Where I’m @

20040920

Tablet Hotels: Gold Star for Usability
We can’t say for sure about the entire site, so the title there is a bit strong. However, in flipping through the site (found on v-2 Organisation), we very much appreciated how Tablet tells us not only what is available for the date we requested, but also what is not available. As if to say “We’re sure you’ll be satisfied with this one. But if you were to change your restrictions, you could have your choice of these also.𔃉 Similar to the feature on some travel sites (though we haven’t seen it in our recent interactions) that informs you about going to a lesser used, farther-from-your-destination airport in exchange for a lower fare.

For some reason, though, we don’t find the common ‘related results’ as useful on product shopping sites. Perhaps this is because when we purchase an object, we’re engaging in a disconnected transaction. That is, the service of the merchant consists of showing us what we asked for, going away, and then making it easier than falling off a log to purchase it. Whereas when we purchase a service, we want to be catered to, to be made to feel that the service is provided from the get-go.