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Lastminute unveils ‘revolutionary’ new search tool
Lastminute.com is introducing a sentence search tool, claiming it will revolutionise the online travel industry.
Called ‘pronto’, it is a one-box search function that allows the construction of a sentence to search.
For example, customers can type in phrases like ‘Paris on Friday’, or ‘table for two in Covent Garden this evening’ and the search will begin.
It allows customers to search for hotels, flights and restaurants across all categories using just the one box.
The technology was developed following intensive research which found people newer to online travel sites do not have the patience to fill in all the different boxes and find traditional websites too cluttered.
At present, the lastminute.com homepage has a total of 78 search boxes across its 10 travel and leisure product. When you include the ‘advance search facility’, there are a total of 162 search boxes.
Following the research, Lastminute tested seven alternative search prototypes with its customers.
These included a circular ‘polo search’ function with options appearing as your mouse sweeps around a circle, and a large intricate drawing showing all kinds of trips and holidays, with the ability to zoom around and choose visually.
But pronto received the most positive feedback.
Head of innovation Marko Balabanovic said: “The search engines have made the one box search system the standard way to search for information online, so it makes sense that travel and leisure products should be searched for in the same way.â€
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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