Hotel List by Cities and Tips

[thereuare]

Individual states/countries are now set up as follows:

Hotel List by City and Tips

Hotwire (results and assistance)

Priceline (results and assistance)

How is it keeping the Hotel List by city separate from the results area? Would it better to keep each list by city 'pinned' at the top of their respective list? How about a pinned topic at the top if each list which would provide a link to the "list by city" (like i have done in Florida and California as an experiment).

I'm trying to think IF there is a better way to have the board's layout, so i figured i'd ask our members.... is it best the way it is now, or do you have suggestions on how to improve it?

THANKS!

[thereuare]

I'm looking for a little more feedback on this, if anyone cares to contribute their thoughts....

I'm considering removing the Hotel List and Tips section from each state and just making a pinned subject on top of the Priceline sction for the Priceline Hotels List and a pinned sujbect on top of the Hotwire section for a Hotwire Hotels List.

The disadvantage to this is that the Priceline list and Hotwire list will be in different forums and therefore require add'l clicks to view both lists (yet fewer clicks if you only want to view one list). How many people are viewing both lists before moving forward with Priceline or Hotwire?

There are 2 ways around this that i can think of:

1) In the Priceline Hotel List thread, have a link that will take you directly to the Hotwire list (and vice-versa)

2) Have a pinned topic at the top of each state that has a link to both lists (for example, see Floirda>> Priceline OR California>> Priceline and see the pinned topic at the top of each list).

If either of these are implemented, there then becomes the problem of where to put the "Tips" for each state (for example, the parking advice for New York). Since there will be many states that aren't likely to have any 'tips' (i'm just thinking, such as Nebraska or Oklahoma) one idea i had was to create a Tips category similar to the Hotel Reviews category where posts will begin with their abbreviation code and they'll be alphabetized. I'm not sure though if this would just make it too cumbersome to be useful. I think the Tips are very important for users that are visiting an area for the first time and they're on the board to stay (there's no thought of doing away with them), i'm just trying to think if there's a better way to orgainze things.

EVERYONE is encouraged to give their thoughts, since you all are the ones that will be using this site. I particularly want to encourage 'newbie' members to give thier thoughts since you are the ones that aren't quite used to the board's interface just yet and feedback from you will let me know where users are having trouble finding the information they're seeking.

Nothing will be done immediately, so please give it some thought and offer any advice or opinions you may have.

THANKS!

[thereuare]

I guess everyone will be happy with whatever i decide :)

[Scorp]

1) In the Priceline Hotel List thread, have a link that will take you directly to the Hotwire list (and vice-versa)

2) Have a pinned topic at the top of each state that has a link to both lists (for example, see Floirda>> Priceline OR California>> Priceline and see the pinned topic at the top of each list).

I prefer the second choice, I like the way the Florida and California hotel lists are currently linked. And you still have the separate Forum/category for hotel lists AND Tips, for anyone who wants to just browse these topics. But personally, I like being able to link quickly to the hotel lists when I am viewing specific hotel posting details. And I like to browse the lists for both Hotwire and Priceline.

I don't think you can make everyone happy no matter what you do, though.... different people will have different approaches. Some people will only use Priceline, some will only use Hotwire. Some will take the time to read the Tips sections, some won't.

[Chris26WI]

I think it's well done that you've put the hotel list by region as fixed link on top of the biddings listing for the regions - easier to reach.

However, I am still in favour of breaking the "other countries" listings down to categories by country groups or at least regions :-)