Hilton Partners with Be My Eyes for Inclusive Stays

Be My Eyes Joins Hilton to Improve Accessibility for Guests

Many people associate staying at a hotel with the start of a thrilling journey, a stress-free vacation, or significant life events. Visitors who are blind or have impaired vision may encounter particular difficulties when navigating unfamiliar hotel surroundings, which could negatively affect their stay.

Hilton, a prominent player in the global hospitality sector, has announced an industry-first, exclusive collaboration with Be My Eyes to guarantee that visitors with low vision or blindness may have a more seamless, friendly, and accessible stay. In partnership with Be My Eyes, Hilton provides guests in the United States and Canada who are blind or have low vision with AI-powered support and specialized Hilton Reservations and Customer Care support. Be My Eyes is a free smartphone app that uses artificial intelligence (AI) and live video to match blind and low-vision individuals with sighted volunteers and businesses. It now puts Hilton customers in direct contact with a group of committed, highly skilled English-speaking Hilton Reservations and Customer Care representatives.

As a result of this collaboration, Be My Eyes users in the United States and Canada can access Hilton's devoted teams directly by using their cellphones to navigate to the "Service Directory" on Be My Eyes, choose the "Hotels" category, and select the partnering Hilton brand. Hilton staff members will assist visitors in exploring the hotel. This help may include finding and setting the thermostat in the guest room, using the coffee maker in the room, recognising window coverings, and finding conference rooms and other attractions, including restaurants, bars, spas, and gyms.

Hilton offers assistance for its portfolio brands, which include DoubleTree by Hilton, Hampton by Hilton, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, and Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts. The alliance offers individualised assistance for both leisure and business travellers who are blind or have impaired vision for each occasion of their stay.

“As a leading hospitality company, Hilton is committed to creating an experience that is welcoming for every guest, at every hotel, every time,” said Mike Gathright, Senior Vice President of customer excellence and innovation at Hilton. “We believe that every guest – regardless of ability or any other factor – deserves a reliable and friendly travel experience, and we are proud to partner with Be My Eyes to make that more of a reality for thousands of Be My Eyes users.”

This news represents a critical turning point in Hilton and Be My Eyes' partnership. Hilton and the organisation initially collaborated in 2023 to develop and refine "Be My AI," an OpenAI GPT-4 language model that drives the Be My Eyes app and improves its capacity to identify items and manoeuvre the furnishings and fittings in Hilton-branded hotel rooms. The agreement was extended earlier this year to include creating and training a dedicated team of Hilton Reservations and Customer Care representatives who can assist Be My Eyes users who might require assistance while visiting.

“Our mission at Be My Eyes is to break down accessibility barriers in everyday life, and this partnership with Hilton is a significant step along that path, helping travel and hospitality to be much more inclusive,” said Mike Buckley, CEO of Be My Eyes. “Hilton is again leading by example, and we’re excited to provide the world’s best customer service platform to help Hilton serve blind and low-vision consumers.”

Together with the assistance of Hilton's committed Reservations and Customer Care teams, visitors can benefit from the best "straight-to-room" digital self-service technologies available in the industry, which guarantee a smooth check-in and check-out process. These tools include selecting your accommodation, digital check-in and digital check-out, and using your phone to unlock guest room doors with the Digital Key when available. Travellers needing extra help can customise their trip to suit their needs using this technology.

Hilton is constantly working to understand better and meet the needs of people with disabilities so that every visitor may have a dependable and welcoming stay. This is in addition to the fact that Hilton's cooperation with Be My Eyes will benefit thousands of customers who are blind or have limited vision.

Hilton has been named a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion in the U.S. by Disability: IN, a Leading Disability Employer by the National Organization on Disability (NOD), and a Top Company for People with Disabilities by Fair360. These accolades show how dedicated the business is to providing superior service to customers with various needs, including those of the blind and low-vision groups.