.
My 2 cents, For a PTSD-friendly enviornment: Multiple points of egress if possible. Ambient noise machines to be able to drown out sounds. Eliminate excess stimulus so like you said, toned down decor. Clean lines and solids over busy patterns, decluttered spaces, soothing lights. Weighted blankets. Furniture that faces so that the ingress point can be seen while seated.
Also, to OP:
I have dealt with memory care communities that have snoezele rooms. They are great at calming down behaviors.
Thank you for sharing your input, and your plans. How awesome!
I’m trying to figure out how to bookmark this comment so I don’t lose track of these suggestions. Can’t figure it out, so this reply will have to do.
I guess that doesn’t help if you meant specifically the comment in the thread vs the whole thread?