The start of something big

Our user experience is something I give a lot of thought to. Maybe too much so, if you ask my family. It goes without saying that the user experience goes a long way in determining the success of your program, and whether or not you have happy travelers.

As you might be aware, we've been working very diligently on the GetThere Experience. I'm excited to share that we've recently gone live with the first part of the new Experience: a reinvented homepage that really sets the stage for a flurry of new features and functionality. Watch a short video on the new Experience.

Our usability experts took your feedback, researched best practices and looked at popular travel and social networking sites in enhancing the homepage. When you see it, the first thing you'll notice is just how clean it is (click screenshot for a larger version).

We want to make life easy on your travelers, and part of that is making the homepage as intuitive to use as possible. Your travelers can instantly book a flight or train, hotel and/or car, or view their upcoming trips, unused tickets, profile and more. Soon, they'll be able to schedule a virtual meeting and get to your expense reporter from the homepage, too.

We also want to make life easier on you. We understand how imperative it is for you to communicate with users with real impact – putting messages where they will see it. We've made messaging come alive for travelers. A new carousel rotates your custom messages and catches the eye with movement. PromoSpots serve as a visual compliance tool and help you promote preferred suppliers. In the very near future, Smart Messaging will allow you to customize messages based on a user's trip selections and profile information.

Fundamentally, we want to present the right options to your travelers in the right way. The new Experience does that. What's even better is that this is just the beginning. We are setting the table for a ton of new innovation with the GetThere Experience to come in the near future – so stay close and I'm certain you'll like what you see!

If you're at GBTA, stop by and we can demo it for you. And talk to your GetThere representative about migrating to the new Experience.