Improving user experience on travel websites
By Darren Cronian on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

Last week I wrote about a few design flaws that frustrated me when using travel websites so today I wanted to expand on that a little and suggest features that I think travel companies should look at implementing on their website.

Improving user experience on travel websites

Comparison suggestion

When using comparison sites for package holidays I would like to see highlighted the companies that are ATOL bonded. This will help me identify the agencies that offer financial protection when I am browsing through the search results.

Budget airlines now add on a ton of extras which makes it difficult to compare like for like. It’s got to the point now where I search on a budget airline website, and then compare this manually with another scheduled airline, so how about the flight comparison being more personal to me.

Embedding video

Considering that video has taken off in a big way online, they’re few companies using user generated or professional video content. I use services by Qik, Travelistic and Geo Beats and these videos can be easily embedded in to a website.

Give a member of your staff an iPhone or Flip camera when they go on a familiarisation trip ask them to record their experiences. Video local attractions, what the local restaurants are like and how to get around. Your customers will love that if they can watch it on your website.

Creating the community

Surely any travel company wants repeat customers and for that to happen you have to create a community where consumers can come back and leave comments about their holiday, or ask questions for other consumers to answer.

Would you book with a company you can interact with or a company hidden behind their website?

Mobile technology

Travel is lagging behind others where mobile is concerned. This is a brilliant opportunity to create iPhone applications that help consumers but also help them use your service or product. I probably spend just as much time surfing the internet on my mobile than I do in the comfort of my home.

Use Podcasts to inspire

Podcasting haven’t really taken off, but I would love it if I could download a podcast on the travel agencies website on a specific destination and upload it to my iPod. Then when I am in the resort I can listen and make sure I get the most of my time there.

These are just a few suggestions, but, let’s open up the discussion, what you would like to see being implemented on travel websites. Are they any travel companies using mobile, embedding video or interact with a consumer that stands them out from the rest.


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18 responses to “Improving user experience on travel websites”

Mark Shipley | 24 February, 2009 at 1:29 pm

Great post Darren.

We’ve been using the Flip HD camera and iPhones for this. Love the embedded video, but I agree that podcasting has great potential. It’s surprising that more travel marketers aren’t using these technologies.

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Nick | 24 February, 2009 at 1:38 pm

Darren

Great idea about showing which companies have protection, very few do this and do not explain why if you book x as opposed to y what the difference is. Also the difference between companies selling hotels etc. as agents such as travel republic and companies that sell as a tour operator such as Thomas Cook.

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Roxanne | 24 February, 2009 at 8:53 pm

I think all travel companies should start to value their single travellers more and all have accommodation / deals / packages on their sites without ludicrous single supplements.. Most sites seem to base their travel on 2 people and as a single person you end up paying at least double.

So not being treated like an alien because I am travelling alone would be a good start…
(I know I am probably generalising a bit, but it does seem less user friendly as a single traveller with less deals available…

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Dom | 24 February, 2009 at 9:07 pm

Darren interesting you mention embedding video. I work for a travel company (Big brand) and we are doing just that right now. Our videos are not professional because we wanted to make them off-the-cuff.

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Leah S | 24 February, 2009 at 9:12 pm

Roxanne is so right about single travel. Try and book a holiday with First Choice or Thomas Cook and you are forced to put in enter two people because you will not find any deals otherwise. I wanted to add though that the problem I have is the lack of fun on holiday bookings websites.

Should holidays not be about having fun?

We have to use stuffy booking websites

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Eleanor | 25 February, 2009 at 12:54 pm

I agree about the podcasts, it is an excellent idea. I am sure it is done in Edinburgh during the festival.

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Graham Donoghue | 25 February, 2009 at 5:59 pm

Good post Darren, too many sites ignore usability and focus on new product development rather than looking at both hand in hand. On ATOL, I agree the issues is making sure consumers really know that ATOL stands for as on its own or just the logo it may mean nothing to many customers, but the principle is sound. Also on the stealth charges, something we have been working on, its not easy to develop as they keep changing or the policy conditions change, but the price you see should be the price you pay based on some logic, for leisure travel most people do take luggage and as you know the limits vary. I am a huge fan of video and did lots of embedded video work in my last job, customers love it, you can also get lots of user generated videos and photos you can embed for free. Podcasts still are not mainstream enough for me, I’ve had little success with these but maybe as the quality was average, for them to work they have to be given away FREE. Location based mobile solutions, this I do have some faith in, especially with the user interface on the iphone, great to find your nearest train station, or restaurant when you are overseas. I also think lots of sites could learn a lot from continued user feedback and going back to basics, I am still overwhelmed at how many people find booking travel difficult online

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Robin Morris | 25 February, 2009 at 10:53 pm

All of your points are valid, personally I would like to see a higher standard of usability and not bombard people with information overload at every turn.

Most travel web sites whether travel companies or comparison sites are hitting you from all angles at all times… I would like to see a little useless information (banners, flashing slideshows, superflous information etc.) and more focused information. Even TripAdvisor has an unbelievable number of links on every page.

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MBB | 26 February, 2009 at 4:42 pm

I totally agree with adding more video. I’d like to see some of the fun excursions in action before I book them or plan to see them prior to my vacation! Seeing a first-hand experience would definitely add more incentive to buying!

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Irv | 26 February, 2009 at 10:53 pm

I completely agree with Roxanne and Leah about the dearth of deals for single travelers. Not everyone travels in pairs, and it seems there’s a pretty healthy market available. I’d also like to see more comparison features available. Everytime I book a trip, I end up with about 50 windows open, trying to comparison shop myself — gets confusing and crowded on my little laptop screen. More usability please!

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Darren Cronian | 27 February, 2009 at 5:18 am

@ Graham

“agree the issues is making sure consumers really know that ATOL stands for as on its own or just the logo it may mean nothing to many customers, but the principle is sound.”

That’s a good point. I still get emails from consumers asking what the difference is between ABTA and ATOL and which one should they look for. So, a logo highlighting that they’re ATOL bonded plus a page about what it means would be useful.

@ MBB

Me too, I love watching video, actually, I shouldn’t say this because I write a blog but I actually prefer watching video than reading text on a screen. Here’s hoping more companies get involved in video

@ Irv

I am going to be writing about solo travel and how badly its covered in the travel industry sometime in the next couple of days so keep a look out for that. I also think your right about when searching, you do end up with loads of windows open, it’ll be nice to do more of it within one site.

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Shubh | 27 February, 2009 at 6:47 am

Still there are very few travel companies that seriously take the reviews or the comments of their customers. Generally, forums or discussion boards, comment sections are created to get popularity. I expect fair deal on this front also.

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Simon | 27 February, 2009 at 8:57 am

We take on board all customer reviews and comments, but people from various departments within the organisation will see them differently depending on what the complaint is about.

Maintaining forums for a medium-to large business isn’t a walk in the park, I’ve done this previously. People will naturally over egg their issues (we’re all human after all), which is one of the reasons that companies aren’t in favour of implementing these. Businesses are still scared of online technology such as forums, because they can be very damaging when actually the issues aren’t as bad as being expressed.

I have a hand written letter in front of me, which was addressed and sent to the MD of one of our brands complaining about our website – it came down to me the day it arrived to be investigated.

We have posted responses to comments left on Trip Advisor also. Posting things on places such as Trip Advisor is more likely to get companies taking notice, than their own forums, because at the end of the day they don’t control the content there and it’s a highly visited and regarded site.

Smaller operators will never embrace mobile technology properly, as the userbase will always be too small to produce a decent return. The large tourops *might*, but I doubt it, again because each tourop would need their own application. The biggest opportunity in my opinion is for the price comparison sites and companies like Expedia. Large customer base, across a range of destinations, products and services. A one size (almost) fits all for consumers.

We’ve had a few videos, and haven’t seen a conversion increase off the back of them. Unless we can get the hotels to pay to produce the videos, then it isn’t cost effective so we probably won’t end up with any more. Yes we could use user-submitted videos, but it depends on what image you’re trying to project about your brand. If you’re an upmarket brand, do you really want to be showing Joe Bloggs video of the loud mouthed family sat next to them on the beach? No :-)

Blimey that was a long reply!

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Jay Houston | 28 February, 2009 at 10:09 am

The problem is, as the Chinese saying goes, point a finger at a person and 3 point back at you!

I just checked the Hotels Combined web site featured on your web site and searched for a hotel in my home town of SaiGon, VietNam.

Selecting the maps for both the Caravelle and the Sheraton I found that the displayed locations are kilometres off their correct locations!

If a web site can’t get the location right, why would anyone trust it to handle a reservation?

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Darren Cronian | 28 February, 2009 at 2:06 pm

@ Jay

Thanks for highlighting that, I will email them and direct them to this post.

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Darren Cronian | 28 February, 2009 at 2:16 pm

@ Simon

A great reply and its good to hear responses to my ‘improvements’ — I realise not all of them are possible but it is good to hear companies are listening to consumers and looking at improving experience. All great points on why you might not want to implement my improvements. Thanks.

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Ricky | 13 May, 2009 at 8:12 am

100% agree with you! to satisfy the present web-user is not easy at all. Website owners have to adopt different means to attract and keep the visitors stop at the sites for longer time. But I am afraid most of the websites may not afford to use all the technologies.

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Steve Villiers | 8 June, 2009 at 11:56 am

Love all your ideas. I think the problem is that site owners confuse stickiness with sensory overload and I can see why this is the case. Competition on the web is fierce and what better way to increase conversions than to have a low low bottom price so you compare favorably on the aggregate sites and then once you’ve got the punter in the door show them the small print. ie that super low price doesn’t include breakfast … or towels … or a bed … for that you’ll have to pay extra. Badabing … your marketing worked. You’ve got them in the door now hand over to the CRM team to bombard them, hit them over the head with noise … you might even daze them enough to score a conversion goal.

However a smart site with usability at it’s core will realise consumers all want different things … the trick of a successful site is guiding them as quickly as you can to what they want to see then giving them loads of info about it (including videos, UGC, forums and up-selling if appropriate) so they never leave. 99.9% of the site won’t interest them. BUT and here’s the killer punch, each consumer is different and will be looking for a different 0.1%. Manage that user journey and you’ll have a success on your hands, irrespective of what technologies you use.

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