Hotwire Hotel: Hotwire's New Format

[232271]

have you seen the new website?

they have really changed it and they added condo's??

anybody have any idea which condos in the WDW orlando area??

wow, blew me away :)

[runNgun]

universal area 4* is most likely the Westgate Resorts.

[thereuare]

Yup, i noticed it this morning.

I haven't had time to check but i think it's just an extension of the "C" amenity icon for condo (which in my opinion may as just well be "T" for timeshare :) )

I'll try to get some properties that had previously been reported with a "C" and look at how they're currently shown. I'm not a fan of the layout as 95% of their offerings will say "HOTEL" and the icon is a bit large, why not only show it for the non-hotel properties (or leave it alone, it was fine previously). On the otherhand i'm sure that it's just a matter of getting used to and i a week i'll have forgotten the 'old' format.

Two other changes along with the above:

1) There is now a drop down menu (instead of a bullet) at the top of searches in order to change the order from price, zone, or star rating.

2) Now the amenities are also shown in text format, in addition to the icons. This would be a big change for the better if the text showed all the amenities in instances where there were more than eight (you have to click on 'show hotel details' to see the complete list of amenities if there are more than eight). Unfortunately, in instances where there are more than eight amenity icons, the text only shows the first eight :)

There are so many other things that Hotwire (and Priceline) could be doing to improve their service that i question who makes the decisions to move forward with changes such as the above. Did they have the programmers work on this under the premise that it will increase sales?

[Scorp]

I agree that there are LOTS of things that Hotwire could do to become a more competitive choice. However, amenities now include things such as "Free Parking", which can certainly influence a decision in some areas. I don't think they have included this information in many hotel lists yet, though, as I searched quite a few places and didn't see more than one property that had it included on the amenity list.

[thereuare]

Didn't see the free parking amenity... i recant my statements above as i thought the new format was just a new way to show the same amenities.

More amenities are good for the consumer, but why revamp the entire site in order to launch additional amenities icons?

I'm still waiting for the phone call (from either company) to act as their development consultant :)

[232271]

when they call them them

i do not care for the new site at all. It is too busy for me.

but they have alot more hotels coming up this time.

so maybe it will just take getting used to like mentioned above.

only time will tell.

[thereuare]

As i look further i not only see the parking icon but i also see a 24hr front desk icon. I haven't done enough searched yet, but so far i have only seen these show up under CONDO listings.

I think the hotel/condo designation is so that they can show more properties in the same search. They still only show one hotel per star level, but condos are treated as a separate category and therefore they can show you a 3* hotel and a 3* condo in the same search.

I guess their thought process is "if we give them more options we'll give them more of a choice and likely get more sales." Although this may be logical in theory, i don't think it's going to work in the real world, and thus won't improve their revenue much.

Mr. Diller / Hotwire: Contact me and i'll give you some tangible ideas that will make your hotel product more competitive and increase your bottom line.