Our commitment

NEWH, Inc. is committed to making our website, our events, and our membership experience accessible to everyone in the hospitality design community — including members, prospective members, scholarship applicants, and visitors with disabilities.

Accessibility isn’t a checkbox for us. It’s part of how we think about community. A network is only as strong as the people who can fully participate in it, and we want every person who comes to NEWH to be able to engage with our content, attend our events, and connect with our members.

Our standard

We are working toward conformance with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1 Level AA, the international standard for web accessibility. This standard helps make web content more accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities, including visual, auditory, physical, speech, cognitive, language, learning, and neurological differences.

We treat WCAG 2.1 AA as our target across newh.org and the digital experiences we control directly. We are also extending these principles into our events, member communications, and the way our chapters operate.

What this looks like in practice

On our website, we are working to ensure that:

• Pages can be navigated by keyboard alone, without a mouse.
• Text has sufficient contrast against its background and can be resized without breaking the layout.
• Images include descriptive alternative text where they convey meaning.
• Forms are labeled clearly and can be completed using assistive technology.
• Video and audio content is captioned or accompanied by transcripts where feasible.
• Users are not exposed to content that flashes or auto-plays in ways that could cause harm or distraction.

At our events, we work to ensure that:

• Venues are physically accessible, with step-free entry and accessible restrooms wherever possible.
• Members can request accommodations during registration, including dietary needs, mobility needs, sensory needs, and interpretation or captioning for virtual sessions.
• Event materials are available in alternative formats on request.
• Speakers and hosts are encouraged to use microphones, describe visual content, and follow inclusive presentation practices.

In our governance, we are weaving accessibility and inclusion into our board roles and chapter leadership so that accessible events and member experiences become part of how NEWH operates by default — not an afterthought.

Known limitations

We want to be honest about where we are not yet meeting our target. As of the date above:

• Some legacy elements of our website — including certain auto-rotating banners and older forms — do not yet meet WCAG 2.1 AA, and we are prioritizing these in our remediation roadmap.
• Our third-party member portal does not yet fully meet our accessibility target. We are working with our vendor on improvements and have flagged accessibility as a priority for the platform.
• Some older PDFs and downloadable materials may not be fully accessible. If you need an alternative version of a specific document, please contact us and we will provide one.

If you encounter a barrier we have not listed here, we want to know about it.

Getting help and reporting barriers

If you have trouble accessing any part of NEWH — our website, our events, our member portal, or any of our communications — please reach out to us. We will work with you to provide the information or experience you are trying to reach, in a format that works for you.

You can request:

• An alternative format of any document or web page.
• Accommodations for an event you plan to attend.
• Help completing a form, application, or registration.
• A different way to access member-only content while we work on portal improvements.

Contact: [email protected]

We aim to respond to accessibility requests and barrier reports within 3 business days. For event-related accommodations, please contact us as early as possible so we can coordinate with the venue and event team.

Ongoing work

Accessibility is an ongoing commitment, not a finished project. We review our website and digital experiences regularly, train our staff and volunteer leaders on inclusive practices, and update this policy as our work progresses. The “Last updated” date at the top of this policy reflects our most recent review.

If you have suggestions for how we can do better, we welcome them. NEWH is built by its members, and that includes how we make space for everyone to belong.