Analysis of e-Commerce Transaction Broker:
Objectives
The objective of this mini-research project is to enable students to learn about e-business models, in particularly transactions brokers. From the sharing of research information, students will also learn about the importance of information sharing. This project reinforces Chapter 1 of ISORG study guide.
Requirements of the mini-research project
In groups of 2-3 (a group leader and an assistant leader is to be elected), students are to come up with a report which explores the purposes, features, designs, strengths, weaknesses, security, privacy, any pitfalls or problems, etc of the transaction broker being understudied. Students are to show how the site attracts and maintains the level of trust for its customers. They are to check up relevant websites to discover relevant supporting facts and information of the transaction broker site under study.
Purposes
The purposes of Hotels.com are as follows:
Hotels.com enable site users to make effective searches on hotels all over the world that best cater to their needs. Users are able to make reservations of hotels rooms at the comfort of their homes without the need to travel.
Hotels.com also allows users to check out availability of rooms based on their preferred check-in and check-out dates. Payments are made easy with the use credit cards.
Designs
Users are able to view the pictures of the chosen hotel and other detailed information of that hotel. Sections include Map, Overview, Reviews and Facilities are clearly presented for a more efficient hotel search.
Strengths
A major strength of Hotels.com would be that the layout of the site is clear, concise and easy to navigate. Navigation is made easy due to the search box, which is centrally located on the homepage. This would mean that first-time visitors to the site can easily search for their preferred hotels through the search box. Moreover, there is a "Top Deals" section which lists popular destinations, and the respective recommended hotels in the destinations. The option the subscribe to the mailing lists is also located on the homepage, making it easy for anyone who wants to keep up with the latest news and promotions from Hotels.com.
Once visitors have selected a certain hotel, they will be led to a page that is dedicated to that hotel. Hotels.com has provided many clear and large photographs of the hotels, and these photographs depict both the interior and exterior of the hotel and the hotel rooms. This is an important feature as it will aid potential guests in choosing a hotel that will suit their needs. On top of that, there is also a link to photographs from external sources. From there, visitors are able to view a slideshow of the photos of the hotel provided by TripAdvisor.com, a third-party website. This would thereby give them more assurance of the outlook of the hotel, as the photos by TripAdvisor are considered to be free of bias.
There is also a "Reviews" tab, which shows the reviews and ratings from guests who have visited that particular hotel. As it may be difficult for one to judge a hotel based on the numerical ratings alone, Hotels.com has taken a step further - the average rating for the neighbourhood is also provided. For instance, if the average rating for a neighbourhood (e.g. Singapore) is a 6.0, then a hotel which scored a 8.2 would be considered favourable. Moreover, reviews from external websites, TripAdvisor and Expedia, who are considered to be professionals in the field, are listed too. These third party websites will give potential guests more assurance as their reviews would be objective and unbiased.
The "Map" tab not only provides a clear and easy-to-read map of the location of the hotel, there is also a "Nearby Activities & Points of Interest" section. This will aid potential guests in planning their itinerary, and can also help them decide on the suitability of the hotel based on their preferred activites and interests in the area.
The currency of Hotels.com can also be changed easily by simply clicking on a button on the top tab, which will then reveal a drop-down list of currencies. This is essential as Hotels.com is an international, with potential customers from all the over world.
Weaknesses
One weakness of Hotels.com would be that of the reviews given by previous guests who have visited the hotel. As reviews are anonymous, there may be no way of ensuring the authenticity or truthfulness of the reviews. This brings up the issue of security and trust of Hotels.com, which will be further elaborated in the next section.
Also, a search on ComplaintsBoard.com listed quite a number of negative reviews, and this is detrimental to the company image of Hotels.com. This would further bring down the reliability of the website, which is a crucial factor for potential customers in deciding which online company to book hotels from.
Security and Trust
Once the user wishes to make reservations for a particular hotel, he would need to fill up a booking form. To prevent disclosing of personal information, Hotels.com uses https to step up its security. The Secured Booking (padlock) icon located at the right-hand side of the address bar would enable users to be more comfortable with providing their private information, knowing that these information would not be tapped by others.
In addition, Hotels.com made it clear that this site is secured by GeoTrust. This means that Hotels.com is a registered site. This further increases the security of the site, thus increases the trust from users.
Hotels.com includes a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) section to answer common questions about the site. This would enable users to quickly solve problems they might face when surfing Hotels.com thus reduce negative feelings or frustrations while surfing. To maintain the level of trust, Hotels.com incorporates a Site Feedback section to allow users to write in to comment on the site. This brings across to users the willingness of Hotels.com to improve on their business and that all comments are of importance.
Relevance of supporting facts and information of Hotels.com
It is of utmost importance for consumers like us to check out relevance facts and information regarding the site we are using before committing any purchases online to prevent fraud cases from happening. It is thus wise to make use of reliable third party websites, for example, Complaints Board (www.complaintsboard.com) to search for complaints made on a particular site.
In our case, a search on Hotels.com in the Complaints Board’s website produced 171 negative comments as on 2 October 2009. An extract of some of the recent comments made by consumers were as follows:
• Fraud and scam case – 28 Sep 09
• Wrong room being booked – 24 Sep 09
• No refund provided despite given dirty rooms – 18 Sep 09
(For more reviews on Hotels.com, please click here)