what do you want to see in a TO website

A snowHead

OK then, summer is on the way, garden re-do is getting there (slowly), so I have decided to write a new website. Bear in mind that me and Mr HTML and Mrs ASP don't know each other that well and as for Miss MySQL, well we'll meet later I hope, so I'm not too good with this webernet stuff - but I'll have a go at anything. Can't be that hard - making a website, can it ?
Puzzled

Anyway - questions ?
What do you want to see on a TO's website
What is irritating
What should be definitely be there and what should be dumped
Do you want to see lots of expert, fit, blond haired guys and guyesses leaping in the air off perfect powder kickers or would you rather see "normal" people.
What about maps, charts, graphs, etc
What do you like about TO websites
What do you hate about TO websites
Do you prefer on-line or telephone booking
What should be on the home page
How many pages deep should it be
etc
etc

Don't want to waste time designing a wonderful page only to find out later that no-one ever visits it.
Just a quick point (before anyone says anything), it's a family site ?? so the content will have a U classification

So here is your chance to not only to have a say at the outset of the design process of a TO site- just think in a short while you'll be able to say "see that, that was my idea ya know"

A snowHead

I almost never go to a TO web site - I can't remember when I last booked through a TO. If I do again, I would want to see:

Clear evidence of ABTA bonding.
Clear description of transport arrangements.
Clear advice on reductions if own travel used - together with how to make the final transfers from airport/train station.
Clear advice on parking arrangements.
Clear map showing location of accommodation in relation to lift stations and other key features such as shops, pubs, bus and railway stations.
Good photos of accommodation exterior and interior - including shots of bed, bath dining and living rooms - and kitchen (if self-catering).

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Clear evidence of ABTA bonding.
TO's don't need ABTA (they "do" need ATOL).

Clear description of transport arrangements.
Fair point

Clear advice on reductions if own travel used -
OK
together with how to make the final transfers from airport/train station.
Good point I never though of that and it's not on our site at the mo. I'll put it on the new one.
Clear advice on parking arrangements.
Same as above - will put this on the new site

Clear map showing location of accommodation in relation to lift stations and other key features such as shops, pubs, bus and railway stations.
I think people don't trust maps so much now. Most people prefer (I think) to see a photo - like google maps
Good photos of accommodation exterior and interior - including shots of bed, bath dining and living rooms - and kitchen (if self-catering).
OK

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Wayne, TOs may not legally require ABTA bonding - but you asked what sHs would like to see. Personally, I would like to see ABTA membership - and can't imagine booking with a TO who was not an ABTA member - unless I knew the TO personally. Other sHs may feel differently, of course.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

achilles,
Fair enough - good point. I did ask
We will not be joining ABTA. Why would we want to join ABTA when we are not a travel agent. We only sell our tours, no-one elses.
I know they have changed their strap line now to "The Travel Association" in an atempt to gain more members but it is still a travel agents assoc. run for them and by them.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Wayne, thanks for asking.

I like to be able to search for availability by date and be able to book online rather than having to phone or send an email asking about availability etc. And I like receiving a confirmation email after I've made my booking detailing what I've booked.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Clear pricing and any singles/under occupancy supplements explicitly stated. Nothing worse than searching a site and getting "from £567".

A useful holiday search option too.

After all it is free

Wayne, All the above plus
I want google maps, I want a link to Google earth, a link to Google Streetview if available. Also a short link to a youtube video seems all the rage at the mo.......

Wayne, I like your site ..... its straightforward nature and layout appeal. Clear what you do and who you are targeting.

I would like a specific section for the ski area /skiing/boarding itself with lots of pictures of the various slopes and your 'commentary' on each one and how they are groomed etc. . Given you target market that might look like a narrative/pictures of how the skier/boarder might progress based upon capability ... would enable the family/kids to dream before coming.

BTW --- you tend to use a few too many ''italics'' around 'words' with possibly too many question marks ??????? e.g. 'All' Hotels ...... (not that I am in a position to criticise of course).

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

all the TO websites are much of a muchness. In order to stand out from the crowd you should consider;

- More photographs of the accommodation (inside and out), ideally giving some sort of perspective the the immediate surroundings. The fewer photographs there are, the more suspicious I am.
- Accurate indications of availability and pricing, not the usual general information designed to get you phoning up so they can up-sell you.
- Don't clutter the site up with reviews of the resort, other web-sites are almost always better for general info
- Accurate information on the accommodation location and the usual amenities, and a link to google maps
- Prominent phone number to call and knowledgeable staff on the other end of the line. I'm not going to book anything without speaking to someone about it first.
- Named contact, and contact details, in case of additional inquiries.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I dont want to have to keep filling in the same details over and over just as i want to look at availability elsewhere or on a different set of dates. A cookies that holds my details from first entry would be good as i dont want to have to register just to seach.

I dont want my search to come up with 'no results' just because i did not correctly guess the correct day that the TO or flight wanted the trip to start. Better to return a nearest match on dates and/or accomodation.

Be nice to see a seach based on budget per week, click on what extras you want/need then the price bracket you want then return result or 'nearest match if no result.

I like the idea of clear maps/google of distance to base lift. Decent piste maps are also a bonus for somewhere you have not been before.

I agree that the details of the transfer arrangements would be good as are interior pics and a little plan of the accomodation, ie room layout.

A CLEAR STATEMENT ON BAGGAGE ALLOWANCES PLEASE Very Happy

snow reports

I just had a look at your website and compared to other TOs it is probably the best I have seen (ie. simple). Probably helps that you don't have too many accommodation/destination options to deal with.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I will look at all of them.

This is the link to my test site. Most of it doesn't work yet and it hasn't been spell checked and some of the page in different fonts, etc, etc this is just a spare site address I have so I use this for testing. But it will give you an idea of the general layout..... Unless I change it before it's finshed

Like I said I am NOT a web designer so I know it's not as whizz as most sites, but I only just started to learn this stuff a while ago.

You know it makes sense.

Wayne, sorry, I meant in comparison with bigger TOs (Crystal, Inghams etc), the only holiday websites I have experience of.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

Information on how to get to the resort by rail including local bus times from station to resort

A snowHead

Following on from suggestions I have added a Self Drive option (in the Other Drop Down) on to the new site layout. There is nothing on the link yet but I will add details of Driving from the UK, from Milan, Verona and Venice airports and also train and bus links.

Thanks for the idea as I hadn't thought of it.

A snowHead

Anything that makes working out the price easier. So headline price is fine, but make extras such as flight supplements, lift passes, under-occupancy supplements, etc. really easy to work out so you can see what it will cost before you click 'yes please'.

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I hate having to retry dates to see availability. I preferring a calendar view where I can view taken and vacant slots.

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Wayne, After perusing your website, purely by coincidence (as until 5 mins ago didnt know it was yours), I found the current one fairly straightforward and simple to use - the only thing that confused me slightly (its not hard, so its more me than the website) was the pricing grid. However, I worked it out in the end. The new beta site is much more eye catching!

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

mustdash,
It that easier to understand.
Can't really think of a way to make it any simpler without making it more complex
If you know what I mean
Puzzled

You'll need to Register first of course.

Wayne, are flights included? On your pricing grid you have flight transfers included, and "Regional airport supplements, if applicable" and "Self Drive - deduct £120" which indicates a flight may be included but it doesn't actually say, or which airports the flights go out from for the inclusive price.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

tillywhim,
Cheers for pointing that out - it was a typo. I have changed it.
Fair play to Mr G Admin - mine is only a tiny little site so the snowHead

's site must have taken ages.

After all it is free

the new site looks cool. one point - make sure you proof read and spell check the whole site: i would for example always wonder about a company that I have not dealt with if they cannot get this perfect. e.g. (from the Pricing page) my suggestions in square brackets.

"We understand that our pricing structure is slightly unusual in the tour industry. We introduced this system in 2001, since when our bookings have increased every year, so it's obviously popular.

How we work out our prices.
1st, we assume that everyone wants a ski holiday, so we include everything required, e.g. flight, lift pass, equipment, etc. Of course there are a few people that will drive them self [themselves] to the Dolomites or will not want to ski when the arrive so, in these cases there is a discounts.[discount]
The 2nd assumption is that everyone is in a family unit of four people. Of course this is not always correct but we hope you agree that it makes it much simpler to work out the cost of your holiday. As an example, some companies will charge children a lower rate than adults whereas we simply add up the cost of this family until [unit?] and divide it by 4. So instead of children paying £8 and adults paying £12 we simply charge everyone £10. "

Good luck

boardiac,
Yeah don't wory wink

I will get someone to read it before it's put up. That site is just a spare address I have that lets me check the codes in IE, Firefox, MZ, etc.

I only put this up to see if there was anything else that people would like to see on a TO site. I had a good suggestion of the self drive thing so that will now be included. If I put in the stuff that people really want, rather than what I think they want, then it can only be a good thing

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Wayne, I've always thought it would be a nice feature to be able to show an image of the resort centre and where in relation to that the particular accommodation you're viewing is, so that you could get a good representation of how close it is to the lifts/bars/restaurants. Might be quite an effort for little benefit though; I just like knowing as much as is feasibly possible about my accommodation before leaving.

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

snow reports

I would like to know the distance to the nearest kebab emporium

Smokin Joe,
1,297 miles
see here Toofy Grin

You know it makes sense.

Wayne, do you deal with ski travel agents at all as have a friend that may wish to help sell your product?

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

A snowHead

Make single supplements clear early in the process.

Ability to easily *actually find* the late deals they offer, all too often you click and a sting of 'search results' come up of which none match the offer.

A snowHead

Some thoughts from me...

Details of local amenities (e.g. Swimming pools for non-swimmers)
Hotel locations on a Google map and also include locations of ski lifts on the same map.
Details (pick up / dop off ponts) and costs of any ski buses.
Smoking / non-smoking info in hotels.
Hotel images to be displayed gallery style with option to view large picture.
Link to the relevant Tripadvisor page for each hotel

Pete

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

You need to Login to know who's really who.

Have a good quality piste map as a PDF.

I really hate the interactive maps and like an alternative.

Hate to say it Wayne but I think the one on your website is one of the worst, even worse than the La PLagne one. Sorry! Happy

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

The map of the Folgarida Piazza with the rollover icons (on http://www.ukoutdoorpursuits.org/pages/folgarida_resort_details.html) is confusing. It suggests that the Cafe and Ski/Sports shop are located in the trees.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

I like your site Wayne - simple, clear, works without scripts enabled and doesn't use Flash. Excellent!

You might want to learn how to 'include' PHP files. For example, if you create a header.php and a footer.php then 'include' them on every page you can make them all look the same.

Other links you might want to include are:
http://openpistemap.org/?lat=46.30&lon=10.87&zoom=12

After all it is free

It's a good site, Wayne (and what a brilliant idea for advertising it! - glad to see the customer engagement).

I would like to know which airlines you are using, where the hotels are relative to the centre of town and ski areas as part of the description of the individual hotels, and importantly, a reassurance that the boom boom nightlife you mention would not disturb my pre-skiing sleep.

I like very much the plans of the hotel rooms on your other site.

I would put the map showing where Folgarida is, relative to the other resorts, on the home page or explicitly linked from there. When I found the map, it helped me orientate relative to places I knew.

I may have missed this - but then, others would as well, as not everybody reads TO websites exhaustively: are you suggesting Folgarida as a base for the other resorts you mention, and if so, how do you get to them?

I'd like to echo what others have said about being able to see availability for alternative dates easily, without going through lots of repetition of data entry. You are to be congratulated on your simple pricing structure.

Not sure that I like having only £20 off the carriage costs if I were to take my own skis. Ski hire is a lot more expensive than that.....

*Ski* the Net with snowHeads

Regarding Tripadvisor, I use it all the time. I agree that there are the odd fraudulent review but by and large I find the reviews to be accurate. Personally I would find it odd if a hotel that I wished to visit was not listed. I checked out Tripadvisor for Folgarida and only one of your hotels is listed. Even that one (Hotel Darby) has no reviews. Any idea why?

Pete

Help!!

what do you want to see in a TO website

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