In my last post I mentioned the difference between web sites and web services and I want to begin to bring you more examples of the good, the bad and the ugly of web service design. 

There is a huge amount of discussion about usability in web design, but I want to concentrate more on the service experience as a whole rather than whether the web site is easy to understand and use. So, when I talk about the service I am also referring to things like:

• how well the organisation uses their online presence to bring you their service;
• whether there is a good cross-channel experience, from first contact to service delivery;
• whether the organisation is really committed to using digital channels or have just made a token effort, i.e. how integrated is it with their core business offering;
• and, of course, whether the service is a pleasure to use.

A quick glance at the web will list most of the service industries that we are all familiar with, like utilities, financial services, the public sector, marketing, hospitality and healthcare. These industries make up a a whopping 64% of the world economy (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_sector_composition)  and as much as 78% of the US economy, so it is a wonder that we do not consider it important to focus on how good service design could impact the fortunes of the globe.

Clearly, almost every business has a service element to it, whether in the service sector or not. If you are a manufacturer of industrial pumps, you still have a customer service department, a spares department and a servicing team. So in short, good service design affects almost every business. So, lets pick an service industry sector and go for a wonder through a few examples. Today, I would like to go for the hotel sector and have a look them with you.

Sokos Hotels, Finland
(www.sokoshotels.fi)

Sokos are one of the largest chains of hotels in Finland and the Baltic region. There web presence is clean, with lots of information on the front page and the ability to make a reservation. One confusing thing, however, is the S-Card section with the link "Log in to web service". I was not sure whether this was part of the reservation system or not.

So now we test the reservation system. One minor issue is that the date chooser on the reservation section does not provide enough room to display the date I selected. On entering the information on the reservation system you are presented with a list of potential choices based on your selection. I now have to click "Book Now" to select the room. When I do this I got an error message that was not helpful at all, with no clear instructions of what to do next.

At this point I had to stop the reservation process.

Next I tried the "My bookings" tab on the reservation section. This prompts me for my reservation number and my last name as mandatory information to retrieve my bookings. (Surely the booking reference would be enough?)The problem with this screen is that is seems like a bit of a dead-end. There are two small links in the bottom-left saying "To the beginning" and "Quit", but to the beginning of what and quit what? Confusing and unclear. 

The reservation details are simple enough and there is no requirement for credit card information on this page. This is makes it simpler, but I guess it is also a little more risky for Sokos if you decide not to arrive and take your room.

When you do make a reservation, the confirmation is sent by email. This contains all of the information about the reservation including the reservation number you need to manage your booking. One again, the confirmation page is a a bit of a dead-end - there is no clear route back to the front page or links to further information that might make my stay more appealing. A missed opportunity. Unfortunately, when I did click back to the front page I was unable to click on "My bookings" to open this page…or so it seemed. It actually opened another tab in my browser behind the front page.

When I did get there I could cancel or alter my booking. I cancelled the booking and received the email confirmation immediately. This worked well.

I tried checking how I could reserve a room from my mobile (Nokia E72) and I found that it just displayed the same content as the on my computer. It worked, but it was really a little clumsy to use, especially the pop-ups for the date chooser and going to my bookings. This would be an area that I would certainly improve.

Good:  Reservation section on first page, fast email confirmation
Bad:    Lots of dead-ends, lack of mobile-friendly version

The King's Daugthers Inn, Durham, North Carolina, USA
(www.thekingsdaugthersinn.com)

The King's Daugthers Inn is a boutique hotel in North Carolina. The 1700 sqm property was renovated in 2006 and offers a range of quite luxurious rooms. The initial impression of the web presence is quite good. Subtle, understated tones with the information about the hotel on the front page - no need to navigate to understand what this hotel is and why it is different. Some might question the amount of text here, but I think it works well. 

There is a phone number displayed prominently above a  "Book Now" image on the right, together with a series of Quick Links. Initially I was not sure if book now was actually a link, but on clicking it I am redirected to a page that then redirects me to a reservation system powered by rezStream. This is minimally branded as the hotel and lets me select arrival and departure dates, together with the number of adults and children. On clicking "Check Now" I am presented with quite an attractive list showing the rooms that are available together with an image and description. There is also a more… link to display more information about the room. I really liked this feature. 

I felt that rezStream was too prominent and I would have preferred to see this reservation process more tightly integrated with the main site.
On clicking "Book Now" I am taken to what could be described as an upsell page. It lists the details of the booking and invites me to add options, such as Champagne & Strawberries. Again, a nice touch and something that makes it easier to order. This page is a bit busy however, with information about the reservation, the options, the policies and lots and lots of buttons. One good thing is that they prompt the customer to indicate the purpose of the visit and how they found the hotel. 

The final part of the process is the booking itself. This prompts me for the guest information and my credit card information. A handy feature is the ability to use the guest information as the payment information with a single click, although this did not change the country field as expected. The "Book Now" button is quite small and quite close to the GeoTrust badge as well.

I reserved the room using my credit card and had to wait quite a long time before I received the confirmation page. However, there is no clear way from the site to cancel my reservation and it looks like this has to be done by email or telephone. Again this seems like quite a waste of time, when a "Cancel your Reservation" button would have taken away quite a bit of effort on both my part and that of the hotel owner.

Once again, the mobile experience is just like the accessing it from the computer, with a few broken images thrown in for good measure. The biggest single issue, however, is that the Book Now function just does not work. You get directed to the forwarding page and then it just stops. Shame.

All in all, this hotel web presence is good, but it falls down a little on the convenience side. I think it also demonstrates that using an external reservation service might be convenient, but you loss a little in the overall web experience by doing that.

Good:  Information about rooms, up-selling section
Bad:    No cancellation process, poor mobile experience

Inverour Guest House, Spean Bridge, Scotland
(www.inverourguesthouse.co.uk)

The Inverour Guest House is a small family run bed and breakfast that is located in the Highlands of Scotland. The first impression of the web presence is a little amateurish with little annoyances like the text in the menu buttons not displaying correctly. The most worrying thing is that the "Book Online" button is obscured and not in a prominent position - relegated to the bottom of the main menu.

On clicking the Book Online button I am redirected to another website that looks a little like the home page, but is somewhat different. It has roughly the same links and information but if anything is little more garish than the last one. Once again I cannot see a link to book this hotel without scrolling down the page to see a section that presents two options: Email Enquiry and Check Availability - still no Book Now button. I click Check availability and am directed to a tabbed page where I can enter the dates of my stay and how many rooms I require. There is a really interesting link called "Show Children" which I did not press in case it was related to some pedophile ring or some other sinister content. 

One good thing on this page is a graphic representation of the availability of each room. This was quite helpful.

So next I enter the dates and click "Search".

I can then select a room type. Each has a link that I have to press to see information about the room. Unfortunately, this is restricted in this case to "Sleeps 3 on a budget." Helpful :(

So next I click "Continue with Booking" and this is where it all goes Pete Tong. I tried more than once to enter my credit card information and it kept insisting that I enter all of the mandatory fields for my guest details when I had. This basically stopped me dead.

Then there are the warnings, consent, terms and conditions, additional terms and conditions and confirm that the information am giving is correct - like I would enter false information when trying to book a hotel!!?? 

I stopped here. Could not go any further. 

The mobile experience is even worse, as the links on front page are not visible and the length of the pages makes it a real pain to navigate with a small screen. Clearly there is no mobile experience to speak of.

The most worrying aspect of this whole experience is that the reservation system is actually provided by the official Scottish Tourist Board, VisitScotland. I wonder how many people actually give up with the online reservation system and simply call the hotel owner directly. It would be interesting to know.

Good:  Room availability checker
Bad:    Almost everything else.

As you can see from these examples, there are quite a few features that make a really good online experience for a hotel. It is also clear that these examples have not considered the amount of mobile browsing that now takes place, with no support for small screen reservations. However, given this short review I think there are number of services that a best practice hotel site should offer. These are:

• reservations from the from front page
• room availability information in a clear graphical format
• information summaries of the rooms that are available
• up-selling options for those little luxuries
• minimise the information input from the guest
• easy way to manage your own booking, e.g. amend or cancel
• clear and fast communication by email/SMS
• keep me on the main site and not jumping to another system for booking

I would love to hear of any other examples you have of great service experiences from hotels. Why not send me a few to add to the review and let me know what you think should be part of a good hotel web service design.