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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