This article marks the beginning of a series about the hospitality industry and people who are visually impaired. This article will focus on hotels—specifically the online reservations websites for Marriott and Hyatt Hotels. Telephone customer service will also be reviewed.
For this article I used Windows 7, Internet Explorer, and Window-Eyes 9.0. The websites described can also be used with Safari.
Using the Marriott Hotels Online Reservation Website with Screen Access Technology
The Marriott homepage has many links, almost all of which are labeled. There is a clearly labeled Sign In form and an option to join Marriott Rewards. Moving down the pate, there is a Help link. Below the Help link is a button labeled "Open Find Reserve" and a link with the same label directly underneath the button. Next is a button labeled "Open Reservations" and then a link with the same name. Below that link is a form for entering information about travel dates and destination.
The first part of the form is an edit box to enter the city or airport code for your destination. For this article, I chose Los Angeles. Next are edit boxes for entering dates for check-in and check-out. Although there is a calendar to display dates on the website which is convenient for fully sighted customers, it was not accessible with Window-Eyes or with VoiceOver using Safari. Next is a checkbox for whether the dates are flexible, which I left unchecked (the default setting) for my testing purposes.
Next is an edit box for entering a Marriott Rewards number if you have one. Then there is a link to choose a hotel by brand, since Marriott owns a range of hotel chains. Activating this link loaded a form to make a selection using checkboxes. By default the box for all brands is checked. The last control is a "Find" button to execute the search.
Advanced Search
The home page has an Advanced Search link below the Find button on the standard search form. This reservation method offers the user different categories such as type of vacation, ski resort, family friendly, and beach hotels. There are radio buttons to search for specific discounts such as senior citizen and military. There are links for all inclusive vacations and links for top destinations.
Search results can be found with the headings hot key. There were 98 results matching my search criteria. Before the hotel listings there were tabs to search for a specific address or airport. There was an edit box to enter a location. Los Angeles was already in the edit box. I deleted that and entered "Universal Studios." There was a form control to update the search. Now, my search was narrowed, and I only had nine hotels to review.
Each listing included the hotel's name, distance from Universal Studios Hollywood, and address. Also listed were hotel amenities, such as whether the hotel had a pool, fitness center or free Wi-Fi. The lowest rate was also listed.
Activating the link for a specific hotel brought up a page with photographs.
Activating the "View Rates" link loaded a new page that contained the hotel's address and direct phone number. There was a link to view photographs and a link labeled "hotel details." This link brought up a page with information about the hotel, including how many rooms, the hotel's smoke-free policy, and the hotel's fitness center. There were many other links to review.
The different room options could be found with the headings hot key. Each option gave a very brief description of the room. Activating the "Room Details" link loaded a page with a very detailed description of the room including room size, bedding, air conditioning, and mini-refrigerator. The description was quite detailed and easy to navigate.
Underneath the room description was the heading "Hotel Highlights." Information in this section included when the hotel was built, when rooms were last renovated, and amenities.
Next there was a link labeled "Preferences and Accessibility." This link loaded a new page with a variety of combo boxes with options for choosing preferences such as types of pillows and location. There was also an accessibility preferences combo box, but this referred to hearing and mobility access. Underneath the combo boxes were buttons for selecting the various rooms.
I decided on a room and activated the appropriate button. If I hadn't viewed the preferences and accessibility combo boxes, I could have also made my choice from the page with the initial description.
When this new page loaded, information about my reservation was presented, including hotel, dates, and room type. I had not selected any room preferences and I was given the option to go back and do so. I went back into preferences and chose a room near the elevator. Once I updated my reservation, I was brought back to the page for reviewing the reservation and entering personal information.
This page was readable with arrow keys, headings, and form controls. A "Hotel Details" link, a "Room Details" link, and a Continue button were available. The Continue button brought me to a page for entering personal information including name, address, and credit card information. There was also an edit box labeled "Anything we need to know." The cancellation policy was clearly displayed and it indicated that I would not be charged if I canceled my reservation prior to the arrival date.
All the edit boxes and form controls were clearly labeled. Once the information was submitted, the next page showed that my reservation was confirmed and that I would receive an e-mail with the details. Within a couple of minutes, the confirmation was in my inbox.
Marriott Hotels Phone Reservation
My phone call to the reservation center at 888-236-2427 was answered quickly. The agent was extremely helpful and said I would receive any discounts available on the Marriott website. She checked several hotels for me and discussed each hotel's amenities and rates. She was extremely patient and friendly. My experience was very positive.
Using the Hyatt Hotels Online Reservation Website with Screen Access Technology
The Hyatt homepage loads with many links including a link to log in with your Hyatt Gold Passport number or the choice to join to get one, a customer service link, and a reservations link. There is also a link for special offers. There is a form on the page to enter destination, attraction, or airport code. I entered Universal Studios, California. Next were two edit boxes for entering arrival and departure dates. When entering arrival and departure dates, be sure to enter a slash between the month and date and date and year (MM/DD/YYYY). The calendar for choosing dates on this website was also inaccessible to customers using screen readers.
Below the date selection options was a "Find Hotels" button.
Below the button was a checkbox that said, "Accessible room options off." There was an unlabeled combo box that, when opened, displayed what appeared to be the number of accessible rooms, but this wasn't clear. The accessible rooms were designed for people with mobility impairments. Below the combo box was an information link, but this link was about booking reservations rather than room accessibility.
Combo boxes for number of rooms, adults, and children were located below the information link. Not all combo boxes were clearly labeled. For example, next to the "children" combo box the text read was "Information combo box." There was no indication that the combo box was for indicating the number of children. Next the text said, "At time of stay combo box." The combo box just contained numbers. With sighted assistance I learned that the combo box was for the ages of any children that were staying in the room. After making selections, the "Find Hotels" button was activated.
The beginning of the search results could be found with the headings hot key. There was a sorting combo box that included distance from Universal Studios and price. Finding each listing could be done by typing the link hot key several times to get through each listing. Each listing included the name of the hotel, distance from attraction, lowest rate, address, phone number, and a link to check rates. There were also links to review the hotel's amenities and features. Activating the hotel's main link loaded a description of the hotel including features and amenities. The room link loaded a page with descriptions of the various rooms, but they were not detailed at all. Activating the link for a particular room loaded a very detailed description. Underneath the description was a button to check for availability.
Once the button was selected, a new page loaded with all room options listed again, and a button to select the desired room. The listing was not displayed by price.
Once the button for the room I wanted was selected, a new page loaded for entering name, address, phone, and credit card information. This form was clearly labeled.
After credit card information is entered, Hyatt's deposit and cancellation policy is presented. Make sure you read it carefully. I'm glad I did. The text said, "Non-refundable/full prepayment/no changes." Below was deposit information indicating that I needed to make the deposit on the same day as I made the reservation and the deposit would be charged to my credit card. Below this was a checkbox for indicating that you accept Hyatt's cancellation and deposit policy. Below that is a button to book the reservation. I tried several other Hyatt hotels, but got the same cancellation policy. I did call Hyatt reservations and was informed that many of their hotels have this requirement.
Hyatt Hotels Phone Reservation
In the first part of my call to Hyatt's reservation phone number (888-591-1234), I told an automated computer voice where I wanted to go and my arrival and departure dates. The voice verified what I had said and told me to hold for a representative.
Within a few seconds I was connected to an agent. I informed her that I was blind and asked if I booked my reservation on the phone rather than online, would I still get the online discount. She responded that if a discount was only available on hyatt.com, she couldn't give it to me over the phone.
I continued getting information about several hotels. The agent was very business-like and did answer all my questions.
Conclusion
Both of these major hotel websites contained a lot of information requiring good Internet browsing skills. Even if you don't want to book the hotel online, you might want to take some time to review each hotel's amenities, features, and especially the cancellation policy, and then make a phone reservation.
I found the Marriott customer service representative more cordial and willing to assist. Her voice was friendlier and she said that I would get any discounts on the phone that were available on the Marriott website. Unfortunately, Hyatt wouldn't extend that same courtesy.
