myTobago – your questions, review and comment about Tobago

Can I please elicit the help of readers.

Over coming months I shall be re-designing myTobago (I know, I’ve been talking about it for a year, but we’re getting there at last). One of the biggest changes will be that several sections of the site will be database-driven, replacing the static listings currently provided. This has a number of advantages, the biggest being that readers will be able to search the database for listings that meet their own criteria.

Restaurants are one obvious area. It will obviously be of benefit if you can get a listing of restaurants within specific areas/regions of Tobago. So, my first question is: are there any other search criteria that would be useful for restaurants?

Accommodation is the obvious biggest candidate for the database. Searches by price range and location are obvious, but what other criteria would readers like?

Accommodation type is also obvious. The current listings are divided into five categories: Hotels – Guesthouses/Inns – Apartments/Condominiums – Cottages – Villas. Fine, but when does a cottage become a villa? When does a guesthouse become a hotel? Can this list be simplified to catered/self-catering?

Therefore, folks, put your thinking caps on and tell me what you want. I really want to get this right. Designing the system will really benefit from the views of those who know nothing about computers but simply use them to plan their holiday, right through to the thoughts of computer gurus who have been involved with this sort of thing professionally.

So, what do you look for when looking through hotel listings?

Thanks in advance. All responses, whether as replies to this post, or as emails to me at [email protected], will be much appreciated.

Hi Steve.

As I haven't decided where to stay on my holiday to Tobago next year, I thought I would jump in with a suggestion which would make it easier for me to choose.

Unfortunately, I don't really understand this type of thing, so please ignore this if it won't work.

The most important thing for me, after price, for deciding on accomadation is the food. Therefore would it be possible to have search criteria which would pick out the accomadation by price range at one price for all inclusive and another for room only.

I'm not sure if I'am explaining this well so I'll give an example: If I had a total budget of £1500 for the entire holiday, I would be able to afford say £900 for accomadation if all meals and drinks were included, however if the accomadation was room only I would perhaps only be able to afford £700 with the difference going on food whilst there.

The idea would be to get a list of suitable properties within my price range both all inclusive or room only.

My word, I am really struggling to explain this so I will just post this reply now and hope you can understand it. If not please feel free to ask any questions.

My, Richard, that’s an extremely interesting and relevant suggestion, but one which may defeat my technical genius (or lack thereof). Don’t worry about your lack of knowledge of these things – the important thing for me is to understand what holidaymakers want. I understand exactly what you mean.

The big problem is how one values the food at AI establishments. The standards and expectations of visitors will vary. Some visitors will be able to pay £50 per head for a meal, whereas others will begrudge £5.

Your question has raised a point which will affect our Restaurant listings. I have always avoided getting involved with prices because again, it is very subjective. Jill and I are very modest drinkers and eaters. We often only have a single course and our alcohol intake won’t exactly get us on the brewery’s Christmas card list. Our bill for an evening’s dining can therefore be half that of other diners at the same restaurant. However, maybe we could classify restaurants in general price categories. Readers comments to help establish these categories should be would be more than helpful.

Anyway, Richard, thanks for your input. Lots of food for thought there, because it is a highly relevant suggestion.

Yes, that was what I was thinking could be the problem with this idea. A simpler, and perhaps more universaly benificial solution would be to add a filter to the search that can remove either all inclusive or room only accomadation from a search in a particular price range.

I could therefore work out how much I would be able to spend on food whilst there (if I was going room only) and reduce the amount I was willing to spend on the holiday. I could enter the total I would be spending and that I would want room only accomadation and a list would be brought up of suitable properties.

Again, the problem for this would be for people, like me, who haven't travelled to Tobago before and so would not know what prices we could expect to pay for meals out.

The more I think about this the more problems appear, and I'm not sure if this would be of any benifit to the majority of people. Still it might be worth seeing if anyone has anything to add to this.

It would be an easy thing to provide an include/exclude “All Inclusive” resorts, Richard. Many people appreciate the convenience/economic advantages of these packages so I had already planned to indicate whether properties listed offered such a package.

I haven’t got to the design side yet, so it’s up to me to find a way of enabling visitors to define a search by multiple criteria without making the search form overly complex or intimidating to our many readers whose are not technical gurus. Fortunately that should be too difficult because in general it will be simply a matter of ticking boxes for features that interest you, or selecting from multiple choice options. The more questions you answer, the tighter and more specific the search results will be.

It’s just occurred to me that “beach front” will be one of the obvious questions. But what constitutes “beach front”. Aaagh! What have I let myself in for? Why couldn’t I just take up knitting?

Don't worry Steve this is a quick one !! Beach front to me personally, means the ability to walk to the sand and sea a few yards away from your hotel room or villa without having ANY roads to cross, often accomodations may claim a beach front position meaning there is nothing sited in front of them but you still need a bit of a hike to get your feet wet. Stella.

Hi Steve

I don't know how to break this news to you, but this site is bl**dy brilliant as it is.

Is it just me, or does anyone else find this site full of excellent and unbiased information, the source of lively debate and above all very easy to navigate and find details of accomodation and resturants at the drop of a hat.

I've just checked out the restuarant section and it as comprehensive and informative as could be hope for...location, culinary style, management and service comments. Apart from posting the actual menus and having an on-line table booking option, all the info. that a prospective diner could need is there.
An index or search facility e.g V for veggie, SV for sea view or IT for Italian etc could easily highlight the basic features of each establishment.

Your growing list of fully reviewed hotels, villas and B&Bs are grouped according to type and budget and I have found it fun to browse through each category, even if I can't afford to stay at most of them - it doesn't stop me dreaming does it?

How can I put this Steve?
I know that you are a perfectionist, but if it ain't broken.....

With respect

Steve

Hi Stella

How do you quantify a "few yards" though? You say "without having ANY roads to cross" - so does that disqualify the Grafton and Le Grand Courlan as beachside resorts?

I know EXACTLY what you mean. The problem is quantifying it. Computers are so dumb that they can't make judgemental decisions. It either is or it isn't beachside. Subject to the above comments, that's not a problem, because I know all the hotels and can make a fair judgement. However, it's a bit more difficult when one comes to the villas etc. Is a villa set on a cliff top directly over a beach to be defined as "beachside" even when it's a half mile walk through the bush and down a steep rocky track to a beach. I'm sure you see the problem.

Hi Steve

Thanks for the kind words, but sadly the success of the site is its own undoing. There is over 100,000 words of information on the main site, but how many people have read our article on the reefs, for example? The menu structure was designed for a much smaller site with just a handful of prime articles. I have plans for a lot more. If we’re going to be the definitive visitor guide to the island, then we have to cover EVERY subject and having the articles and information is no use if people can’t find it easily.

We have a golden rule in web design. It’s called the “three click” rule. Once a reader has got to the site – regardless of which page the search engines may have brought them in to – we must get them to the information they’re seeking within three clicks of the mouse. Up and down the pages or through navigation links to other pages, it matters not. Of course the bigger the site, the harder it is to meet this goal, but it must still remain one of the primary targets. The current site fails sadly nowadays.

There’s another more practical reason for the database-driven revamp. New accommodation property is becoming available on Tobago at a rate of around three a month. I am constantly finding or being informed of property that needs to be added to the list. Great, no problem, but adding them within the current listings is a pain in the proverbial. The pages get too long and then need major work reorganising the pages to get them down to an acceptable length. Adding them to a database would mean that this can all be done automatically with the system automatically displaying a set number of properties on a page and readers allowing readers with fast Internet connections to increase the defaults.

So, it may not be broken, but the site is coming of age and needs some tweaking that will benefit both the reader and myself in the long run.

O.K. then, how about 'directly on beach' as in, no need to put your shoes on before you have a paddle? Quantifty yards? i can't Steve, except perhaps as in B.W.I. now theres a place that's beachside. The other places you mention are unknown to me so i don't know their precise position as regards sand and sea. Beachside is surely just that,beside the sea. Or is that too simplistic of me? I DO see the problem as regards wording, however,it's a good idea to get the visitors, previous and prospective involved.Stella.
p.s. I do think though, that this site is already a winnerThanks Steve.

I have to agree with Steve Pitts and Stella regarding this matter. This website is fantastic; I am struggling to think of a better one I have ever visited. What I find difficult in deciding is what keeps on drawing me back, whether it’s the vast amount of information to be located within these pages, the quality of the layout and design, or the friendliness/helpfulness of everyone involved. I suspect it is possibly a blend of all three.

My wife has decided that we would like to go back to the Caribbean early next year, taking our eagerly awaited baby (due next Wednesday). This website has forced me to count out all other possibilities for a destination and would not dream of considering anything other than a Tobago holiday. Re-reading my comments above I expect that I would have probably missed out on some great advice and some excellent reading if I had crossed out all the accommodation that was out of my price range.

Still, another possibility for the beach problem would be to split the accommodation into three categories: One for properties slap bang on the seafront. Another for accommodation that is within walking distance but does have an obstruction (cliff, road, palm tree) between the property and the beach. A last for properties that are a car ride from the nearest beach (of course everyone will have a different idea of what walking distance is, so a key describing each category would probably be useful).

Hi Steve, I expect a lot of feed back from current readers, just to contribute to your great job. From my part just a quick start now:
Beachfront or not I fully agree with Richard, meaning 3 possibilities:
1. right at the beach
2. walking distance (meaning so easily to get there, that you would do this normally (almost every time you would visit that beach).
3. need a car/taxi
In this way you would not need to quantify the distance or the difficulty to get there, only thing is you would need the information to allocate to 1,2 or 3
In my opinion this very important feature for many 'searchers' would be solved adequately this way.

Hi Roel

Yes, I'm inclined to agree with both of you in terms of the three categories: a) On the beach, b) within walking distance, c) all others. Yes, there will be many properties where it will be a subjective decision, but that can be clarified within the text of the listing.

The funny thing is that there are actually very few true beachside properties in Tobago. Even funnier (to many people) is the fact that after staying at more than two dozen places on Tobago, Jill and I are totally convinced that being beachside is not the best option. We actually prefer a place on higher ground. Give me the views and the cool breezes with easy access to a beach any time. Personally, we would far rather choose slightly cheaper accommodation if that allowed us to hire a car for our stay. That way we would get the best of all worlds. And I’m not just saying that because you responded to the thread (creep, creep).

Anyway, back to topic...

My thanks to Jill M who just emailed me a useful travel site to have a look at which could give me some ideas.

If anyone has come across any really good travel sites, please, please let me know. I'm not proud! I couldn't care less where the idea came from or who thought of it first, so if there's anything out there that's "better", "simpler" or in any way would be a useful addition to this site, please let me know.

Steve
On the subject of all inclusive resorts, it would be helpful to indicate whether a hotel is exclusively 'all-inclusive'. On other islands, in hotels where some guests are paying at the bar and others are not, this can affect the quality of service. Continuing the 'all-inclusive' theme, it would be helpful to know if guests have to wear wristbands etc.
Access to the beach is also important, in particular when hotels are on hillsides with steps or slopes to the beach.

Hi again Steve,i thought i would search right through the site again just to re-aquaint myself with ALL parts of it and not just the forum. One thing i noticed as a 'no idea how all this technical stuff works person' one off the older variety of your contributors, was how easily i could find my way round the site when looking up anything that interested me.I then reread your 'help needed' post and whilst i appreciate the reason behind the revamp e.g.quicker, more easily accessible info and, from your end, easier to alter ,take away, or add inf. When i read words like 'data base' for instance i think-hey what does that bit mean, ditto any other techno talk, i only have a vague idea what p.c. language means. Might seem VERY feeble minded to all you p.c. gurus out there but i'm sure i'm not the only person using this site that likes 'simple' or am i the only dummy here? NO ONE NEEDS ANSWER THAT ONE THANKYOU !!! Stella
p.s. i can just hear Steve sighing--and all she had to do was just ask what 'data base' means !!!

Hi Stella

Oh dear, oh dear!

Only teasing! Just forget about databases - it will not concern 'non-technical' readers in the slightest. It's like travelling in a car, you don't have to be a driver or mechanically-minded to appreciate the drive, but those who are sometimes like to know more about the workings. Yes, the main site (but not the forum) will have a new "look and feel" in order to improve the navigation side, but the whole idea is to make things EASIER to get to all the information - so therefore simplicity is the keyword. So, unless I can find a way of helping readers of all technical levels find more information, more quickly and easily, I will have sadly failed in my goals.

Whew, thanks Steve ,have forgotten all about databases already. So long as i will still be able to find my way round this site easily, all is o.k Stella

Firstly this is an excellent site and the forum system one of the best.

In the first and most important place is that the content of the site outways the form (rather than a snazzy site with nowt in it). It is easy to navigate mostly but there are some gems that are a tad better hidden.

One thing I would like to see though is a rating system. This needs some admin magic to date weight things so if a poorly rated place gets loads better then that would show on the rating index (and visa versa). This doesn't need to be too complex though.

Other factors that may affect my choice:

local feel vs standard international - do you feel as if you are in Tobago rather than any where with a similar climate.

children welcome/tollerated/not suitable - age groups etc eg OK for toddlers but old kids would be bored sort of thing.

would you return - often a key recommendation - maybe "would return if my circumstances were differenct eg no kids".

returning guest rating - how things have improved/degraded.

Links between reviews and forum messages

I've just had a thought.

Would it be possible to link together accomodation with similar facilities and price. This would possibly be a help for people who have chosen their accomodation but then find that it is fully booked; they could type in their preffered accomodation and a list of similar properties could be displayed.