Hotel Website Design: High End Hotels With Low End Websites

An example of a hotel website that violates so many web design rules, that it makes the site almost unusable, is Wynn Las Vegas. Don't go there yet. The website has one entry point and is all multimedia. You get sound and video. If you don't have the right browser and the latest version of Flash on your computer, you won't get anywhere. You'll get a blank screen with no option to get any more information.

You don't have a newer computer? You are not on a high-speed connection? You are in a library? You have pop-ups blocked or disabled? You work at an office that doesn't have all the bells and whistles in the budget for their computers? You don't want your computer speakers betraying what you are doing on company time? You are listening to your own music or video and don't want to hear Steve Wynn, the owner of this particular hotel, talking to you? Don't go to the official website. This is one of those cases where you get more readable information at a third party travel website like us or others.

Whether it is the ego of website designers or the hotel owners, this kind of hotel website makes it difficult for you to be a customer. You shouldn't have to hunt for phone numbers. You can't find a phone number on Expedia, Hotels.com, or Orbitz, so you should be able to easily find it on the official website. Having a website come up as a blank page on millions of computers is like a business having an unlisted phone number and locked doors. You shouldn't have to upgrade your computer to check out a hotel. You shouldn't have to mute your computer or wake up your family (or boss) to check out a hotel.

There are many hotel websites that are like this so Wynn Las Vegas is not unique. We are just picking an example that you may have heard of before.

Does Age of Hotel Factor in Your Selection?

How long does it take for the average chain hotel to decline? We notice how certain chains come on the scene and then go downhill. The locations either become poorly rated or change brands. A Red Roof Inn becomes a Motel 6. A Travelodge becomes a Thriftlodge. Is this to protect a chain's name? Is it to hide from negative reviews on the internet and in guide books?

An entire brand can change over the years as well. Travelodge began as a budget motel in southern California. I recall when Travelodge seemed to try to be more expensive and catered to business travelers in their ads and locations. I stayed at some nice brand new ones in the 1990s. Now some of the worst rated properties are under the Travelodge brand and it's more of a low budget brand than before.

Holiday Inn is a brand that had a roller coaster ride over the last thirty years are doing much better now. They have many new or renovated buildings and some old Holidays Inn have changed to another name.

Hampton Inn launched in 1984 and have held up well. Many locations are nicer and more expensive than they were when they opened. They recently began a Cloud Nine campaign with better mattresses and their prices tend to be higher than most "budget" hotels. But the reviews we see are also consistently good. Hilton bought the chain in 1999.

Many chains have flagship brands that are considered high end and slowly turn those into their lower end brand names over the years.

We have been adding build dates to our listings for those who pay attention to that. If a building is only a few years old, it has less chance of being in decline than one built in the 1970s. It would be deemed by most people to be safe. On the other hand, some of the finest hotels in the world may be a hundred years old. So travelers need to look at both age and the brand. A thirty year old EconoLodge is far different than a eighty year old Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Do you or would you consider the age of a property when booking a hotel? Will a "brand new" location look better to you than an older chain location, even if it still has good reviews?

Gay-Friendly Cities Prosper

A recent segment of CNN's Inn The Money featured a professor from George Mason University by the name of Richard Florida. He is the author of the book The Rise of the Creative Class and stated that the more "gay-friendly" a city is, the more economically prosperous it can be.

He said that the college educated youth are moving to the most "gay-friendly" cities because those cities tend to have the best job markets. Think of Silicon Valley and San Francisco. Microsoft (and now Google in their expansion) and Seattle. Other cities at the top include Boston, Portland Oregon and Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida. These are cities where open-mindedness leads to innovation and new technology. These cities are prospering and tend to be both more expensive and culturally interesting. You almost don't have to look at hotel room rates in the top and bottom of these lists to know which is doing much better. The gay-friendly cities are much more expensive to visit.

The cities at the bottom end of gay-friendly cities? They include Pittsburgh, Birmingham AL, Detroit, Buffalo, Charlotte NC, and Oklahoma City. These are not the most prosperous, open-minded cities these days. The kids are leaving and not many new jobs are coming in. The educated youth then goes to where the money and ideas are growing.

Cancellation Fees and Policies In Detail

It is time again to address cancellation policies, fees and charges. Hotels are the ones that charge them but it sometimes appears as if we do.

We get emails from upset customers when they are surprised by cancellation charges and sometimes even have to pay for a hotel stay they didn't complete. This anger is directed at us but that fact is that we don't charge any fees at all. The hotel controls the policies and collects the money. We just take all the blame because it's our name on the reservation.

Most bookings on AllStays.com do not have a cancellation fee at all if it is cancelled by a certain time, usually 24-48 hours ahead of the check in date. However, certain rates are negotiated with the hotels and these include cancellation fees and are clearly stated on the pages for the hotels. Please always read this policy (#3) on the booking page. This is stated before you ever enter your personal information. This fee is in place for about 8,000 out of 54,000 bookable hotels listed. It is part of the contract with the hotels for the cheaper rates. The hotel gets a certain amount of money regardless of what happens in the booking. They are set in that point.

Holiday Inn is an example of a hotel chain that gives out discounted rates. Whether booking with us or at the official Holiday Inn website, if you book one of those rates and cancel, you will pay between one nights rate and even possibly the entire stay. You basically save $5 or $10 a night to give up the right to cancel.

This is one of the most frustrating things about the travel industry these days and we hope you will read all of this to see the concrete proof that we are not the ones that caused fees for a cancellation. If it was up to us there would be no fees at all. But we do not control the hotels policies. We just link to them so you can book your travel. When complaining about fees, make sure to include the hotel. They are the ones that got all the money in fees. We didn't get a dime of it.

For example, please check this link from the official Holiday Inn website for this hotel where they charge you one nights stay for the cancellation. We are picking on Holiday Inn in this case but many of the chains and independents do the same.

Because the credit card is accepted by us and passed onto the hotel, the hotel can dictate the fees charged and they appear as if they are coming from us. AllStays.com does not get a dime of these fees. Zero. They are charges put upon us by the hotel and/or the GDS network (Global Distribution System) which in this case is Sabre which is the same company as Travelocity. They control the most number of access points for travel agents. You get charged the fee, we take the heat and get nothing for it. You get mad at AllStays or your local travel agent and the big greedy corporation gets the money.

You may still want to blame us for charging fees but you can also look up the same hotel on other travel websites like Expedia/Hotels.com (actually same company), or Travelocity. You will find in most cases, the same exact cancellation fee and policy.

And remember that anytime you make a booking for the next day or the same day you are making the booking, you will be paying for the hotel stay. You can't cancel at that point. You are charged the whole room rate because the hotel doesn't have any time to re-sell that room if you cancel.

Because we are always trying to make improvements and want to keep your business, please let us know if there is any way we can make the fee more obvious up front. we state the policy before the booking takes place but we realize it takes time to read the text on the page.

We don't answer to any stock price and stockholders like other websites. We answer to you. We really are on your side, the guest, but the rules of the game are tough on independents and those trying to do the right thing.

Adam Longfellow
President, AllStays.com

Average Hotel Prices Up

The average hotel price has increased around 15% in the past year. The industry has recovered and expanded from 2001 when hotel rates dropped sharply to get people traveling again. Some cities have gone way up, like Bangkok at a 55% increase, while others have had a little dip like Washington DC being down by 3%.

In general, travel is costing more. If you can plan far enough ahead, booking a room can save you a little money. You can lock in today's rate which may keep going up over the next so many months. Most reservation systems such as ours at AllStays will takes reservations up to about 11-12 months in advance. On the other hand, a major world disaster could drive rates down and you'd have paid a higher rate. It's playing the odds and doing what you are comfortable with to find savings wherever you can.