| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 03/07/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 18 |
| Copyright: Other |
Every fortnight FSS marketing director Ian Champness picks an Internet site and looks at how useful it is for travel agents
Did you know? Chat Roomsn On-line chatting is a hugely popular activity on the Internet. Essentially a chat forum is a group of Internet users exchanging screen-based messages in real time on a subject of common interest. They differ from news groups because all participants are connected to the forum at the same time and messages are displayed immediately for the members of the forum to see. The easiest way to participate in a chat session is to visit the Web site of one of the major networks or providers. Once you have registered with the service and agreed to their rules and etiquette guidelines, you can enter a chat room and start talking on a wide range of subjects. Major sites offer scheduled chats, often featuring a special guest – these sessions are moderated and supervised by a chat room host who decides whether your comments or questions will be presented to the guest and audience. According to Netvalue, the French are the most enthusiastic Net chatters – 10.2% of French Web users visit chat sites as opposed to 5.4% in the UK, 4.6% in Germany and only 1.2% in the US.
Description
National Express makes use of the Internet to maximise coach travel for UK customers.
Since the launch two months ago of the company’s Internet branding, the site has also been accessible at www.GoByCoach.com. The site has delivered on-line ticket bookings and interactive journey planning from an early stage (1995), the challenge for the Web site developers has always been to appeal to a customer base polarised between two distinct age groups – the young 18-24s and the over 55s. The site has 10,000 visitor enquiries daily, 25% from overseas.
Home page
If you are looking for high-impact design, you will not find it here. Although attractive, it is not necessary to repeat the GoByCoach motif twice!
The page is quick to download and effectively introduces site contents by means of three large oval buttons labelled On-Line Travel Info, Products and Company Information. Smaller text links above these indicate the scope of the product – Around Britain, Throughout Europe and To Airports, while the rest of the page is devoted to half-a-dozen offers and news items under a banner Latest from GoByCoach.com. All this works fine but the page feels text heavy.
Ease of navigation
Navigation is easily mastered and pages appear quickly. Links from the home page deliver clearly constructed subject pages, each with a top and left-hand navigation bar.
The tendency for some of these pages to be text heavy is circumvented by use of simple graphics and this almost succeeds. Much better use of graphics is found on the Products links, where customer types are identified and how the National Express product appeals to each client profile. Resulting pages are text heavy but comprehensive.
Ease of searching
Though named on the home page as On-Line Travel info, this understates the scope of the booking section, which is aptly described as Times, Fares, Tickets on the page itself. The system is functionally excellent. The site invites the input of any destination and offers alternatives for misspellings.
Finding service times is in three steps – input, refine and view! The search facility asked for our UK starting point, destination, outward and return dates and journey type. The resulting page echoed this and a scrolling menu enabled selection of a different bus station where several exist.
With selections complete, the third page gave a full list of alternative services, clearly showing departure and arrival times, journey times, the number of bus changes and service numbers.
Ease of booking
Step four is the selection of service from the search results, inputing number of people travelling.
Each category is helpfully defined on screen. Our selections made, we then clicked to yield the fare quotation and conditions (step five). These showed almost instantly, in a page which also enabled the selection of a location to send tickets (or collect if a late booking). But when the total fare is displayed, we would have felt more comfortable with the fare being presented in itemised format. The fare type link should be clicked to find the conditions – but it was hard to see where to click as the site doesn’t make use of the standard underlining of text to indicate a hyperlink.
The next page (step six) invited credit-card input in secure mode, lead traveller’s name and address. Step seven yielded a final check and confirmation of the journey profile. Step eight completes the transaction and bills the card.
Nice touches
A help menu in the booking facility describes How to Book, What’s Available and Frequently Asked Questions. We particularly liked the FAQs. Good context notes told us how many more steps before any individual booking was confirmed and our credit card debited.
Value ofinformation
In addition to well-presented product information, there is an expanding set of links including an extensive index of UK regional tourist board sites. The short-breaks section features the National Express Short Breaks product as an on-line brochure – more of these on-line brochures are to be available soon. Such facilities and a closer integration of design across the various National Express brands would add value.
Would we return to the site?
Yes – the site answers all the questions about coach travel and was fast and responsive. Travel agents should be encouraged by the fact that in a few months time, the site will have a trade booking section for commissionable bookings.