Hilton and Be My Eyes Make Hotel Stays More Accessible for Blind and Low Vision Travelers

Updated: October 15, 2024, 12:49pm CDT

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Hilton’s New Partnership With Be My Eyes
Final Thoughts

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Blind and low-vision travelers face unique challenges, and staying at an unfamiliar hotel can be complicated — especially when traveling alone.

To make hotel stays more accessible, Hilton has launched a new partnership with Be My Eyes, a free app that connects users with AI and volunteers to help people accomplish tasks. This new partnership is available across the U.S. and Canada for no cost.

Let’s look at this new partnership and how it can make your next stay more accessible.

Hilton’s New Partnership With Be My Eyes

Be My Eyes is a free app that connects people who are blind or have low sight with volunteers or AI tools to help them accomplish tasks like reading a menu, matching colors, cooking meals, and more. Through a new partnership with Hilton, hotel guests can reach a team of trained, English-speaking employees from the reservations and customer care teams.

Services are available in the U.S. and Canada, allowing guests to use their smartphone to access the Service Directory in the Be My Eyes app. From there, select the “Hotels” category and choose the Hilton brand you’re currently visiting. This connects guests with the relevant team to help guests navigate the hotel, adjust the room’s thermostat, find meeting species, or identify amenities — such as which pump bottle in the shower has which amenity.

Hilton Be My Eyes Partnership Identifying Bathroom Amenities — The Be My Eyes partnership can help you identify the toiletries in the bathroom. Image Credit: Hilton

“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.”

Services are available to guests traveling for business or pleasure and are complimentary.

This is an expansion of Hilton’s partnership with Be My Eyes, which first started in 2023. Hilton helped train and improve Be My AI, an OpenAI GPT-4 language model powering the Be My Eyes app. This upgrade helped the AI tools in the app better recognize objects in hotel rooms. Now, the partnership includes connecting Hilton’s hotel guests with Hilton staff members who are specially trained to help low-vision and blind guests navigate their stays.

Another useful feature may be the option to check in with the Hilton Honors mobile app (iOS, Android), choose a room, and bypass the front desk check-in experience. This allows guests to obtain a digital key and skip unfamiliar detours, though it’s not available at all hotels.

Bottom Line:

The Be My Eyes app can use AI to help you identify common items in your hotel room. More complicated tasks can be accomplished with the help of trained representatives, and the app is free to use.

Final Thoughts

Hilton’s expanded partnership with Be My Eyes can help blind and low-vision travelers in the U.S. and Canada navigate unfamiliar hotels. Tasks like reading the restaurant menu, finding hotel facilities, or even using the in-room coffee maker can be complex for these travelers, but there’s now an app and a team of employees to help with these aspects of your next Hilton stay.