Academic and Business Users

Interviews were conducted with four users from universities and professional sectors such as law and accountancy. The interviews consisted of asking the interviewees a number of general questions related to travel websites, which are documented below.

Do you spend time browsing travel sites to find a good deal?
They generally have a clear idea of the dates and destinations they need to go to. As they first obtain prices of holidays from a travel agent and then book online. This is due to the fact that they consider it irritating to have to spend hours searching for the best deal in many different websites.

Can you think of anything specifically you would like in a travel website.
One person related that they would like very detailed information about the destination, as much of the time they would be going to a conference in an unknown area and would have to find their way around quickly. Another person commented how they desired information about alternative routes and transport to make the price cheaper or make the journey shorter.

The answers were very helpful in designing the website. Some functions however would not be feasible, such as an alternative route finder.

After obtaining some criteria for the website, an evaluation was conducted on some recommended academic sites to observe the systems that currently exist. The University of Delhi encourages its staff to use three main travel sites when booking a trip: Delta Travel, JTB Travel and Asha Travel Limited. Unfortunately, these websites only offered information about the companies, with the ability to contact them by phone or email, and external links. It therefore appeared that the business and academic sector is comfortable with booking offiine.

The ability for ABC Travel to book online could give the website the competitive edge it required. These websites were therefore contacted in order to discover the systems that they used to charge their clients. This was performed to ascertain whether it would be possible for them to book online. Only one company responded from the three who were contacted. The outcome was that the customers would pay directly through the company. Their identity would be verified by checking if they had an existing account with the company. If the client were to pay through the university, they would require a signed order number approving the sale. This system of paying was already implemented by ABC. It became clear that there were too many checks that needed to be performed by the company, so the option of an online booking system for them was infeasible. Consequently, the only option for the academic and business customers was for them to contact ABC Travels by phone or email if they want to use the services provided for them.