Is my website accessible to visually impaired people?

Why assess accessibility for visually impaired people?

Key points • Good accessibility improves the experience for visually impaired visitors • It relies on contrast, readability, alt tags, and keyboard navigation • Simple tests allow you to assess the compliance of your hotel website

Accessibility for visually impaired people is essential for a modern hotel website. It ensures that all users, including those with visual impairments, can navigate, understand your offers, book a room, and access important information. A well-designed website strengthens your brand image, improves the user experience, and even contributes to your SEO.

To begin, check the color contrast used on your site. Visually impaired visitors rely heavily on sufficiently contrasting colors between text and background. Low contrast makes reading difficult, especially on mobile devices or in bright sunlight. Use a tool like Lighthouse to quickly analyze compliance with WCAG standards (level AA recommended).

Next, ensure your headings are properly hierarchized (H1, H2, H3). A clear structure helps screen readers interpret the content and allows users to navigate more easily by section. Headings should be consistent, logical, and properly integrated into your CMS templates.

Alternative text (alt text) is essential for important images: photos of rooms, restaurants, spas, building facades, logos, etc. Screen readers use these descriptions to convey information to visually impaired visitors. Therefore, each image must have precise, descriptive, and truly useful alt text.

💡 Tip: For decorative images (patterns, meaningless icons), leave the alt text empty to avoid overloading the reading experience.

Keyboard navigation is another crucial point. A visually impaired person can use the Tab key to move around the page. For this to work: • buttons must be visible and focusable • the order of elements must follow the reading logic • links must not be hidden or disabled by mistake • menus must be accessible without a mouse

Test your site by navigating using only the keyboard. If you cannot reach certain buttons, there is a structural problem.

Also ensure that your forms are accessible: • each field must have a legible label • errors must be clearly indicated • the contrast and text size must be sufficient

To confirm that your site is accessible, use specialized tools such as: • WAVE Accessibility Tool • Lighthouse (Chrome) • Axe DevTools These tools highlight common errors, insufficient contrast, images without alt text, missing titles, and elements not accessible by keyboard.

Finally, test your site with a screen reader: • VoiceOver (Mac) • NVDA (Windows) • TalkBack (Android)

You will immediately understand if the reading is smooth, if the information is consistent, and if the navigation is intuitive for a visually impaired audience.

Conclusion

Your website can be accessible to visually impaired people if you apply best practices: strong contrasts, structured headings, clear alternative text, smooth keyboard navigation, and legible forms. With a few technical tests, you can guarantee an inclusive, professional, and user-friendly hotel website for all your visitors.