Sadly, Beta goes Live
Sep 17, 2011, 12:32 am
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: TOA
Programs: HH Diamond, Marriott LTPP/Platinum Premier, Hyatt Lame-ist, UA !K
Posts: 20,061
Sadly, Beta goes Live
Unfortunately, Hilton's Beta for searching through HHonors properties on their web site is now the only option.
For those of us who need to view multiple hotel properties at the same time - especially by popping up separate windows to see what each property has available in terms of what types of rooms, amenities, parking, costs by room type in order to compare what a 2 bed vs. a suite vs. downtown vs. midtown, etc. - our right mouse button days are over.
I wasn't happy at all with the Beta. I still ain't at all happy with Beta as Live.
Also, trying to get into my HHonors account at near midnight on a Friday, the login process is even slower than before!
(And, even more unfortunate, I suspect that this mod to Hilton.com has driven Marriott to do something even more stupid - by messing with the content and format of the Marriott Rewards' individual member My Account pages. Talk about useless change. At least, so far, HHonors has kept the My Account page simple and single. If you have been a user of your MR My Account pages, you'll be horrified.)
David
For those of us who need to view multiple hotel properties at the same time - especially by popping up separate windows to see what each property has available in terms of what types of rooms, amenities, parking, costs by room type in order to compare what a 2 bed vs. a suite vs. downtown vs. midtown, etc. - our right mouse button days are over.
I wasn't happy at all with the Beta. I still ain't at all happy with Beta as Live.
Also, trying to get into my HHonors account at near midnight on a Friday, the login process is even slower than before!
(And, even more unfortunate, I suspect that this mod to Hilton.com has driven Marriott to do something even more stupid - by messing with the content and format of the Marriott Rewards' individual member My Account pages. Talk about useless change. At least, so far, HHonors has kept the My Account page simple and single. If you have been a user of your MR My Account pages, you'll be horrified.)
David
Sep 17, 2011, 8:08 am
#2
Join Date: May 2011
Location: Treasure Coast of FL (MCO/MLB/PBI)
Programs: AS MVP, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 844
Unfortunately, Hilton's Beta for searching through HHonors properties on their web site is now the only option.
For those of us who need to view multiple hotel properties at the same time - especially by popping up separate windows to see what each property has available in terms of what types of rooms, amenities, parking, costs by room type in order to compare what a 2 bed vs. a suite vs. downtown vs. midtown, etc. - our right mouse button days are over.
I wasn't happy at all with the Beta. I still ain't at all happy with Beta as Live.
Also, trying to get into my HHonors account at near midnight on a Friday, the login process is even slower than before!
(And, even more unfortunate, I suspect that this mod to Hilton.com has driven Marriott to do something even more stupid - by messing with the content and format of the Marriott Rewards' individual member My Account pages. Talk about useless change. At least, so far, HHonors has kept the My Account page simple and single. If you have been a user of your MR My Account pages, you'll be horrified.)
David
For those of us who need to view multiple hotel properties at the same time - especially by popping up separate windows to see what each property has available in terms of what types of rooms, amenities, parking, costs by room type in order to compare what a 2 bed vs. a suite vs. downtown vs. midtown, etc. - our right mouse button days are over.
I wasn't happy at all with the Beta. I still ain't at all happy with Beta as Live.
Also, trying to get into my HHonors account at near midnight on a Friday, the login process is even slower than before!
(And, even more unfortunate, I suspect that this mod to Hilton.com has driven Marriott to do something even more stupid - by messing with the content and format of the Marriott Rewards' individual member My Account pages. Talk about useless change. At least, so far, HHonors has kept the My Account page simple and single. If you have been a user of your MR My Account pages, you'll be horrified.)
David
-You now have to switch back and forth from list view and map view. On the old site, I loved seeing the list combined with the map, as I'm often traveling to unknown cities and need to stay close to the airport, downtown, meeting location, etc.
-The site is preloaded with cities, and you can't search by one the site doesn't recognize! Quick example...I tried to book a stay at the Hampton in Norfolk, NE (the only Hilton property for miles around), and the site wouldn't pick up Norfolk, NE as a valid city! I instead needed to search by property, and lo and behold, there it was.
-Anyone else notice that the site now rounds the room prices down until the final page? If I book a room at the AAA rate of $94.80, the price shows as $94 until the final page.
-Finally, and most significantly, the map feature is HORRIFICALLY broken. Try searching by city or address, and the little star indicating your selection is never where it should be. Again, for someone booking hotels in unfamiliar cities or looking for properties closest to a specific address, the new system is awful.
All that being said, I just logged into my account and still see the old booking engine. Here's hoping they had a change of heart...
Sep 17, 2011, 8:12 am
#3
Suspended
Join Date: Dec 2010
Posts: 1,161
There are some severe bugs with this thing too. If I am checking a few properties in the same location, going back and forth, it eventually gives me an error page and I have to start the whole thing from scratch.
Not ready for prime time.
Not ready for prime time.
Sep 17, 2011, 9:40 am
#4
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Nashville, TN
Programs: WN Nothing and spending the half million points from too many flights, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 8,043
The problems I have had are that the Map feature is broken and they say to try again and getting a "rates from $XX" on the list page and finding only higher rates when selecting the hotel.
BTW, if you are using Firefox and a scroll mouse, you can open multiple tabs of selected hotel for side by side comparison by pushing the scroll as a button instead of the left click.
BTW, if you are using Firefox and a scroll mouse, you can open multiple tabs of selected hotel for side by side comparison by pushing the scroll as a button instead of the left click.
Sep 17, 2011, 12:37 pm
#5
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: SFO
Programs: Alaska MVP Gold; Hilton Diamond; National C ar Executive Elite
Posts: 732
UGH! I could not agree more. The first time I used Beta, it was horrendous. I immediately filled out the survey, but unfortunately they only let me do it once (I tried about a dozen more times). My gripes (which I'm sure many other share):
-You now have to switch back and forth from list view and map view. On the old site, I loved seeing the list combined with the map, as I'm often traveling to unknown cities and need to stay close to the airport, downtown, meeting location, etc.
-The site is preloaded with cities, and you can't search by one the site doesn't recognize! Quick example...I tried to book a stay at the Hampton in Norfolk, NE (the only Hilton property for miles around), and the site wouldn't pick up Norfolk, NE as a valid city! I instead needed to search by property, and lo and behold, there it was.
-Anyone else notice that the site now rounds the room prices down until the final page? If I book a room at the AAA rate of $94.80, the price shows as $94 until the final page.
-Finally, and most significantly, the map feature is HORRIFICALLY broken. Try searching by city or address, and the little star indicating your selection is never where it should be. Again, for someone booking hotels in unfamiliar cities or looking for properties closest to a specific address, the new system is awful.
All that being said, I just logged into my account and still see the old booking engine. Here's hoping they had a change of heart...
-You now have to switch back and forth from list view and map view. On the old site, I loved seeing the list combined with the map, as I'm often traveling to unknown cities and need to stay close to the airport, downtown, meeting location, etc.
-The site is preloaded with cities, and you can't search by one the site doesn't recognize! Quick example...I tried to book a stay at the Hampton in Norfolk, NE (the only Hilton property for miles around), and the site wouldn't pick up Norfolk, NE as a valid city! I instead needed to search by property, and lo and behold, there it was.
-Anyone else notice that the site now rounds the room prices down until the final page? If I book a room at the AAA rate of $94.80, the price shows as $94 until the final page.
-Finally, and most significantly, the map feature is HORRIFICALLY broken. Try searching by city or address, and the little star indicating your selection is never where it should be. Again, for someone booking hotels in unfamiliar cities or looking for properties closest to a specific address, the new system is awful.
All that being said, I just logged into my account and still see the old booking engine. Here's hoping they had a change of heart...
Sep 17, 2011, 1:15 pm
#7
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: The Baltic Sea
Programs: AY, BT, DY and SK. Scandic, Radisson, Marriott and HHonors. ClubONE
Posts: 5,890
There may be some technical flaws. There was an attempt for improvements over the old site though (e.g. family policy was stated more clearly), so I wish them luck in getting it together!
The current situation where you have to struggle with two different versions is not sustainable! (Actually three, as I have started to look at hilton.co.uk as an alternative).
The current situation where you have to struggle with two different versions is not sustainable! (Actually three, as I have started to look at hilton.co.uk as an alternative).
Sep 17, 2011, 4:30 pm
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: ORD/MDW
Programs: BA/AA/AS/B6/WN/ UA/HH/MR and more like 'em but most felicitously & importantly MUCCI
Posts: 19,719
The Beta has been driving me crazy for months. I can't stand it. I once spent about an hour filling out the bug/debrief survey for them but I don't think it made any difference. It's definitely not ready for prime time.
Sep 17, 2011, 9:48 pm
#10
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Since the BoSox and ChiSox won it, now it is the Cubs turn to take the Series. Go Cubs Go!
Posts: 3,685
I do not see any real benefit to the beta site. It shows the options of outrageously price reward rooms when standard rooms are not available. The flexible date calendar and the reward availability calendar are far superior on the current old site, so why does Hilton enhance them and make them far more inefficient and cumbersome with the new Beta site? The Beta site only allows and displays searches by up to two weeks at a time, but the old site shows a months worth of rates and rewards at a time. If it ain't broken, then don't fix it!
Last edited by chitownflyer; Sep 17, 2011 at 10:00 pm
Sep 30, 2011, 11:52 am
#11
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Egham, Surrey, UK
Programs: Mucci Champion des Champions, BAG4L, *A Gold, HH DIA, Hyatt Explorist, Hertz Gold, Avis President
Posts: 3,416
I hate it for another reason. There is no longer the option to enter the 3 digit European AAA code and the 16 digit code is rejected by Hilton (not a problem with the Hyatt web site). Until they fix this no more business from me
Sep 30, 2011, 2:18 pm
#12
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: AGP
Programs: UA *G 1MM, DL GM, HH Diamond, PC Gold
Posts: 255
Most here won't care but in the new Beta a lot of the smoking rooms are not updated or info uploaded! Tells me no smoking room only option when I know there is, now I have to call!
Oct 2, 2011, 1:54 am
#14
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: DUS
Programs: UA Gold, FB, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Gold
Posts: 134
Which website you get seems a bit random... I wanted to book a room this morning. The new website is giving 'There are no rooms available' for any date for any hotel (even though it is giving prices for the different hotels). I thereafter opened a different browser - got the old site and had not problem at all booking the same hotel. 30 minutes later (after closing the old site...) I decided that I had to book another hotel, and now I am busy opening and closing browser windows, hoping for the old site to appear, as the new one still is not working :-(
Oct 2, 2011, 4:11 am
#15
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: OOL
Programs: VA Plat, QF LTS, UA MM, Hilton Diamond, Rydges Black, ,Le-Club Gold
Posts: 3,659
Impossible to make a booking on the Hilton site. Does this qualify for the best rate guarantee?