Oyster.com - Editorial Hotel Reviews Are Back in Town

The online hotel reviews scene is getting bigger and louder with a new player called Oyster. This user-friendly website offers objective reviews written by journalism students (as reported on Frommers.com), who are basically full time employees: "They are our own people. They go there anonymously and try to emulate the experience as closely as possible..." says Elie Seidman, Oyster's CEO.

Going back to editorial content in the age of web 2.0 is an interesting step. I wrote in January 09 about the strong need for a change in travel user generated content websites, or at least those who turned out to be nothing more than "playgrounds" of photo albums, immaturish videos and superficial travel stories. Oyster looks like a useful alternative for users who are a bit suspicious about UGC websites, and for those who want to balance the freedom of web 2.0 hotel reviews, such as these on TripAdvisor, with a more controlled and comprehensive tool. For this reason I don't really understand why some bloggers described the debut of Oyster as a call for battle against TripAdvisor. I believe that most users do their hotel research with several online sources, so in this case everyone wins. Plus, it's impossible to compare the impressive scope of TripAdvisor to any other hotel reviews website.

The one problem I have with Oyster is the homogeneous group of writers it employs and their relevance to some of the users. I mean, when I read this great review about the Delano Hotel in Miami, written by a talented journalist who is probably around my age group, I feel confident to book a room or to forget all about it and search for another hotel. But what about the 60-something year old tourist, who has the time and money for booking a room in a hotel such as the Delano? Is it possible for a young writer to understand the special needs and preferences of that tourist, before writing the review?

Just one example to make my point clear: Hailey Eber writes in the Delano review that "The lobby and the Rose Bar directly off it get so crowded that it's difficult to move through or grab a drink". That is definitely a point worth mentioning in a review, but what if I'm not interested in bars or alcoholic drinks as a tourist? In TripAdvisor I would have moved to another review. In Oyster, all I have is this one.

A possible solution would be to simply hire writers from a wider range of ages, and to categorize the reviews not only geographically - but also by the reviewer. This may even lead to a unique culture within Oyster, where users will have their preferable reviewer based on his or her age, travel habits and writing style.

Global Distribution of Social Media

Social media allow us to better understand our users, their needs and opinions. We all know that by now, but do eTourism websites owners really maximize the usage of social networks as part of their digital marketing strategy? Kevin May, for example, isn't sure. "The web is no longer a simple information resource, it is at once a library, a conversation, a market, a social gathering and a lifestyle" he writes in his excellent blog post, emphasizing the old-fashioned approach of some eTourism businesses to the Internet.

However, there are others who understand the power of Twitter, Bebo or Dopplr in promoting their tourism products. Kerala Tourism is just one example, with a massive presence in social networks.

One very important thing to remember when using social media for marketing purposes is choosing the appropriate network. Facebook isn't popular everywhere. In Japan, for example, the leading social network website is Mixi, with over 19 million members. So, if targeting the Japanese market is your goal - explore Mixi's capabilities because it's your best bet.

This dynamic map is very useful in explaining which social network is popular and where. It's also a useful evidence for those of you who are a bit skeptic in regard to the power and influence of these tools.

Usability of Online Calendars in eTourism Websites

Usable calendars are highly important for the success of online booking websites, as it's quite easy for the user to make the wrong date choice, or to feel the system isn't credible enough and to search for another. The British UX agency Webcredible has published an interesting report which evaluates 20 of the top UK travel agent and airline carrier websites against 20 best practice usability guidelines. One of these guidelines was the existence of an effective calendar. And what is an effective calendar? According to Webcredible, the calendar's icon should be clear; The Next and Previous buttons are in the same place for each month; The calendar is easy to close - and so on.

In this post I wish to examine a few calendars I have found on eTourism booking websites and to check how effective they are according to several usability guidelines.

The Disappointing Calendar:
Hotel Croatia is a 5 star hotel in the charming Dubrovnik Riviera. When I clicked on the Book Now link I got a page with room options, but no dates to choose from. "OK, it's probably going to show up later", I thought. Only when I was requested to enter my personal details I figured out something went wrong. A second look at the landing page revealed the date section on the left side of the screen, almost unseen (see image below). A clear icon of a calendar would have been helpful in this case.

I'm afraid we're not done with Hotel Croatia. After clicking on Modify in order to change the dates I got this calendar which is, of course, anything but usable:

The "Could have been better" Calendar (1):
Hotel Plaza Mayor in Madrid has a friendly website with a problematic online calendar (see image below). At first, there is the obscure question mark on the top left side. What's it for? Why should anyone need a Help icon on a calendar? It should be extremely easy to use without any help, we're talking about choosing dates. Plus, when the Help window appeared, the instructions came only after some authoring details, which are definitely not something the users care about. The Close button is easy to locate, which is excellent, but why do the Next and Previous buttons aren't located in the Month line? I mistakenly thought it changes the days of the month because of the "Today" text at the centre. Of course it's possible to get used to it in a few seconds and to operate it properly, but who knows if your user has the patience for that?

The "Could have been better" Calendar (2):
First Choice is an online booking website for holidays. It has a nice and friendly home page with a prominent booking section (which isn't the situation in many cases, I'm afraid). However, one thing is missing: a calender. The user can only choose the desired departure date with the drop-down boxes (see image below). Simple? Not really. What if he or she can't remember if next Tuesday is the 14th or the 15th? I guess that most users don't have a calendar as part of their mental map, so it's important to add one to any eTourism booking system.

The Excellent Calendar:
The Co-Operative Travel is another online booking site. This one has a usable, easy to use calendar, which I'm sure assists in increasing the number of successful bookings. It's excellent because it doesn't force you to open it. If you already know your departure date, just choose it from the box and don't waste your time with the calendar. It's excellent because it has a clear icon that can be understood internationally. And finally, the calendar itself is excellent thanks to its simple design, showing the user only the remaining days of the month and not using the annoying Previous and Next arrows for the months (I personally hate those). A system like this gives me as a user a sense of confidence, which is critical in the buying online process.

The F-pattern and your link labels

In one of his recent posts, Jacob Nielsen discusses the importance of clear link labels. We all know by now that scanning is what web users do, sometimes in accordance with the F-pattern. Nielsen claims that "people read the first few listed items somewhat thoroughly... but read less and less as they continue down the list, eventually passing their eyes down the text's left side in a fairly straight line". For that reason he suggests to focus on the first 11 characters when thinking of a winning link label, because these charecters are probably what the users would eventually see.

Think how disappointing it could be for a hotel website, if most of its users will read the "Our Beautiful Rooms" link as "Our beuatif". It's basically a dead link, despite its importance to the site's success, as most users won't click on something so vague.

Here are some examples for link labels (only the first 11 characters) I found on eTourism websites worldwide, which are shown at the lower part of a list. Some are good, and can be understood even when cropped. Which of these links are ambiguous to you? Feel free to leave a comment. Here we go:

• User regist (from spain.com)
• World weath (from worldreviewer.com)
• Hilton HHon (from the Hilton Budapest website)
• More handpi (from cheapflights.co.uk)
• Two week br (from skyscanner.net)
• Update your (from tripadvisor.com)
• Get travel (from i-escape.com)
• Amazing dea (from travelintelligence.com)
• Mandalay ba (from luxur.com)

Creative uses of Twitter in eTourism

Twitter is around for about two years now, but it seems that only recently travel businesses have started using it as a marketing tool. Meet Davitydave, for example. He is the editorial director of Frommers.com, the wonderful online version of the well-known travel guide. Most of his tweets lead to selected pieces of content from Frommers.com, but some deal with travel-related content from other sources (just one cute example: Want to become an expat? To calculate the cost of living in 270+ cities worldwide: http://www.xpatulator.com). These tweets increase the credibility of the twitterer, and of course the brand he or she represents, because they are not aggressively promoting it.

I have been thinking lately about more uses of Twitter in eTourism apart from promoting online textual content, and came up with some ideas. What if, for example, an international hotel chain would tweet a daily photo using Twitpic, exposing the routine in hotels and resorts worldwide? This could be an interesting way to market the business, and to increase the humaneness and inventiveness of the brand. Ewebber does a similar thing with shop fronts photos in London, and the result is absolutely charming.

And how about promoting an airline using a twitter account of a real flight attendant, who will write her or his thoughts after a long but successful flight, tweet photos of food served on board and so on. Again, it's all about humanising the brand and reaching the consumers in a friendlier, less-commercial way. Of course it's important not to hide behind the brand - authenticity is crucial. However, the brand profile itself should be personal, not just "another version of corporate promotion", as suggested in this excellent post from the Tourism Internet Marketing website.

I'm interested to hear of more creative uses of Twitter in eTourism businesses, so please feel free to write your own.

Travellr - A niche website that is here to stay

One of the cutest additions to the eTourism arena is Travellr, which is basically all about asking tourism-related questions and getting answers from locals or past visitors. It's great to see a website that has only one product on offer - answers. With so many competitors, I believe that niche websites may have a better chance for survival and success. Plus, I really think there is a place for a travel Q & A product despite the excellent Answers.com or Yahoo! Answers websites. A small, focused website with a relevant community would probably supply better answers to travel questions.

The Private Beta version of Travellr was launched last month, which is the best time for some feedback:

From its look and feel, Travellr conveys values of simplicity and vitality. The design is clean and spacious, which clearly points out that we're here to get short, twitter-like answers. Browsing questions is easy, and can be done after selecting the desired destination in the Ajax search box, which completes the search query automatically. The best thing about this technology, apart from making the users' life easier by leading them to the desired term, is the immediate exposure to other relevant search queries. So, if I type Australia, for example, what I get is a list of cities and regions tagged with "Australia". Those of you who are link-dominant users would probably prefer to navigate the map, which is powered by Google and works fine too.

Adding a question to the website is quite simple too, though I felt a bit confused in the confirmation page. I entered my question where I was told too, but on this page there was another box saying "Give us some details". As a user, I wasn't really sure where exactly will this text is going to appear, as I basically gave all the details I had to give in the question itself. Only later I found out that the question was actually the headline, and the details were the text body. Of course I felt a bit stupid for not writing anything... As I wrote to Ian from Travellr, maybe it could have been better to mention next to the "Enter a question" line in the confirmation page that it will serve as the headline.

Another option (and even a better one) would be to mention that the third box is optional, as they do in Yahoo! Answers. I believe it could reduce some of the confusion among users who won't understand what "other details" they need to enter. Plus, I personally think that users are getting lazier, and wouldn't expect many of them to write additional information. For that reason I was happy to find out that Travellr uses automatic tagging, realizing that not everyone cares about tagging properly.

Bottom line: I really liked Travellr. I think it's a great trip-planning tool for those users who don't have the patience required for browsing travel forums' discussions, and just want a quick answer for their question.

Update for March 30:

1. Ian from Travellr has just informed me that my recommendations regarding the confirmation page were accepted and implemented, so please ignore my annoying criticism.

2. If you wish to explore Travellr's beta version yourself, please do so with the following code: etourismishere

Flash and usability in the Morgans Hotel Group website

"Flash should not be used to jazz up a page", writes Jacob Nielsen in his 2006 (excellent) book, Prioritizing Web Usability. "It doesn't grab users' attention; it drives them away". He admits that Macromedia has fixed some of the usability problems Flash had in its first version, but still suggests using it only when the website offers "features that are unavailable on a static page". Is this the case with the new Morgans Hotel Group (Morgans) website, which is made of 100% pure Flash? Let's do a quick website inspection:

The home page presents a table with all sorts of images and headlines, some of which a bit blurry (Who is Shepard Fairey? I didn't know this talented artist before checking on Wikipedia. Why would the user click on a mysterious object?). The overall look and feel is a bit confusing, but at the same time says a lot about the Morgans' brand identity, which is probably all about being young, trendy and enjoying the big city life. I was happy to find the hotels list in two prominent locations, in spite of the overwhelming home page, and moved on with my search.

Next to New York the line says "Hudson Morgans Royalton". At first I thought that this is the hotel's name, and performed all of my inspection on the Hudson hotel. Only later I found out that the Morgans and the Royalton are independent hotels with websites of their own. Conclusion#1: I'm not from New York. Conclusion#2: It was better to divide each of the names with a pipe, so the user could see there are 3 links ahead. Of course if the links were blue and underlined, as always preferable when talking about web usability, there was no need for that.

The hudson's home page is very clean and impressive, with only two main links to choose from: Rooms & Reservations, and Explore Hotel. I clicked on Rooms and Suites (under Explore Hotel) and was taken to another beautiful page with an elegant list of room types. I could find some non-standard GUI controls as Nielsen mentions in his Flash criticism, like the white triangles, but I'm not sure if they are non-standard anymore. It worked fine for me, anyway. Generally speaking, I felt comfortable navigating the site and completed a reservation very easily. I do believe that people who are less experienced with using the web might feel a bit lost, as there are some interaction problems in the reservation process. Just one example: When choosing dates on the calendar, the user can make changes only after choosing the departure date. So, if I wish to arrive on March 6, but mistakenly clicked on March 8 and want to correct it, I'm stuck. Clicking the Back button will take me to the home page, where I don't want to go, and choosing a fake departure date, just for getting to the "Change Dates" button, is not something I would expect from an average user.

This is, I guess, one of Nielsen's problems with Flash. On a "regular" website there were two calendars: one for arrival, one for departure. Any changes could have been made directly on each. In Flash, the interaction can get a bit tricky.

One more thing that I really liked about this website is "The List" section - a nightlife guide that is fully integrated with the booking process, so the users may see what events are occurring in their city of choice during their stay. Some user generated content could have made the online experience even better, as today we all got used to the non-editorial travel content of sites like TripAdvisor etc. I'm afraid everything else feels a bit fake, at least for young users.

Bottom line: The Morgans website succeeds in providing an entertaining, elegant-looking Flash website that is also easy to operate. I'm not sure at all if there are any special features on this website that requires non-static pages, as Nielsen pointes out. But if the brand managers are aiming at the 30-something age group, with users who are normally more confident using Flash sites, they did a very good job.