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Look how clever this is!

Paige Lehmann strikes again! What’s your score?

Dream Inn will make you pine for the Santa Cruz coast. And like other JdV Hotels’ properties, their website draws upon a core CMS platform while enabling a look and feel unique to the Dream Inn location at http://www.dreaminnsantacruz.com.

Jonathan Harris recently gave a talk at a Flash conference.

With a number of notable exceptions, most of the work I see coming from the Flash community is largely devoid of ideas. There is great obsession with slickness, surface, speed, technology, and language, but very little soul at the core, very little being said. I believe that in the long run, ideas are the only things that survive.

A Roundtable Interview with FINE for an upcoming issue of HOTELS Magazine

HOTELS: What are the most common design mistakes you see on hotel websites?
FINE: Many hotel websites still struggle to get past the limitations and demands of technology and functionality to really give visitors a sense of the experience they offer. So in general, the common mistake is a site that does not match the hotel experience, both in quality and style, often because it was developed through template-based designs and technology.
Hotels think in terms of bookings and room nights, and their sites often reflect a commoditized view where a room is simply a function of proximity, availability, and price. But guests think in terms of things like experience and overall value. So you have to know what you are to people and make your site reflect that, because your site is more than a booking engine – your site is your brand.
One of the metaphors we find most useful is to simply imagine your website is one of your properties. What greets people when they arrive? Can they see the details of what they’re booking, amenities, and descriptions at their own pace? Or are they confronted with a barrage of special offers, pricing, and booking engines before they even know whether they want to stay? Are you hiring engaging concierges or carnival barkers? It’s a mistake if your website doesn’t reflect your answer. Read the rest of this entry »

Our article on hotel websites and their role in branding is making the rounds of the hospitality industry online. Next step: how to get a minibar on a website.

the money meltdown: pulling together useful, authoritative, and comprehensive information about our current financial crisis in an accessible way.

The next time you’re in Sacto for a gripe session with The Governator, shack up at The Citizen.

Common vector drawing mistakes – a good tip-sheet