Enter Raveable. Created by “two ex-Microsoft database guys,” this Web 2.0 site attempts to make it easier to find the right hotel. It is so visually appealing that you’ll never want to use another travel site again.
You may be thinking, “Okay, so what’s so great about this one compared to TripAdvisor or Kayak? They all seem to be the same.” Well, this one is almost completely different. First off, you’re presented with a clean, simple homepage (see to the right).
All you have to do is put in the city you want to go to. No annoying options for “when do you want to go?”, or “how many adults and children?” Who cares? (That’s right, Expedia). You can sort that out with the hotel.
Secondly, you are provided with a very simple results page that highlights the pros of each hotel. The hotels are sorted by “overall ranking,” and they each have a different rating (e.g. good, poor. etc.). It also has quick excerpts from comments about the hotel from other travel sites.
Now here comes the fun part; once you click on the hotel, at the top, it gives you two columns: “the good” and “the bad.” You’ll be surprised to hear how they determine those ratings; a natural language processor looks through all of the reviews on the travel sites, and it picks out certain phrases and/or words that denote certain things. It mostly works, but sometimes it doesn’t (one review that I saw mess it up was “It was average, but not bad”) (it picked up “bad”).
So, the next time that you are looking for a hotel, try Raveable. Simplicity is key.
