November 24, 2002 The NY Times
Travel Web sites have turned into the Turkish bazaars of the Internet. Burdened as they are with catering to every possible taste in order to maximize revenue, they are frequently noisy and cluttered, shouting deals at visitors from every possible corner.
But there are oases. In some cases, they are modest electronic travel storefronts that one might ordinarily pass by, but that open onto an elegant and wonderfully user-friendly atmosphere. Most other times, though, these oases are found in hotel sites, especially those cutting-edge conceits built from the ground up to sell style. Here are a handful -- belonging either to hotel chains or to companies that make hotel bookings -- that are easy on the eye, if not the wallet.
WWW.IANSCHRAGERHOTELS.COM
-- Unlike the Expedia-Travelocity-Orbitz e-travel agency triumvirate
and its imitators, hotel sites do not have to try to appeal to the
masses, so they can frequently take chances with their designs and
include daring visual effects that would waste valuable real estate on
the other sites. The Schrager hotels site is a prime example.
With images so slick they run the risk of slipping off their own edge, IanSchragerHotels is a visual treat -- for most. Not to get too technical, but the site was built with Flash technology, which, among other things, allows Internet sites to build multimedia presentations. The Schrager site detected that my browser did not have the Flash plug-in to see the site in its full glory, but it helped me download it in less than a minute, and I could begin my tour.
IanSchragerHotels.com,
covering each of Schrager's nine magnets for the sunglasses-after-dark
set (as well as another hotel that his company manages), is cool enough
that it needn't stuff every page with photos or hyperventilated text.
Rather, the design is sparse and includes such surprises as shopping
and dining tips from DailyCandy.com -- an advice bible for the urbane.
WWW.ROSEWOODHOTELS.COM
-- A Zen-type design with occasional flourishes of bright color,
Rosewood's site is deliciously devoid of noise. Click on one of
Rosewood's 13 hotels and resorts and the site offers a sample of the
peaceful elegance one imagines is found in ample supply at its
properties. On the opening page of the Al Faisaliah Hotel in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia, for example, there is precisely one full sentence, beside
an overhead photo of a spiral staircase circling gracefully into a
lobby.
The site also offers a (non-Flash) photo gallery -- a
tour of the property that, after exhausting the dramatic facade,
interior and dining rooms, eventually shows the living quarters, which
are a bit of a letdown. One drawback: the site only shows prices in
Saudi riyals, and makes you go through the trouble of relying on a
currency converter. But at $667 a night for a typical suite, one would
presumably be paying someone else to make the arrangements anyway.
WWW.WHOTELS.COM
-- Before Ian Schrager put his properties online this summer, W Hotels
had perhaps the slickest hotel site on the luxury block. But W, which
like Sheraton and Westin is a Starwood brand, is more inclined to
please a broader audience than its newly-minted competitor is. The site
is Flash dependent, so users with older computers or browser programs
will have to chase down a plug-in to make the most of it. But for the
Flash-enabled, W is a treat. The design is coolly stark and uses
multimedia in intuitive ways. When you pick one of W's 19 hotels
(including 4 not yet open), the home page offers an easy-to-use slide
show of the rooms, bars and other amenities, so you have a solid idea
of what you're getting into for the price of a month's groceries.
Or
do you? By design or not, the site takes an ''if you have to ask, you
probably can't afford it'' approach to pricing display. To get a price
quote, users trudge through a booking engine, which injects the
experience with far too much sweat to qualify as cool.
WWW.BAGLIONIHOTELS.COM
-- The Baglioni Web site is like a fine Italian sports car --
beautiful, but not without mechanical and design defects. The animated
greeting comes in a smallish window that bursts onto the screen. Since
one cannot enlarge that window, the site sends a more cramped message
than would befit a prestige hotel chain. But because the Web page is
smaller, the site also moves faster than many others like it. The
images of Italian splendor are what you'd expect from Baglioni: a
four-poster bed set against crimson wall coverings at the Luna Hotel
Baglioni in Venice, a gondola idling by the side of the hotel, a
seemingly endless beach outside the Hotel Alleluja in Punta Ala. A
final dose of pain comes to those looking for prices. In the Rack Rates
section, rates are shown in lire and the euro, with no currency
converter in sight. (Should you opt to make a reservation instead, the
site allows you to check rates in different currencies.) The Promotions
section also entices, but, alas, was either blank or inaccessible on
recent visits.
WWW.TABLETHOTELS.COM -- Coincidentally, this
site is the creation of Michael Davis, who now oversees the
IanSchragerHotels site. Unlike the Schrager site, though, TabletHotels
feels less self-consciously cool, befitting a company that bills itself
as offering hotels ''for all budgets.''
Tablet Hotels is essentially a travel agency representing hundreds of hotels that meet what it says are rigorous specifications. Most are independent boutique hotels, with prices starting at about $100 and ranging much higher. Aside from the Web site's tasteful design and beautiful photography, one of its great features is the search engine, which allows you to select hotels four ways: by name; by destination; by the category, Great Deals on Great Hotels, and by I Just Want to Get Away.
The
last path led to a questionnaire asking me to select from a long list
of adjectives describing my ideal getaway, and characterizing the
destination. At random, I put ''pampering,'' ''seduction'' and
''adventure'' on my agenda, and requested an ''unusual'' destination.
The site suggested the Boulders, a resort in Carefree, Ariz., charging
roughly $300 a night ''for those with a burning desire to commune with
the desert and spirits of the Native Americans, but who can't let go of
their Gucci glasses or their stocked wine cellars.'' Sounds like
adventure to me.
WWW.SECRETPLACES.COM -- Devoted to travel in
Spain and Portugal, SecretPlaces.com is as elegant in its functionality
as it is in its looks. The site, operated by a travel agency in
Portugal, has a multimedia version best saved for surfing on a
high-speed connection -- or when you're feeling extraordinarily
patient. But the so-called light version of the site is impressive,
too. The Secret Places language refers to the site's stated mission to
show travelers often-overlooked eateries, sights and particularly
hotels. SecretPlaces uses a map highlighting cities in various Iberian
regions. Part of the site's charm is its unusual approach to helping
visitors refine their selections. In the Places to Stay section for the
Castilla-León region of Spain, for instance, users can choose from Fine
Address, Manor House and Countryside, among others. These labels won't
please budget-minded, get-the-reservation-quick surfers, but they will
endear themselves to those with a taste for subtlety and randomness.