Walkthrough Online Hotel Reservation

My name is Fei. I work as a junior
manager in a factory in Suzhou.
My husband and I want to take
our 10-year-old son and my
mother to Hong Kong in
December. We want to do some
shopping and visit some relatives.
My friend recommends the
to me.

@2009 AddiThink | info@AddiThink.com 1

Let me go to Baidu to ﬁnd the
hotel’s website.


I have reached the
website.
Oh no! The website plays music
automatically. Let me switch it off
quickly. I don’t want to disturb my
teammates in the ofﬁce.


I have reached the
website.
Oh no! The website plays music
automatically. Let me switch it off
quickly. I don’t want to disturb my
teammates in the office.

Music is played automatically on the website. Visitors may find the music annoying. For
instance, visitors may be enjoying their own music or trying to use the hotel website in
their offices. 

Fei browses the hotel website for a
short while, and decides to reserve
two rooms for her family trip in
December.


We plan to stay for two nights.
The 15%-discount package ﬁts us.
Let me book it now.


We plan to stay for two nights.
The 15%-discount package ﬁts us.
Let me book it now.

To book the 15%-discount package, visitors click on the “85 ” link.


Where is the 15%-discount
package? It is not displayed here.
Maybe the promotion is
cancelled? Should I call the hotel
to check?


to check?

It is probably difﬁcult for visitors to notice the discount information at the bottom of the
reservation form. Instead of continuing to ﬁll up the reservation form, they may email or
call the hotel to make the reservations and increase the customer service workload.



to check?

It is probably difﬁcult for visitors to notice the discount information at the bottom of the
reservation form. Instead of continuing to ﬁll up the reservation form, they may email or
call the hotel to make the reservations and increase the customer service workload.


@2009 AddiThink | info@AddiThink.com Assume that Fei is able to continue successfully. 6

The calendar displays two months, but it is not obvious that the top month is November
and the lower month is December. 


The calendar and its legend is not tied together visually. 


I want to stay two nights: 18th
and 19th, so I should mark the
18th and 19th slots.


I want to stay two nights: 18th
and 19th, so I should mark the
18th and 19th slots.

Visitors are not expected to read word-by-word online. It is not obvious that they should
mark the check-in and the check-out dates (instead of the number of nights). The check-in
and check-out date labels are not tied to the calendar visually. 


Let me specify the occupant
information.


As the visitors scan the reservation form downwards, the relatively big brown button in
the center seems to indicate the next action. However, the button is for resetting the
reservation form. 


What should I do now?


What should I do now?

It is not obvious that visitors can select the room type. No common UI controls like radio
buttons are provided. 
It is also unclear why the room types have different background colors. 


Let me try the “Help” link.


The text in the “Help” panel is
too small and too cluttered to
read. I don’t want to read it.


seems to be the
cheapest. Does it provide
Internet access?
I am willing to consider a slightly
more expensive room like
, but I want to know how it
is better than the .


seems to be the
cheapest. Does it provide
Internet access?
I am willing to consider a slightly
more expensive room like
, but I want to know how it
is better than the .

It is not obvious that visitors can click on a room type to see the room description.



I don’t know why the markings of
the slots change as I select
different room types.


I don’t know why the markings of
the slots change as I select
different room types.

It is not clear why the markings on the calendar change as visitors select different room
types. Even if the visitors notice the legend, they may not understand what it means.



It is not obvious that the picture below the room type list represents the highlighted
room type. The picture does not have a title. 
Because visitors can see the information of one room type at one time, it can be difﬁcult
for visitors to compare different room types. 

I want to see the prices in RMB.
This form does not convert them
for me. I need to do the
conversion myself.


I want to see the prices in RMB.
This form does not convert them
for me. I need to do the
conversion myself.

Prices are in USD.Visitors, who use the Simpliﬁed Chinese version of the hotel website,
probably prefer to see the prices in RMB. 


The labels and the corresponding data are not put together. Visitors needs to pair the label
and the data mentally. 


I am a new user. I can skip the
rest of the reservation form.


What does “ ” mean? I want
to “ ” or “ ”.


to “ ” or “ ”.

The label of the Submit button is confusing. It does not seem to indicate the action of
submission.Visitors may hesitate to click on the button. 


to “ ” or “ ”.

The label of the Submit button is confusing. It does not seem to indicate the action of
submission.Visitors may hesitate to click on the button. 

@2009 AddiThink | info@AddiThink.com Assume that Fei clicks on the Submit button. 21

According to the error message,
I need to ﬁll in my name.


According to the error message,
I need to ﬁll in my name.

The error messages and the error are not displayed side-by-side. Visitors need to
memorize the error messages, return to the reservation form and try to solve the error.
The message is not value-added, but it increases the volume of information that
visitors need to process. 

I cannot ﬁnd a place which I can
specify my name.
I better reserve the rooms by
other means.


The hotel reservation form was
too difﬁcult to ﬁll.
I ended up reserving the rooms
by emailing the hotel.
The Hong Kong trip was great.
Everyone at the hotel was
friendly and helpful.


Thank you.


Walkthrough Online Hotel Reservation

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