Travelsupermarket.co.uk has added B&Bs to its accommodation search, so users can search for them alongside hotels in the UK.

The Travelsupermarket homepage favours substance over style, with an unattractive page of small text and icons leading to the various site sections. Having said that, navigation is straight forward and content is on a single screen so you don’t need to scroll.

The accommodation search requires location, dates and a star rating, either 1-3 star, 4-5 star or luxury. The search won’t work without this stipulation, which is a shame because star categories stipulate certain facilities, which means a boutique B&B may be nicer than a large hotel but lack of a lift would hold back its star rating. Hence, I think price is a better indicator of quality.

The search returns hotels listed by price or by star rating. Each hotel has an image and a page of “more details” that links to further images where available, a location map, user reviews if there are any, and brief details on the hotel amenities.

User reviews are relatively thin on the site at this stage, so it’s useful that the site provides links to reviews that have been posted on other websites, such as Frommers and TimeOut.

Travelsupermarket doesn’t take bookings for accommodation, but directs the booking onto partner websites such as laterooms.com or lastminute.com. Where a property is listed on multiple partner sites, more than one rate can be displayed.

There are no links to the property’s own site, which is an irritation. Even when a link says “Book direct with the hotel”, it takes you to a third party website called Bookdirectrooms.com.

On a search of B&Bs in London, much of the content comes from hostelworld.com, so is dominated by backpacker and hostel accommodation, but outside of London searches returned more interesting options such as pubs with rooms, countryside B&Bs and guesthouses.

We love: the ability to compare B&Bs with hotels or just search B&Bs

We hate: the absence of direct links to hotel and B&B websites

Verdict

Design: 5/10

Navigation: 8/10

Content: 7/10

Fulfilment: 7/10

Overall score: 27/40