Skip to main content
UsabilityNews.com - for all the latest in usability and human-computer interaction
BCS Interaction
 
 
The All the Latest section presents all general usability news articles


 
  advanced search
 

All the Latest

Online Travel Booking: What influences Consumers?


Source: Webcredible, 4 October 2008
Submitted by Alexander Baxevanis

For today's time-poor consumers, booking a holiday can be a tough process. The age old question always fired at a new band, 'What are your influences?' is just as important when it comes to online travel customers.

RESEARCH ASSISTANCE
Most people begin the holiday research process by searching for destination guides (typically through Google). Often, these in-depth guides either don't exist, or consumers don't realise that they exist, on major travel booking sites. By not offering this extra level of information, travel sites risk people leaving and finding this information elsewhere. Researching and booking a holiday is a very time-consuming process and competes with other work and household activities. People have limited time during lunch break and evenings, meaning they're likely to get frustrated if it takes to long too find the information that they require.

WORD OF MOUTH AND REVIEWS
Recommendations from friends and family are an important source of information, as almost all consumers take these into account when booking. Travel providers could facilitate these types of recommendations by offering 'email a friend' buttons. This will make it easier for users to recommend and communicate the details of their holiday. Inevitably, user-generated content is also an important factor when it comes to online research and booking. Allow negative reviews and provide assurances that the reviews are written by actual holiday bookers.

SPECIFIC CONSUMER CHALLENGES
Groups of friends holidaying together often disagree on destinations, and communication within the group can be poor. Travel websites could potentially link travel planning with social networking websites to enable these groups to better communicate. In contrast to this, the main concern of those travelling with children is making sure the holiday is child-friendly. Travel sites should make sure that information about child-friendly holidays and activities is easily accessible.

SELL, SELL, SELL
There is a large, currently untapped, opportunity for travel sites to follow the lead of ecommerce sites and cross-sell travel-related products and services as part of the booking process. This could include clothes, accessories, cosmetics and weight loss products and services.

OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
It's important for travel companies to do as much as they can to help users choose their holiday. Other ideas that could be implemented to this end include:
* Letting users create shortlists with different flight and hotel options, that can be accessed when visiting the site at a later time
* Providing 'a real breakdown' of prices to include all extras
* Allowing those booking group holidays to pay for their share of the booking directly to the booking site
* Aggregating and organising all trip information before and after booking (Tripit and Traveldk partly do this)
* Cross-selling relevant products and services after users have booked a holiday
* Integrating destination guides with booking sites so people can complete most of their research and booking tasks on the same site

What's ultimately at stake here is providing sufficient information to help influence travel decision. Whether this is an objective online destination guide or a suggested excursion complete with a review from a previous customer, the smallest gestures can make a huge difference.

 


External link to another web site Associated Link:
Webcredible


Other News

Increase data Usability, save Billions
Source: ZDNet, 6 September 2010
 
Data usability? less sexy than social emotional interfaces, more money than you can imagine.

Three Things Steve Krug Didn’t Tell You About Usability Testing
Source: George Saines, 2 September 2010
 
Don't make me think. Well, ok, maybe a little bit.

Trace exactly what Users are doing
Source: killerstartups, 30 August 2010
 
A new tool lets you watch all of your website activity, in real-time replays.

Google boosts Usability with Gmail revamp
Source: V3.co.uk, 28 August 2010
 
Long overdue improvements to Gmail may increase its appeal to business users.

Tech4Africa conference runs in Johannesburg
Source: bizcommunity, 26 August 2010
 
A new conference in Africa recognises usability as a central concept to IT uptake.

Top 3 Usability Tips for Building Better Blogs
Source: CMS Wire, 24 August 2010
 
If you're compelled to blog, may as well get it right.

Outdoors and Out of Reach, Studying the Brain
Source: New York Times, 23 August 2010
 
Fascinating account of how heavy use of digital devices changes how we think and behave, and how a retreat into nature might reverse those effects.

Tips for International In-home User Research
Source: System Concepts Ltd, 20 August 2010
 
In-home user research can provide richer, more illuminating information than lab-based studies. Here are some tips for a successful in-home international research.

New Study- Gender differences in Web Usability
Source: Demystifying Usability blog, 18 August 2010
 
Comscore has released a new study (June 30 2010) entitled Women on the Web: How Women are Shaping the Internet.

UX Myths: Usability testing is Expensive
Source: UX Myths, 16 August 2010
 
Many organizations still believe usability testing is a luxury that requires an expensively equipped lab and takes weeks to conduct.

 
 

 

home | contribute | subscribe | news feed/RSS | search | contact us | disclaimer

UsabilityNews.com (version 1.41), along with its associated web site and content,
are all strictly © Copyright of the BCS Interaction 2001-2010. All rights reserved.

Joanna Bawa (editor), Dave Clarke (founder, designer and developer). Ian Parry (graphics).