What do Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and Sheraton have in common? Besides being some of the largest hotel chains in the world, all four recently failed the Travel Website Functionality Benchmark. This test was developed and instituted by Forrester Research and evaluated the hotels on 63 individual benchmarks.
The study sought to determine how companies' websites presents the "discovery of opportunities in search and navigation that inspire the traveler to choose planned and unplanned options." Upon the conclusion of the investigation Forrester determined that the websites were not worthy of a passing grade.
Vijay Dandapani mentioned this study in his writings on May 14. I found the article interesting and jarring to say the least. If four of the biggest hotel companies in the world have subpar websites, how does your fair? At the very least giving this article a quick read will make your website salient in your thoughts as you determine new and innovative ways to appeal guests and their ever changing preferences.
