holiday-rentals.com's new format

[alexia s.]

Nobody has commented on HR's new format.
Does anyone like it?
My reading of it is that the new directors have thrown out the format that Marcelle & her team spent 8 years perfecting & substituted something that dispenses with the most elementary rule for web sites: simplicity. The new web pages are a mess of cluttered information that deters the visitor to the page. Nothing flows anymore. It is disagreeable to try to follow it & I certainly wouldn't stay long on the new site if I were looking for a holiday. After trying to work out the new format for 10 minutes I felt that I needed a holiday myself.
The person responsable has mixed up the text on my pages so that it actually reads like something an illiterate would have dreamed up. I've rewritten it & hope that on Monday it will be re-done - but what an insane idea.
It might not be too bad for one property (it's still a down-grading from the excellent format that hr had developed), but for those of us with several units it is hopeless.
It's also full of design errors, Ross. I wanted to change "1" king bed" to "0" and couldn't: the choice now is "1" or "2". THE PARAMETERS have changed & our bed(1m60) is now just "double" - but I can't change the description.
How many other errors are there? Marcelle would never have let this loose until it had been properly tested.
That makes 2 important errors that I picked up on a very fast perusal of only one my pages. I haven't got the heart to look at my other 3 units.

[alexia s.]

I took a deep breath & went back to hr to check on our other units.
Ross, it's even worse than I thought: I found another crazy piece of text on the web site which I want to erase but when I log on I find that this text isn't in the home-owner's section ..... which means that I can't erase it!

[ashtondav]

Strange, no problem with mine. Looks very much like it did before...

[paolo]

I thought the old format looked really good, and this one is a bit of a mess to look at. But on the positive side...

- as all the information is now on one page there is less clicking required, which is important;

- you can print all the information off in one go;

- there are more ways to click on 'Enquire'

I guess we will get used to it, and perhaps it will increase enquiries. It should cut down enquiries for booked weeks anyway.

[alexia s.]

Yes, it is a mess to look at - it's not clear where to go. Left, right, down, up - the eye has to do a lot of work & that isn't user-friendly.
Apparently it was done for the search engines.
The good news is that the jumbled text that I referred to yesterday is a glitch which has only affected multiple units, and with Syed's help my site is now sorted out.

[Giddy Goat]

I was very taken aback when I saw the 'new improved version' last week and emailed my feedback to them. I agree - it's terrible! I was attracted to advertising with them initially because it was such a good-looking site. I'm sure most prospective advertisers take the look and feel of a site into consideration when choosing, and don't necessarily realise that SEO may have something to do with the way it has been set out.

[alexia s.]

Jane,
I understand that HR has had a lot of feedback, and it is mostly negative. None of the advertisers I have spoken to is happy about it.

[borddelamer]

I totally agree the new format is naff!!!!!!!!!!! I hope that we still get bookings!!!

Can anyone check out my website and tell me what they think at www.my-french-apartment.com or holiday-rentals.com number 53888

Richard

[Hells Bells]

Hi, your site looks great, but I can't read the last line of text under your title. (MAybe a link to something?) , it;s hidden by the text box below.

[KathyG]

Richard,
I think your site is superb, I like the fact that the menu on the left stays with you whichever page you're viewing. Prices look rather cheap for Nice though! The only thing I can comment on is Accommodation spelt with only one 'M' on the left menu, sorry, I've got a thing about spelling!

Kathy

[claire]

hi there

i think the new sites difficult to negotiate too.

i wonder where we stand for a refund? i shall check it out.

[debk]

Improvement or not, I think WVR is just melding h-r into a more standarized format being used for all their sites.

It's probably good to let h-r know of your unhappiness, but they are now just a little cog in a much larger corporate wheel.

More on the WVR site mergers here
viewtopic.php?t=1621

It was bound to happen... why else did WVR invent itself?
debk