usability testing of hotwire.com presented by: julian archer, ilene appel, lindsay day, abigail...
TRANSCRIPT
USABILITY TESTING OF HOTWIRE.COM
Presented By: Julian Archer, Ilene Appel, Lindsay Day, Abigail Gaston
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.