Promoting accessibility to New Forest visitors
We are pleased to have rejoined The New Forest, the official destination organisation for the area, run by the not-for-profit Go New Forest Community Interest Company (CIC).
The organisation brings together local businesses and partners to promote the New Forest, support its visitor economy and help protect what makes the area special.
For us, membership is also an opportunity to keep accessibility part of the wider tourism conversation.
We believe accessible tourism works best when inclusion is considered across the whole visitor journey, not just within accessible accommodation. Visitors need enough information to make informed choices about where they stay, eat, visit and spend their time.
Helping potential guests discover us
We have been looking closely at how guests discover Our Bench.
For a long time, much of our marketing has understandably focused on people already searching for something very specific: a ceiling hoist, a profiling bed, a wet room or specialist equipment. Their first questions are often, “Am I welcome?” and “Do they have what I need to make a holiday possible?”
But our research highlighted a missed opportunity.
We had not really stopped to think about the people who had already decided:
- We want to visit Hampshire
- We want to stay in the New Forest
- We want a holiday on the South Coast
Those potential guests may not be searching for “accessible holiday accommodation” at all. Some may not even know that self-catering accommodation with a ceiling hoist, profiling beds and specialist equipment exists.
So we needed to think more carefully about where people look when they choose the destination first.
That brought us back to The New Forest, the official destination website for our local area, run by the not-for-profit Go New Forest Community Interest Company. The website reaches more than 1.5 million unique users each year, making it an important place for visitors researching where to stay and what to do in the New Forest.
There is a little history here too.
Around 25 years ago, Our Bench appeared in local tourism guides and printed visitor information. As our accommodation became increasingly specialist, we gradually moved away from that type of promotion.
We had learned that labels such as “ground-floor bedroom” simply do not tell a disabled guest enough. You still need to know the route to that bedroom, the bathroom facilities, door widths, surfaces, space to manoeuvre and whether the rest of the accommodation can actually be used. At the time, not every organisation recognised how much that information mattered, so we focused our efforts on those that did.
More recently, following conversations about accessibility, The New Forest website has developed much clearer information for disabled visitors. It now has dedicated sections covering accessible visitor information on The New Forest website, accessible things to do in the New Forest and accessible walks in the New Forest, as well as a specific accessible accommodation section on The New Forest website.
That mattered to us.
If the destination itself is showing visitors that the New Forest can be explored with different access needs, then it makes sense for Our Bench to be visible there too.
So we have chosen to become a member and be listed where people are already looking for their New Forest holiday.
On The New Forest accommodation search, Our Bench is currently the only listing shown under the filters for Accessible Rooms, Disabled facilities and Wet rooms.
That means someone searching for a New Forest holiday first, rather than searching specifically for a ceiling hoist, profiling bed or specialist equipment, now has a much better chance of discovering that accommodation like ours exists.
For us, this is not simply about another listing. It is about helping someone discover that the holiday they were hoping to take might actually be possible.
And it links closely to something we have written about before: Accessible Business is for Everyone. Accessibility information does not only help people who already know exactly what they need. Sometimes it helps someone discover an option they did not know existed.
Being part of The New Forest gives us another opportunity to contribute, learn from other local businesses and help make accessibility a more routine part of how our destination welcomes visitors.
Last Updated: October 2026