10 things hotel booking websites should have

Mar 27th, 2009 | By Roger + Lina together

Original hotel descriptions (and not the hotel’s own!)
Original photos (again, not just the oh-so-perfect-images the hotel provides)
Clear price-list, including all taxes (show all periods, without having to enter dates)
Testimonials for the travel service/website/business
Transparent about who handles the booking and who is responsible for customer satisfaction
Clear, plain-english quotes and terms (without legalise & lengthy disclaimers)
Area information (original – not Wikipedia please!)
Privacy policy (what are they doing with your details?)
Feedback form
Full contact details, including physical address and contact numbers

Tags: best practices, booking, Business/Entrepreneurship, hotels, transparency, Travel, website

Andy April 19th, 2009 2:24 pm :
And you forgot a live booking system! This provides the consumer with the ability to pay with a credit card and therefore protect their money in the event of a problem!! Many villa holiday websites are here today and gone tomorrow: with your cash. Consumers who book with a live system nd pay with a card can reclaim the total amount through their credit card company if the ’site’ disappears. So the key is book online and pay with a card!!

Note: referring to http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/31/creditcards-31.htm
Lina Zaproudi April 28th, 2009 5:52 pm :
Hello Andy, thanks for stopping by.

1.
To clarify: the Consumer credit act referred above applies for the UK.

2.
Charging your holel/villa bookings on a credit card is a good idea – it is certainly convenient and provides a level of protection.
I believe most reservations are indeed made this way, be it “live”, or by secure mail or by phone. We, too, encourage the use of credit cards when booking your hotel.