How Green Is Your Hotel?
I was all excited to check out RezHub.com, the highly touted new travel site that assists users in making greener travel choices. Alas, my first few attempts to load any page of the site resulted in either "sorry" pages or plain out gobbledygook.
While I waited to access the site itself, I did a bit of investigating and learned the following. Unlike some sites, RezHub is pretty open about how properties earn their Green Score. Green amenities are given point values from 1-3, depending on the level of effort required by the hotel. Serving organic food, for example, earns only one Green Point, while using Green Key Cards earns three. A hotel's total number of Green Points determines how many Green Branches it is awarded -- 1-6 points earns one lonely branch, while 25-30 points scores a whole tree, or five maximum branches.
Since it turns out I'm actually in the market to buy a ticket today, I decided to put RezHub to the test. First thing I noticed is that the site's strength is obviously hotels, since that's where the homepage immediately directs you. But since I also may be in need of a room for one evening, I tried that out. Hmm. No results at all for Asbury Park, NJ -- and the site designers deemed it okay to leave the user on a dead, worthless page. Clicking "modify search" took me back to the homepage -- but didn't save the info (dates, number of guests, etc.) I'd already entered. Even Newark, NJ, resulted in squat. So far, no good.
Next up: Trying to find a flight to Newark for this week. Lowest price: $433, same as both Kayak and Cheap Tickets. But I didn't see any green info. So why would I use RezHub for tickets when I have my tried and true outlets?
It's only the site's launch. I'm sure it's officially in beta of some sort, so I'll give it another chance down the road. But I have to say that what I've seen so far isn't all that spectacular. If RezHub is going to stick around, it's going to have to offer a unique booking experience that actually works -- or start syndicating its green rating content. Oh, and change the name to something that actually speaks to us green-lovers. "RezHub" sounds more like a treatment for eczema than a green booking engine.
While I waited to access the site itself, I did a bit of investigating and learned the following. Unlike some sites, RezHub is pretty open about how properties earn their Green Score. Green amenities are given point values from 1-3, depending on the level of effort required by the hotel. Serving organic food, for example, earns only one Green Point, while using Green Key Cards earns three. A hotel's total number of Green Points determines how many Green Branches it is awarded -- 1-6 points earns one lonely branch, while 25-30 points scores a whole tree, or five maximum branches.
Since it turns out I'm actually in the market to buy a ticket today, I decided to put RezHub to the test. First thing I noticed is that the site's strength is obviously hotels, since that's where the homepage immediately directs you. But since I also may be in need of a room for one evening, I tried that out. Hmm. No results at all for Asbury Park, NJ -- and the site designers deemed it okay to leave the user on a dead, worthless page. Clicking "modify search" took me back to the homepage -- but didn't save the info (dates, number of guests, etc.) I'd already entered. Even Newark, NJ, resulted in squat. So far, no good.
Next up: Trying to find a flight to Newark for this week. Lowest price: $433, same as both Kayak and Cheap Tickets. But I didn't see any green info. So why would I use RezHub for tickets when I have my tried and true outlets?
It's only the site's launch. I'm sure it's officially in beta of some sort, so I'll give it another chance down the road. But I have to say that what I've seen so far isn't all that spectacular. If RezHub is going to stick around, it's going to have to offer a unique booking experience that actually works -- or start syndicating its green rating content. Oh, and change the name to something that actually speaks to us green-lovers. "RezHub" sounds more like a treatment for eczema than a green booking engine.
Labels: ecotourism, travel
posted by Jenna @ 12:07 AM
1 Comments:
At January 26, 2010 7:24 AM ,
Erik said...
Hi Jenna,
I would encourage you to try out RezHub again when you get the chance. We have spent a lot of hard work improving the website, and our green hotel directory has increased dramatically since you last used it. Hope you're doing well, take care!
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