Availability Calendar or Room Search

[rezplanet]

Hi Guys,
On your website, which do you prefer to use, a calendar which displays availablity for given dates, or a search box to allow the user enter dates and then search?
For those that use a calendar of availability, how do you show different types of room? or you just show that there are rooms available and allow the user click through to see the exact details?
Regards,
Alan
http://www.rezplanet.com

 

[egoodell]

On webervations we list the rooms with prices and the calendar shows which days are booked. The guest can click on the room name to see what the room includes and photos.
RIki

 

[JBloggs]

Both.
availability shows each room X'd off if booked - we use webervations.

 

[Morticia]

The more immediate info the better. No one wants to go thru 5 pages to find out if the room they want is open on the date they want. I HATE calendars that simply state 'Rooms Avail'. WHAT rooms? How many?
Show me the rooms on a calendar with the price. And allow me to change the date or go back and forth by week or whatever.

 

[Redbirds]

Ditto. We use Webervations as described by Riki and Joe Bloggs. Availability calendar with rooms.

 

[Proud Texan]

Ditto Riki, Joe Bloggs and Redbird. We use Webervations with a static availability calendar by each room and then are linked to the lookup page on the Webervations site.

 

[Tim_Toad_HLB]

We use AO basic but the "check availability" prompting button launches a new tab, so anybody with a browser that does new tabs will have the "rooms" page up and right next to it is the availability calendar on a seperate tab.
They can then easily bounce back and forth as they decide which room works best for them.
That system has only booked or not booked for each room. When settign things up, I didn't like the ones that show "all rooms booked" " some rooms booked" "all rooms available" or however it used to be.