About Us

Accessible Travel Solutions Story

In 2001, John Sage became a wheelchair user. When he began planning trips, he quickly discovered that accessibility information was often difficult to find and even harder to trust. A hotel might say it was accessible. A destination might describe itself as accessible. But what would actually happen when he arrived?

John started documenting the answers himself.

Over the years, he researched accessibility in more than 140 cities, looking at the details that can determine whether a trip works in practice. His research grew into a body of knowledge built from firsthand experience, observation, and conversations with people working in destinations and travel businesses.

In 2016, Accessible Travel Solutions was launched to put that knowledge to work for the travel industry. Since then, ATS has worked with travel advisors, cruise lines, destinations, tourism organizations, and event professionals around the world.

Today, we continue to ask the same question that started it all:

What will a traveler actually experience when they arrive?

Today, that experience is at the heart of our work: helping the travel industry understand what accessibility really looks like, and giving travelers information they can trust.

Accessible Travel Solutions Difference

Accessibility knowledge is only useful when it works in the real world.

Our approach comes from years of looking at accessibility from both sides: the standards that define it and the experiences that reveal whether those standards work in practice.

That perspective has shaped how we assess, advise, train, certify, and support organizations across the travel and events industries.

Meet Our Team of Experts

CEO John Sage in his wheelchair, smiling and looking to the side during a speaking engagement. He is wearing a blue suit jacket over a light-colored button-down shirt and black-rimmed glasses. He holds a presentation remote in one hand and a thin microphone is visible near his ear. The background is a stage setting with warm, soft lighting.


John Sage – CEO

John Sage is an industry leader in the large and growing accessible travel market. According to the World Health Organization, people with disabilities comprise 15% of the global population, and they are 20% to 25% of the population in developed countries and source markets. As Baby Boomers age, the population of people with disabilities grows.

In 2009, John Sage founded his first accessible travel company, Sage Traveling, which provides accessible vacations to disabled travelers. John Sage has personally traveled with his wheelchair to inspect accessibility in hundreds of cities around the world, and Sage Traveling currently provides accessible accommodation, transportation, tours, pre-trip consulting, and emergency assistance in more than 50 countries.

In 2016, John Sage realized that no tour operator was focused on the accessibility market, so he founded his second company, Accessible Travel Solutions (ATS). ATS is now an industry leader in providing accessible travel packages to travel agents. In 2017, ATS began providing accessible shore excursions to multiple cruise lines and now offers accessible shore excursions in 140+ ports around the world.

In 2020, Accessible Travel Solutions expanded its services to help travel businesses and destinations succeed in the accessible travel market. The industry-leading services include accessibility 1) consulting and strategy, 2) training, 3) assessment, 4) certification, and 5) marketing.

John Sage is the first and only accessible travel company CEO who is a member of the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC). He was the primary author of the WTTC’s “Inclusive and Accessible Travel Guidelines”, and his “Top 10 Accessible Travel Tips for Europe” article has been published in Rick Steves’ guidebooks. Sage received the Houston Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 award for executives and entrepreneurs.

He is the winner of Travel Unity’s Inclusion Champion of the Year (2025) and Travel Weekly’s Tour Operator of the Year (2019 and 2025) awards. John is one of only a few individuals in the travel industry to have attained the IAAP Certified Accessibility Professional designation.

Professional headshot of Olga Kovalchuk, Team Lead, against a neutral grey background. She is looking directly at the camera with a slight smile, wearing a navy blue blazer over a white top.

Olga Kovalchuk

Team Lead

Professional Portrait of Maryna Rondaleva, Assessment Lead, seated at a wooden cafe table. She is looking at the camera with a slight smile and holding a tablet. A latte is on the table, and bookshelves are in the blurred background.

Maryna Rondaleva

Assessment Lead

Smiling professional portrait of Rachel Shaw, Business Development Coordinator, against a warm grey background. She is looking directly at the camera and wearing a multi-colored striped short-sleeve top and a gold necklace.

Rachel Shaw

Business Development Coordinator