Let’s test ways to provide better neighborhood context to clarify price trends, show meaningful landmarks, and simplify navigation when browsing for hotels.
In 2009 we offered smarter neighborhood information for easier hotel browsing to address questions like “Is the subway or a drugstore nearby?”, “What does the hotel and its immediate area look like?”, or “Is there anything cheaper one neighborhood over?”.
Two years earlier, we explored a single-page template to minimize the churn between viewing results and details, with contextual maps that plotted hotels and provided neighborhood context. Learnings from both prototypes – optimal density of information, importance of price summaries, potential hindrances in flow, other usability and writing criticisms, et al. – were prioritized into the vision of subsequent development iterations.
Orbitz Worldwide · 2007, 2009
Creative direction: Andrew Day, Melissa Moore · Design: Andrew Day, Tomoko Kanamitsu (Google API) · Information architecture: Nick Iozzo · Engineering: Dan Gentle (Google API), TandemSeven (Mapquest API)
Clarity in price/neighborhood context
Integrated browsing and mappingThis prototype used the Google Maps API and placed additional information within reach, shown only when needed. It offered summaries on neighborhood pricing, points of interest, public transit, driving directions, Street View context, and prices in adjacent neighborhoods. These helped answer commonly voiced questions, such as “What areas are most affordable?”, “How far is the hotel from my meeting?”, and “What does the immedate area look like?”
Search results with neighborhood-price overview. When expanded, neighborhood label shows full price ranges.
Search results: hotels plotted on map, with microcontent details
Hotel details: Map with resizeable Street View panel
Integrated browsing and mapping
Top of pageThis 2007 prototype began with a simplified entry from a search engine, focused solely on hotels. A single-page layout, with results and details taking center stage when appropriate, helped minimize the navigation churn and disruptions when viewing multiple hotels. The streamlined, compact template used the Mapquest API and morphed to reveal slide-out filtering and change-search panels.
The user arrives at a hotel-specific landing page after a "Chicago hotels" search from a search engine.
Hotel results and a large map with numbered hotel markers anchor a compact, viewport-sized layout. Filters and tools slide out from side and top panels.
The hotel detail overlay moves to the forefront, with minimized results and contextual reference map.