HotelsCombined removed a hotel-search filter from its search results pages in early August, but then brought it back a few weeks later.
Was it a case of indecision?
Hotel metasearch remorse?
Bringing back the Hotel Name Contains filter indeed wasn't a milestone event for the hotel comparison-shopping site, nor was it game-changing razzle-dazzle for users, but there is a bit of a story behind the feature's removal and revival.
HotelsCombined had engaged Web-analytics firm Kampyle and its SaaS solution to collect user feedback about its sites in two dozen languages.
With country sites dotting the globe, gathering user feedback could be a bit complicated.
And, as it turns out, HotelsCombined brought back the feature based on some of the information gathered.
Kampyle's spin is that previously the analytics solution HotelsCombined had been using was providing feedback without "the context required to fully understand and capitalize from emerging user patterns."
The pattern that emerged, says HotelsCombined spokeswoman Vicki Byrne, is that "loyal, repeat visitors" noticed the absence of the Hotel Name Contains feature and wanted to see its return.
The feature enables users to further pare down their hotel search results so they can focus on a brand or some other word in the hotel name, such as spa or resort, for example.
"Also, we noticed the use of language/knowledge and could easily tell, compared to most feedback, that these were online, savvy individuals," Byrne says. "We want to fulfill our users' needs so we brought it back."
Previously, HotelsCombined had deemed the Hotel Name Contains feature redundant because it wasn't being frequently used, Kampyle says.
"However, after removing it, HotelsCombined received strong feedback from a small, but high-value group of users requesting the feature's return," says Kampyle, which did a case study on its engagement with HotelsCombined.
Byrne says that based on the Kampyle-collected feedback, HotelsCombined has also introduced room search for families with children.
"This has been requested a lot by users in all markets and we hope it will make a big difference to our conversions over time," Byrne says. "It is also worth pointing out that we are the only hotel price-comparison engine to do this -- it's a unique selling point for us."
As part of the search changes, including how many adults per room and whether customers are bringing children, Byrne says "we have re-coded the way we send XML messages to our suppliers. We now have a much shorter time out on returning hotel results and have shaved it down and will continue to do so."
And customers appreciate speedier results -- regardless of their native language.