Hotel booking process design & usability

Hotel booking process design & usability 
Travel UCD – February 2003 
Per night or display a total cost of the accommodation? 
TABLE 6: Rate display styles
Rate display styles 
Example 
Per night
(all-hotels.com) 
Total stay
(octopustravel.com) 
Per night and total
stay on same page
(orbitz.com) 
Source: Travel UCD Research, January 2003
TABLE 7: How is the rate displayed?
How is the rate displayed? 
Travel 
agency 
Hotel only 
Hotel chain 
Total 
Per night
(also includes websites who display
per night breakdowns)
10 24 1 35
Total
stay
- 2 - 2
Per night and total stay on
same page
4 7 2 13
Source: Travel UCD Research, January 2003
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Hotel booking process design & usability 
Travel UCD – February 2003 
TABLE 8: Does the website say how the rate is displayed on the results page?
Does the website say how 
the rate is displayed? 
Travel 
agency 
Hotel only 
Hotel chain 
Total 
YES
11 (79%)
22 (67%)
2 (66%)
35 (70%)
Source: Travel UCD Research, January 2003
Table 7 shows that the most common style of display is per night, followed by per night with an
additional total stay calculation. 70% of all hotel websites showing rates on the results pages
inform the user what the rate refers to.
We suggest that a simple improvement to aid clarity would be to add a text label to any rate
information, stating whether a rate is per night or for the total stay.