Who has been caught out by this anti-pattern from Google?

3 points by Monotoko 5 hours ago | 2 comments

I travel quite infrequently these days, but I've been caught out by this antipattern from Google a few times...

You search for a hotel, find one at a reasonable price, and go through to the website and book it. The wiser among us may actually glance at the dates and realize Google never asked us when we wanted to stay.

Unfortunately I'm not wise, and got caught by this same thing a few years ago - usually it's in a string of bookings (flights, taxis, etc). It's like something in my brain assumes if it's not explicitly asked then it's forgotten about even though the dates are of course important...

Anyone else, or is it just me who struggles with this? I've looked around and no-one else seems to complain despite this going for years

al_borland 3 hours ago |

I usually look for hotels from Google Maps. There is an option to select the dates there, but they default to some point in time in the future. Right now when I load it, it says Aug 3-4th. I rarely bother changing this, as I just use it to get a ballpark idea of pricing, then go to the hotel website itself to book directly.

ventana 3 hours ago |

Not sure about Google, but more than once I was about to book a flight on Expedia for the wrong week because by default it suggests a date 2 weeks from today, and if I need a flight for this weekend, I often pick the wrong date.