I'm on expedia. I see the room rate. I see a link "avg rate". I always click on EVERYTHING because that is what you have to do when booking things online, so I click.
Average rates do not include service fees, applicable taxes, extra guest charges (if applicable), or other non-room hotel charges.
Aha, a hint!
Up at the top, once I click Book It.
Please carefully read the rules and restrictions for your selected hotel
Another hint!
And then...another tiny little hint.
Total room cost:
$xxx.xx Expedia Special Rate
+ Hotel resort fee: US$ 16. Collected by hotel
Right there, without having to scroll.
AND they've overestimated, which is going to make for a lovely surprise when you check in and find out that it's not $16 at all, but 13.80 per day.
And just in case you don't know that resort fees are per day, there's a link there that says Details.
I click on it, because when booking online you MUST click on everything because that's how they give you the information (a cluttered page makes most people just skip it all, which is why they tend to put links, because people are MORE Likely to click a link than read a cluttered page), and I see:
Mandatory Hotel-Imposed Fees
The following mandatory hotel-imposed fees are charged and collected by the hotel either at check-in or check-out.
# Disney's Paradise Pier Hotel - On
Disneyland Resort PropertyHotel resort fee: US$ 16
# Hotel resort fee inclusions:Internet access
# Newspaper
# Phone calls
The above list may not be comprehensive. Mandatory hotel-imposed fees may not include tax and are subject to change.
ALL the info I need, right there in my face. And I consider it to be in my face, even though some info is in links (other than the stuff that's *right there* or in red), because that's how it works when you are booking and buying online. It just is.
On the disneyland site I see what you see. And I don't feel it's hidden. I'm buying something that costs a lot. I'm *going to read the whole page*. That's how it works when booking and buying on the internet. You read the whole thing. Fine print, links, everything. Why on earth would you NOT do this?
If there were no internet, and you were doing this with paper, the info would be in fine print, but with paper, you can't increase the font size on the page to see it more clearly.
Companies put things like links and asterices etc to *draw attention* to them. I remember when my mom took a class on website design...she learned that if you have more than 4 colors or fonts (total, not 4 each), people will ignore what's written. And if you have too much narrative (like my reply here!) people will ignore it. So links, stars, and the like, to draw your eye's attention to the details.
I worked customer service at
amazon for a few years (and would love to again), and sometimes I dealt with people who felt that info was hidden. But it wasn't. It was right there. Just like the info about the resort fees is right there. But some people just don't want to read the whole page... I have to wonder...where on the page would you like the info? Links and starred info to make you go below is traditional...stars are traditional for print so we should all be used to looking further for info...and we should all be reading everything on the page and clicking on the "more info" or "details" type links to make sure we are making a good decision.
