Two New Ideas... Any Interest?

[thereuare]

While away on vacation and not in front of the computer i was thinking about BetterBidding and had two ideas that i thought i would see if there was interest:

1) Include Trip Reports in the "Hotel List and Tips" section of each state category since users could report things that they did on vacation that should be done by others (or things to avoid). Another way to set it up is we could also create an entirely new forum (similar to HOTEL REVIEWS) where users can add their trip reports.

2) Not sure of bandwidth and/or storage use but i can look into it if there is interest... a hotel photo gallery. Users could take pics of the hotels (lobby, rooms, etc) and we can then post them so that users would really know what to expect at hotels we will no longer be deceived by many pics that appear on the hotel websites which portray the properties in the best light possible.

Don't know the interest level in either of the above and/or if it takes us too far away from our 'core'. Thought i'd open it up for discussion to see what others thought.

[dave]

I am new here but my humble view would be to include Trip Reports within this forum rather than divert traffic to a separate new forum.

[DeltaPurser]

Your ideas are excellent... I especially like the "real photos" suggestion. As far as general "what to do/where to go" postings, let me share a saying I memorized a long, long time ago...

"A scientist knows a lot about a little. He learns more and more about less and less, until he knows absolutely everything about nothing.

A journalist knows a little about a lot of things. He learns less and less about more and more, until he knows absolutely nothing about everything."

The moral of the story? Don't spread yourself too thin...

[BEAV]

I like both ideas, but especially the hotel photo concept. If bandwidth/storage is an issue, how about a forum where people could post links to their on-line hotel photos? For instance, I use webshots.com to post all my travel photos. Having a forum to post links to photos at other websites would accomplish what you're looking for, without having to store all the stuff at this site.

[KatiesMom]

Definite yes to the photos... pictures say sooo much.

[cakobau]

Ideas sound good, but especially the hotel room photos. Just returned from a week of Priceline stays (reviews coming soon) and should have taken some pics. I think the picture can give an excellent idea of what "nice decor" or "lousy view" might mean...

[Senoreit]

Just to add my two cents, I too support both ideas. I've always thought about how nice it would be to have a website featuring real photos of hotel rooms, as opposed to the best case scenarios always posted on hotel websites. In fact, I already have a few past photos that I would be able to contribute if the idea comes to fruition. As far as the best way to accomplish this, it's probably not my area of expertise. BEAV's idea about posting links seems feasible, of course the only downside is that I'm sure as the years went on some links would not be kept up and become broken/useless. This would not happen if it was done "in house" (on this existing site), I just don't know how much the extra bandwidth would cost to do that and how much extra time thereuare would have to oversee it.

The "trip reviews" idea is something that I think is already available to a certain extent on the internet (epinions.com, etc.), but I certainly wouldn't be opposed to having a similar section here. The more information, the merrier, as far as I'm concerned.

[Senoreit]

One more thought... Whether or not either of these proposed ideas would take betterbidding.com too far away from its core seems like it would ultimately be up to you, thereuare. I do think the hotel photos could easily supplement the existing hotel reviews without really diverting from the original concept of the board. In fact, in addition to it being a great new resource for current users of the board, perhaps people who are unfamiliar with this site or even Priceline and Hotwire would be drawn here by this unique resource (the hotel photos) and then start participating in Hotwire and Priceline information sharing, or at the very least posting hotel reviews.

Now that I think about it a little more, while I like the idea of trip reviews, it would be opening up a BIG new can of worms on this site. Like I said, whether or not that's something you think is a problem is obviously up to you.

[wishful]

I'm relatively new, but I like both ideas. However, anyone willing to do their homework can find good user reviews/reports on tripadvisor.com and other sites. Most thorough reviews of hotels written by folks elsewhere seem to include "we also did xxxx off-property".

I'm not sure what purpose photos would serve, you can't choose the specific hotel you bid for, so what's the use of seeing how nice a room is in the hotel you didn't get? Of course I'm sure photos can make you thank God for the hotels you didn't get sometimes too! :)

While the official hotel website photos are usually too good to be true, board member photos can also be misleasing "accidentally": photos of renovated Room 510 may not look like anything in older Room 1100. I can imagine multiple threads of "My room didn't look like what so-and-so posted" and discussions like that already show up in the reviews. All they do for me is give me a heads up that you still don't know what to expect.

I read and post all over the place, virtualtourist.com, mouseplanet.com, tripadvisor.com and one or two places mostly Disney-related. Even if BetterBidding.com provided the two new areas you suggest, I would use it, but also still look for information elsewhere - it's part of the trip plannning process and part of the fun. Maybe just put up a sticky or pinned note with the addresses of other sites that could be useful, and people can look for info there and also let us know here if they posted their own info on another site?

Like a few people have said, it's pretty much up to you. BetterBidding.com is a community and communities change and grow. At the worst you create new areas of the board that don't get used and that's not the end of the world if it happens, and at the best you get all sorts of stuff posted and tons of new members.

You can tell I'm wordy, so you know there won't be a lack of entries of tips from me! :)

W

[Senoreit]

Just to address your point about not being sure what purpose posting hotel photos would serve since it's not possible to bid for a specific hotel... While it's obviously not possible to choose your hotel (except for those frequently-bid zones in which there is only one known hotel [like 5* Strip-area in Vegas], in which case your risk of getting something different is very small), it is possible to choose what zone and star level to bid for, and hotel reviews are often a big factor in making that decision (for me anyway). Hotel photos would supplement the existing reviews. While it's true that some user photos may end up being just as misleading as hotel website photos, as I previously stated, the more information, the merrier, as far as I'm concerned. Also, like I mentioned, if betterbidding.com becomes unique in building a large database of hotel room photos, it could attract users who weren't previously familiar with Priceline/Hotwire, introduce them to the potential benefits of those sites, and lead some of them to become contributing, information-sharing members of this board who post bids and/or hotel reviews.

One more note, while it's true that we're all looking to be informed as best we can about travel-related topics, I'm not sure that actively steering users towards other similar sites by way of permanent, thumbtacked links would be good for business, but I dunno, I've never run a website before.

[thereuare]

Anyone that has photos of hotel rooms, properties, etc, please send me a PM.

<hint> Yeah, this means we're getting close! :)

[giadav]

I love the idea of Hotel Photos. I was just talking to someone that moved to MA from FL. She worked at a hotel on the West Coast and said the website photos of the hotel were so deceiving. This hotel was expensive and a total dump!!

[thereuare]

OK, we're ready for any users who see this to try RealHotelPhotos.com.

Please browse around,upload any photos that you may have, etc... and PM me any errors, comments, questions, suggestions, criticisms, etc.

Feel free to start telling others about Real Hotel Photos (travel boards, photography sites, etc) but we probably won't make this an 'official launch' for a few days until i hear back from some of you that all is well.

Thanks for the encouragement to make this a reality.

[thereuare]

OK, the first good discussion has come about regarding the format, so i will open it up to our users. If you have an input, please look sooner rather than later as changes will be much easier at the beginning phases rather than as the site grows.

How should the 'directory tree' work (as an example):

United States>>Nevada>>Las Vegas>>Venetian>>picture files

or

Nevada>>Las Vegas Venetian>>picture files

(if all city names go before the hotel name it will automatically be alphabatized)

or

Nevada>>Las Vegas>Venetian>picture files

(leaving off the country name on the first page)

Or any other suggested variations?

The set-up is no problem on my end, but i'd like to make it as user friendly as possible, so a balance needs to be struck between 'ease of finding location' vs. 'number of clicks to get where you want to go'.

The Bulgaria folder at the site is an example of the first method, the Nevada folder at the site is an example of the 2nd method.

Thanks!

[cakobau]

How about being US-centric for now? Drop the states, but add a separator for other countries:

Nevada >>Las Vegas>>Venetian

Canada>>British Columbia>>Vancouver>>Westin Harborside

It adds a click for non-US hotels, but gives the largely US-based searches the express route. Just a thought.

Still looking for that one set of photos that I *do* have, and will definitely start posting pics in the future.

[thesqueegeekid]

I'm new with photos ... If I have uploaded them onto ofoto.com ... can I simply cut and paste them to you if I no longer have the originals stored anywhere?

Hmmmm was just thinking, I would love to take a few hours snapping photos at local Scottsdale resorts ... pop into a couple rooms etc. If we all did that for particular hotspots, we'd definitely have a great destination website.

I just went to the Scottsdale Resort and Conference Center today for brunch, if only I had thought about photos earlier :) .

[TheGreatGoat]

I wonder if there would be a way to connect the price of a room in the hotel to the photo's or the winning post.

[thereuare]

Comments on some of the feedback above:

The 'problem' with not having a US folder for states but for other countries is that the front page of directories is alphabetical. Therefore the front page would have (for example):

etc

Texas

United Kingdom

Virginia

etc

.... this could be confusing.

More comments regarding the formatting would really be appreciated so we can get the foundation settled and move on to other aspects.

Once we get the format down and a large number of uploads we'll consider if/how to tie everything together.

I think the way to get pics from Ofoto (or any other online posting) is as follows:

1) Highlight the entire picture in the browser

2) RIGHT mouse click on the highlighted picture, choose SAVE PICTURE AS (this saves the picture on your computer)

3) Upload that picture at the HOTEL PHOTO WEBSITE

If anyone has trouble with the above, or any other aspect of the new site, feel free to contact me.

I also intend on (hopefully soon) visting some NYC area hotels and taking some pictures. I was only intending on taking pictures of the facade and the lobby, but i suppose after talking to the hotel staff/manager and telling them about the purpose of the pictures, they would welcome showing us a room and having pictures taken (but this could also lead to being shown the best room in the house). Talking to the hotel employees may also open up some doors as far as developing relationships with some properties.

If others have an extra hour or two on their hands and were able to take some photos in their own area it would really help to get the ball rolling! At first i invisioned having to write down each picture number as i took them to remember what hotel i was photographing, but if the first picture taken is an outside shot of the property you'll then know that all of the following pictures are of that property, until a new facade is seen, etc, etc.

[cakobau]

Regarding photos that are taken of hotel room interiors, without having a reservation there:

Several years ago, I worked at a hotel's sales office (4 stars, Chicago, Grant Park zone, yes, they're in Priceline... :) ), and every day I would call housekeeping to get the "showrooms" of the day. These would be representative rooms -- one king, one with 2 doubles, and one suite. We would use these rooms to show potential clients, who were booking a block of rooms, what they might expect. These rooms would never be the worst rooms of the house, and they would always have a good city or lake view from an upper floor. But they would not be so ultra-luxurious when the rest of the hotel was a dive.

Having said that, other hotels might have a much greater variation of their rooms than the hotel I worked at. I'm thinking of the Hilton San Francisco, with its "Priceline Tower"...

I don't know how amenable a front desk manager would be to the question: "Hi, can you show me a room you might give to a Priceline customer?"...

[thereuare]

I wouldn't view the photo site as "priceline customer rooms", as i vision having non-Priceline and non-Hotwire hotel photos there too. I will soon be adding some photographs i took while vacationing at my favorite resort in Mexico, as well as one i didn't like too much... neither of which participate with Priceline or Hotwire.

Of course since the file names can be as descriptive as we want, and a sub-title description could be added too, photos taken as a non-guest (and an 'inquirer' of the property) could simply be noted as such.

The above are just ideas and concepts i have in my head and i'm sure the site will evolve in time to exactly what the users want... just as BetterBidding has. :)

[giadav]

Thereuare....I just went to the photo site and thought you might want to know that your pictures for the Caribe in PR were not visible. I have a couple of wonderful views I can add to that hotel. I just need to figure out how.

Great job!!

[thereuare]

Thanks for the info... but they seem to be working for me.

Did you try making the 'viewer window' larger and/or scrolling in that window... the pics are a bit large (i loaded them while i was testing things and haven't had a chance to re-size them yet).

If that's not the problem, what happens when you click the file link? (or is the link not clickable for you?) Does a viewer window open? If so, what's in that window?

Please let me know either way regarding the above.

PS- you can add your photos to that same folder (so that all pics of the same hotel reside in the same folder, regardless of who uploaded the pictures). If you have trouble figuring out how to upload let me know, as i'm sure if there are questions others will have similar stumbling points

[giadav]

Well...it seems to be fine now. Before the box would pop up for the picture, but it was empty. It appears to be fine now. Sorry to bother you.

[thereuare]

I didn't change anything... i think it appeared to be empty since all that was visible without scrolling was a corner of gray sky, so it appeared to be empty.

Hopefully in the next few days i'll re-size and then upload a new set.

Oh, .... and never a bother. :)

[Senoreit]

Just for the record, I think the Nevada>>Las Vegas>>Venetian>>picture files hierarchy would be better than Nevada>>Las Vegas Venetian>>picture files. Under the former format, you'd be able to list the actual names of the hotels within the folder for the city in question. Under the latter format, one has to type the city before every hotel name whether it is actually part of the hotel name or not, which could result in redundancy and confusion. For example, under the latter format (no city folders within the state folders), you could end up with listings for "Chicago Hyatt Regency Chicago" and "Chicago Hyatt Regency McCormick Place" in the "Illinois" folder, which to me would appear odd. If you create a "Chicago" folder within the "Illinois" folder, you could just have listings for "Hyatt Regency Chicago" and "Hyatt Regency McCormick Place." Plus, I believe that having city folders within the state folders would be organizationally better anyway. I'd happily click one extra time for the sake of not having every single hotel in a given state in the same folder.

Incidentally, perhaps this would be better suited for a new thread, but I also think that some more hierarchical organization would be of benefit in the existing hotel reviews category. Although the listings are alphabetized, since every hotel in the world is listed in one directory, as more reviews are added, it's getting to the point where it's taking more and more clicks to get to the pages with the listings that are toward the center of the alphabet. I do realize, though, that at this point a major reformatting of that section might be a major pain in the neck. Luckily there are ways around this "problem," such as accessing specific hotel review pages by clicking on the "REVIEW" link next to the desired hotel in the "Priceline/Hotwire Hotel Lists and Tips" section for the appropriate state, or doing a search for the hotel you desire reviews of.

As far as whether there should be a United States folder on the first page of the photos site, I am inclined to say yes. It does seem odd to have American states listed amongst foreign countries. Of course, the United States comes pretty late alphabetically, and if some day there are dozens of countries listed, one would have to scroll all the way down to find it. Since presumably this site will be used primarily by Americans, at least early on, I think it would be wise to keep the United States folder, if one is created, in a prominent place. For the time being, since there are so few countries listed, I guess this isn't a problem (there isn't much scrolling required when there are only eleven countries on the list), but it could be in the future. On many order forms on American websites, there is a drop-down list of countries with the United States listed at the top and all other countries alphabetized below. Unfortunately, as you've stated, with this bulletin board format the front page of directories is alphabetical, so maybe there is no easy way to incorporate that idea (having a US folder at the top, and all other country folders alphabetized below).