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What are the worst travel websites to use?

What are the worst travel websites to use?

Old Jan 25, 2019, 10:45 am
  #16  
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Radisson. Both their hotel website and even more so their app are awful. Hard to navigate, outdated graphics, dead links and a complete refusal to embrace any new technology.
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Old Jan 25, 2019, 11:01 am
  #17  
 
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Too many clicks to get data. E.g., my return date should automatically be later than my from date. I shouldn't have to click on the >> 10 times to get to Dec.
Open up too many browser / tabs. TripAdvisor sucks at this. Every hotel click opens a new tab.
Too fancy, fonts too large, too many scrolls up and down...etc. In other words, give me something straight forward and simple. Like Google Flights.
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Old Jan 26, 2019, 11:09 pm
  #18  
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Originally Posted by lin821
That's not accurate:


(underline mine)

IF OP's asking Siri, "what are the worst travel websites to use?", that would be another story.


Research, including "classroom situation", that involves human subjects now has to obtain Institutional review board (IRB) approval.

In OP's case, s/he may be qualified for Exempt status or Expedited review. Still, the IRB review can't be exempt. Since OP's working on a college project, the professor/instructor should have given proper guidelines and/or advice for students to complete such class requirements.
I still see this as asking people what bad travel websites they have seen and what's wrong with it, conducting any sort of study on people.
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Old Jan 27, 2019, 4:16 am
  #19  
 
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Originally Posted by milepig
Perfectly reasonable. We need to have everything that is aimed at a human being approved by the Institutional Research Office. Everything.
This is not remotely accurate.

According to the Office for Human Research Protections (part of the US Department of Health and Human Services), only activities which are "a systemic investigation designed to develop or contribute to generalizable knowledge" need to go before Institutional Review Boards (IRBs). A simple classroom assignment like the one here is exempt.

Quotes from Chart 1 on this Page: https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/regulations.../index.html#c1

Yet, even if it were, asking a simple question asking for examples of poorly-designed websites still doesn't require IRB approval because it doesn't involve "intervention or interaction with the individuals."

IRB is designed to protect human subjects from physical or emotional harm. Clearly, no one responding to the OP's question is at risk of physical harm. As for emotional harm, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that no one here is going to suffer even the slightest bit of emotional harm just by discussing their least favorite travel websites. If that type of person even exists, she or he really should be visiting a travel website that routinely involves discussions of the inadequacies of other travel websites.
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Old Jan 28, 2019, 10:41 am
  #20  
 
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Originally Posted by writerguyfl
IRB is designed to protect human subjects from physical or emotional harm. Clearly, no one responding to the OP's question is at risk of physical harm. As for emotional harm
Suffering emotional harm is a risk I take every time I read responses on FT.
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 5:21 am
  #21  
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I will second Trivago. It intentionally passes along prices which are not the lowest, but seems to try to direct you to Expedia-related sites.

Oh, and any site that promises a "price match guarantee". None of them do. It's the biggest bait-and-switch and I cannot believe experienced travelers on this site actually use that term without irony or mocking.
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 5:25 am
  #22  
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Just an FYI for anyone that may have found this thread or read about it in the TalkMail - OP has had no activity on FT - not even looking at it - since 7 minutes after posting this query.

I would avoid long-winded responses unless there is some sign of OP coming back to actually view/respond to the already-posted answers.
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 5:43 am
  #23  
 
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Originally Posted by lo2e
Just an FYI for anyone that may have found this thread or read about it in the TalkMail - OP has had no activity on FT - not even looking at it - since 7 minutes after posting this query.

I would avoid long-winded responses unless there is some sign of OP coming back to actually view/respond to the already-posted answers.
Or, you know, we could just use the thread as a great chance to throw brickbats at sites we don't like.

It isn't a "pain point" issue for me, but I will cite the whole RoomKey mess as a personal pet peeve.
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 7:09 am
  #24  
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Originally Posted by GrayAnderson
Or, you know, we could just use the thread as a great chance to throw brickbats at sites we don't like.
Oh, absolutely, that is fully encouraged!
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 7:28 am
  #25  
 
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Rakuten and Jaran in Japanese can really difficult for a few general and a few Japan only issues

First off is once you make a booking in a hotel they automatically sign you up for a ton of mailing lists unless you remember to uncheck them.

Some hotels required you to write something into the comments like if you need to use the parking lot or not. Sometimes they require a comment but have no question to be answered so you fill in with the obligatory "yoroshiku onegaishimasu "

Last big issue is the booking "plans" which are a common thing on Japanese sites. Do you want a room smoking, semidouble, with breakfast and a prepaid cash card for the conbini next door that costs 20 bucks more? For a leasure traveler it makes no sense but for a business traveler on an expense account it does. Having to sort through the options can be tough if your not a native speaker and/or have travel experience .

Also the English sites sometimes don't offer the cheapest rooms. Sometimes for the best! Haha
​​
Good luck with your research.
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 8:15 am
  #26  
 
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Originally Posted by NishinomiyaDada
First off is once you make a booking in a hotel they automatically sign you up for a ton of mailing lists unless you remember to uncheck them
If they accept bookings from EU users, that's illegal. Just report them to the GDPR commissioner in any EU country for which you speak the language (Belgium are best at dealing with non-EU countries)
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 10:32 am
  #27  
 
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I think you can have a field day at http://paradisewithaview.com/

http://www.exmouth-view.co.uk/ could be a backup candidate.

More mainstream, https://www.ryanair.com/us/en/ is a colorful mess.

Too bad you're limited to travel sites - http://arngren.net/ is a UX Master's thesis in waiting. .
OMG The first one is the winner. No need to look further. If you move your mouse on that, "book online here" follows you and writes itself out like a bad powerpoint slide. I would hazard a guess that this was built by the owner of the condos and he/she used something like WIX or another freebee site to build it. As the old saying goes, "Just because you CAN doesn't mean you SHOULD." Then again, they may still be renting out the condos and making money. So good on them.
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 10:58 am
  #28  
 
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I do not like sites like Amoma and Otel that provide their own descriptors for the types of hotel rooms on offer. Their descriptors do not align to the hotel's descriptors. It makes it impossible to understand what room you are booking.
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 12:15 pm
  #29  
 
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LifeMiles Worst Travel Website

LifeMiles.com
is the Worst Travel Website
not to mention their horrible services


Originally Posted by kiwiki
Hi all, I'm a university student working on a project for a prototyping class. Our assignment is to find a travel-related website, identify 7 pain points, and redesign it to be more usable. As someone who doesn't travel much, I'm coming here to get first-hand accounts that will hopefully point me in the right direction. What are the worst websites you've used in terms of user experience?

Thanks!
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Old Jan 29, 2019, 2:24 pm
  #30  
 
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Originally Posted by CPRich
You need all of this to recommended a poorly designed web site?

Are you trying to make FT a candidate?


.
Now that you mention it, the top banner and bottom page menu follows me around and slows scrolling to the point that threads are nearly unreadable.
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