The Department of Retail, Hospitality, and Tourism Management (RHTM) hosted Brett Heising, founder and CEO of brettapproved.com on Wednesday, February 13, 2019. The topic for his discussion, “2019 Travel Trends: Understanding how travelers with physical disabilities and reduced mobility can and do impact your bottom line” was held at the UTK Culinary Center and was open to the public. Sponsorship included the RHTM department, Tourism Reset: Race, Ethnicity, Social, Equity, Tourism and the Greater Knoxville Hospitality Association.
During the presentation, Heising explained the growing economic impact of travelers with physical disabilities and reduced mobility and shattered some preconceived notions. “I believe everyone regardless of any given disability or mobility challenge, deserves to travel — confidently” states Heising on his website. To give a better understanding, Heising shared some of the difficulties he had encountered during his travels; from being inaccurately informed about accommodations to being moved to a completely new hotel because they were unable to meet his needs. Because of his experiences, Heising launched brettapproved.com to help others avoid the complications in traveling he experienced.