USABILITY TESTING OF HOTWIRE.COM

Presented By: Julian Archer, Ilene Appel, Lindsay Day, Abigail Gaston

Outline

What Is hotwire.com? Who are the users? Task List User feedback Recommendations Questions

What is Hotwire.com?

Travel site that offers hotels, airfare, car rentals, cruises, and travel deals at a discounted price

There is a catch to some of their deals Cannot see hotel name before you pay for

the hotel Cannot see plane arrival/departure times

and airline name for the special airfare rates They do have many that you can see times and

airline Our usability testing focuses on hotel

booking, air travel, and cruises

Who are the users?

User Profile 1 College Student

Ages 18-25 Traveling with a

friend or significant other

Possibly looking for: An affordable

weekend trip Last minute trip

User Likes Cheap travel Continental

Breakfast Non stop flights Bar at the hotel

User dislikes Expensive trips

Who are the users?

User Profile 2 Middle aged to older

adult Traveling with family

or significant other Possibly looking for:

Family friendly trips Package deals Multiple rooms Affordable

User likes Pools Continental breakfast Area Attractions/

Entertainment User dislikes:

Noisy areas No local attractions Expensive trip Smoking

Task List

User Profile 1 College Student booking a Spring Break trip College Student booking a last minute

weekend trip Newlyweds looking for a good hotel deal Your parents are coming into town for the

weekend and you are trying to find them an affordable hotel

Task List

User Profile 2 You are booking a cruise for you and your spouse Booking a weekend trip to go visit an out of town

friend Looking for a good hotel deal for a trip for you

and one other person Your family and friends are coming into town for

an important event and you are trying to find them affordable hotels

You are trying to find a trip that is family friendly

User Feedback

In general, hotwire is easy to navigate Couldn’t find how to search by

cruise departure port (Side note: Those that were tested earlier in the semester had this issue. Those who were tested more recently did not have this issue because hotwire updated their website)

Should combine search by port and search by destination into one search

Cruise information is hard to read Did not want to use help and some had

trouble finding the help

User Feedback

All users did not like that they could not see the hotel name

Users found the hotel map very confusing and said they would not use it

Liked the hotel amenities icons

Heuristic Evaluation

Good Heuristics There are clear exits. On each screen there

is an area where the traveler can refine their search.

It is clear when the screen is updating. Compared to other travel sites the pages

are not crowded with information or ads. Overall, the site is user friendly

Bad Heuristics

Drop-down menu items should be clear and easy to read. On hotwire, selectable items within specific search menus are grouped too close together; text is too light; and all the letters are capitalized.

Map display of potential hotel locations should be easy to read, with options available to specify where user does not want to be located. For example, no hotel at a distance greater than 2 miles from a specific attraction can be booked. The maps also do not have a key that explains the green area is where your hotel will potentially be located

On every page, the important tabs at the tops of the pages are grayed out.

Bad Heuristics

User’s should be aware of system limitations before or during the initial stages of a time consuming task. Hotwire does not make it clear to novice users that they are not allowed to reveal the name of a hotel before it is booked.

Recommendations

Tabs should be bolded & bigger to draw attention to those areas

Have a key that explains what the green area on the map is. Also have a separate list of area attractions and restaurants for those who do not like to read maps.

The two cruise searches should be combined into one.

Display important notes next to frequently clicked areas (e.g. search menus) instead of hiding them in the help menu that people will naturally avoid using

Recommendations

Give user the ability to select area on potential hotel location map that they do not want to stay.

Design expandable calendars where users can zoom out and look at a yearly projection.

Questions?