Jay,

I've got a 56k modem run through a network here at work. The pc that it's
actually attached to says it's connected at 52k. Your page came up
completely on my remote MS 2000 pc in 21.1 seconds. Your "hit counter" was
the last item to load, and it took about 8 of the 21.1 seconds.

As far as Flash and Java, most of the time if those scripts do not load fast
enough to suit me, I quickly turn to the competition. I can't stand that
stuff. Nothing a buisness has to offer it's customers is worth sitting
through that much nonsense. I don't need to sit through flying graphics or
a sparkly neon header before I can move on to the information that I
require. I think that the web designers or page owners that insist on that
type of stuff forget that customers want information, not entertainment.
With over 900 channels of television available, I don't need to be
entertained by a flashy Java webpage. Check out autopilots central.... very
annoying on a slow connection, even if it does have a "skip entry" button.
What kind of a nut writes a page thinking "Here are some real neat
graphics. I'm going to force you to see them first, then you can decide if
you want to really want to. If you don't want to see them, click here."
Backwards thinking in my book.

Onto online booking. This I use. A lot. I'd even (and probably do) pay
more for a hotel room if I can book it online. I trust an email
confirmation that I can print out more than a note jotted down while a
reservationist reads me a confirmation number that may or may not be valid.
Informative and knowledgeable reservationists are becoming a rarity. I've
found that the odds of ending up with the room next to the stairway,
elevator, ice machine, laundry room, outside entrance, or all night party
are far less when booking online. I know I could always ask not to be put
in one of those rooms, but odds are that the reservationist works for some
outside booking company without a map of the actual hotel. If the online
booking puts me in one of those rooms, I complain to the desk and because I
can blame it on the online booking, they are not insulted and usually
promptly move me. I realize that your hands on operation may be differant,
but I've had it with large hotel telephone reservations.

One question that you may ask yourself, is "How will people know that they
can book online?" I assume that you will be announceing the new capability
via your current advertiseing methods, but will you be listed with typical
hotel search and booking services?

Jim


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