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What a hotel website should be

SA Hotel Trat, Thailand
Online services for those who are travelling tend to be all about the supplier, or middle man, and not really for the person who will actually use the service.

For 8 months now my family and I have been travelling from the UK back across the world to New Zealand. Every few days we have been looking for a new hotel. And the hotel sites , and the cheap room sites all have their flaws. So when we found the website for the SA Hotel in Trat Thailand we exclaimed loud and long how good it was.

http://www.sahotel.in.th/

I'll warn you now it isn't pretty - but if like us you've looked at a lot of pretty hotel websites and still not really been able to make up your mind if it is the right place to stay I feel for you.

The best online presences for hotels are invariably those run by people who own and live at their own properties, and who are doing something different. A case in point is Les Manguiers http://www.mangokampot.com/ which again isn't pretty but gives you a real feel that you're going to be looked after

The really wonderful thing about the SA Hotel in Trat Thailand's site is that in one page it answers all the questions that their guests ask them everyday:

  • Is there an ATM/Supermarket/Restaurant/Night market nearby ?
  • Is it quiet ?
  • What are the rooms like ?
  • How much is a room ?
Most importantly it tells you what it is trying to be and what it is in the first paragraph :
a basic, yet complete & clean room to spend the night in relative comfort
Even better it tells you how much it is right there on the first page - no digging around hoping to stumble across the price. No having to go through a third party website.

  • Simple
  • Clean
  • Practicable
  • Useful
I hope they have a ton of business - their website fairly screams customer focus, it wish more were like it.



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