EAA for travel & hospitality: requirements, priorities, and audit checklist

Does EAA apply to travel and hospitality?

The European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) is the EU's prescriptive accessibility law that takes effect 28 June 2025, requiring covered products and services — banking, e-commerce, transport, audiovisual media, ebooks and computer hardware — to meet harmonised accessibility requirements derived from EN 301 549 and WCAG 2.1 AA.

Travel & Hospitality accessibility — the lay of the land

The US Department of Transportation enforces accessibility for airline websites under the ACAA, with rules requiring WCAG 2.0 AA conformance and explicit penalties. Hotels are heavily ADA-litigated, particularly for inaccessible reservations and inaccessible "accessible-room" booking flows.

Where EAA bites hardest in travel and hospitality

• Inaccessible booking calendars and seat-selection maps

• No way to specify accessibility needs in booking flow

• "Accessible room" filters that do not actually filter

• Inaccessible boarding-pass / e-ticket PDFs

• Inaccessible loyalty-portal account management

Remediation priorities

• Booking and reservation flow

• Seat selection and room selection (accessibility filtering)

• Account management and loyalty portals

• PDF tickets and confirmations

• Accessibility-need declaration during booking

How to comply with EAA on a Travel & Hospitality site

1. Confirm in-scope status: Determine whether your product/service falls under EAA scope and whether you sell into the EU. Confirm whether micro-enterprise exemption applies.

2. Map requirements to EN 301 549: The harmonised standard EN 301 549 incorporates WCAG 2.1 AA for web/mobile and adds requirements for hardware, software, documentation, and support.

3. Audit and remediate: Run combined automated + manual audit. Remediate at source. Prioritise authentication, payment, search and core transaction flows.

4. Publish an EAA accessibility statement: Per Article 13. Disclose conformance, exceptions claimed (disproportionate burden, fundamental alteration), and contact for complaints. Sample templates available from national bodies.

5. Maintain market surveillance readiness: Keep technical documentation, conformity assessments, and ACR/VPAT current. Be prepared for member-state authority requests.

Sources

• Directive (EU) 2019/882 (European Accessibility Act) — European Union
• EN 301 549 v3.2.1 — ETSI
• DOT 14 CFR Part 382 — US DOT