Little by little, the travel industry is starting to realize that travelers with hidden disabilities are out on the road, credit cards at the ready, waiting to be served.
Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has rolled out new menus at all their properties, entitled Lifestyle Cuisine Plus. Travelers with celiac, heart disease, and diabetes will find dishes just for them, as will people who adhere to raw, macrobiotic, and vegan diets. The new menus include dishes for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and appear on room service menus as well as in the hotel restaurants. Best of all, the chefs at individual restaurants have the latitude to create these menus using fresh, local, seasonal ingredients.
Of course, it being the Fairmont, you’ll be putting delicious food into your mouth and paying out of your nose for the privilege of staying at eating at one of these hotels. But the travel industry does tend to adhere to the trickle-down theory. First the high-end resorts will start catering to travelers with hidden disabilities, then the mid-tier indies will get in on the game, and the next thing you know there will be gluten-free pancakes at the IHOP next to the Motel 6 on every Interstate in the country.
Travels With Pain 