Hotel booking process design & usability

TABLE 9: Websites handling multiple occupancy and multiple rate reservations 
Booking process style 
Travel 
agency 
Hotel only 
Hotel chain 
Total 
Style A & B
2 (12%)
6 (20%)
1 (12%)
9 (17%)
Other
-
5 (38%)
2 (10%)
7 (25%)
Source: Travel UCD Research, January 2003
Table 9 shows that only 16 of the 87 (18%) websites we evaluated could handle all these
reservation combinations in a single site visit.
The primary reasons for a website failing to handle all these reservation combinations were:
• system only took one reservation at a time
• system assumed that the second room was the same room type and rate as the first
• system assumed that the second room was the same occupancy as the first
• system could only allocate a single person to a single room, not to a double room
The results of our usability testing reflect the low percentage of websites that handle these
combinations. On 9 occasions out of the 36 tasks (25%) involving uneven occupancy or different
room / rate types, the user was unable to understand how to complete the reservation.

The key points are:

• Ensure that all combinations can be booked and, if they can’t, inform the user that they
can’t
• Let users select multiple rooms on all booking pages, not just on an advanced search
option
• When users select multi-rooms and occupancy levels at the start of the booking process,
make sure the correct rates (taking occupancy into account) can subsequently be shown
Travel UCD - consultants in travel and hospitality website design 
http://www.travelucd.com 

© Travel UCD Limited 2003. All Rights Reserved.

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Hotel booking process design & usability