Who – or what – exactly is it that determines the best website for online hotel reservations? Isn’t it the user who decides? Those actually booking accommodation online? Doesn’t it stand to reason, then, that a user is the best source of information to help improve a website, and is a website’s most influential critic?
We do not only appreciate input, we actively seek it. A user’s participation is vital in this project, and we cannot be the best without your say. We want you to give us feedback so that we can develop the website that you, the user, want to use to book online hotel reservations. Tell us about other websites you’ve booked accommodation from, and what you thought about them. The good, the bad, and the downright ugly – we want to know about all of them!
The site which we are developing at the moment is aiming at business travellers as main market. We will offer more then 70.000 Hotels worldwide with a focus on City Hotels. The site will offer additional relevant content and offers such as: recommended restaurants, theatre ticket reservation, car rentals and local exhibitions.
Most importantly we will have a login section for companies where they can plan and organize their business travels with us. A telephone hotline for companies completes the service
We seek comment on:
1. What experiences do you have with other hotel booking sites (good or bad)
2. What do you expect from a good hotel booking site.
3. What makes you decide which portal to use
4. What special requirements do business travellers have
5. What features would a company like to see on such service
We also appreciate comment from online travel professionals, internet marketers and web developers.
We can only build the best website for online hotel reservations with your help, so put pen to paper – or, more specifically, fingers to keyboards! If you need a little gentle persuasion, there’s even a prize for the best suggestion! And who doesn’t like a freebie?
Thank you in advance
Wolfgang Brand
1 response so far ↓
Carsten Germer // August 17, 2008 at 11:08 am
Hi Wolfgang,
In fact there are already many of those or similiar websites online. So competition for you will become really tough !
As a frequent traveller I use different sources:
1.) General booking sites, e.g. http://www.booking.com or http://www.hotel.com offering a wide range of hotel accomodations throughout many countries and/or cities.
2.) Local sites of cities or provinces (e.g. local Dubai portal, local Madrid portal….).
3.) Sites of the hotel chains, where we as a company do have special rates or arrangements, e.g. Sheraton, SAS Radisson…..
4.) In many cases we simply follow the recommendations from others. Especially in cities where I’m frequently I do not need to search, I know the hotels already and I mostly stay in the same one (s).
Important for a business traveller to know is: Exact location of the hotel and surroundings ! It doesn’t help you at all to simply search for a “hotel in London or Madrid”, as those cities are too large. If you do have a business appointment time is short and you need to know more details. The portal should identify the exact location, incl. information of the nearest transport possibilities, distance to the airport etc. I prefer portals with an interactive map where I can scroll and navigate, where I can see the location of the hotel incl. a tool bar demonstrating the distance to the nearest metro, airport etc.
What does make your portal different from those dozens of sites already existing ?
Carsten