Kicking the Tires on Bellhop.com

For about 18 long, torturous months, we tried to build an application like this. If I really wanted to extend that torture to Keith, I would point out the bugs I know couldn't work yet on this application. But I gotta admit, Tim, the bugs you found are beauts!

Speaking of new apps -- we launched the latest version of our Las Vegas site yesterday and I would love to get your feedback on it too.

I put a screen shot of what the opening page of the sample trip routing plan looks like on the RTA blog.

Mark

Hi Everyone,
We have made some changes/suggestions that you all have given throughout this forum. Please visit: myownbelhop to see the new changes and give feedback if you have time.

Mark, I hope you don't mind we included a graphic for RoadTrip America on every page with a link back. I figured you've been so much help so far in providing feedback your site deserved a little recognition.

Keith Johnson
BellHop.com

Good work !

I have just had a very quick look and routed a Denver to Denver round trip with 7 stops and it was quick to load and easy to use and the added info can help.

I am not sure whether you can alter the suggested route between two points or not, but to route the way I wanted to go [rather than the most efficient one given] I put in towns along the way [between A and B] to make it detour off the recommended route. That is fine but I only have the option to actually stay at that point for 1 or more nights and do not see the option to pass through, ie; a 0 night option in the drop down box.

It's not a big issue but if part of the route you want to do needs 4 destination points to take you through the area you want in one day you have to add the 4 night total together to get your days travel time and you would have to back track to add your true total of nights, which could be a bit confusing on a really long trip.[ This example would record 4 nights instead of 1]

Gee, I hope that makes sense !

Keith,

I tried a trip departing from Cody, Wyoming and just about every city in Montana that I tried came back with a "destination not found error."

WRT the use of the RTA logo -- I'll get in touch with you via e-mail.

Thanks,

Mark

Ok, so I have to get out there and pick on somebody else's code since I've been dealing with a "situation" over the past few weeks.

It looks like the items I mentioned previously have been corrected on BellHop.com. However, here's some fun (based around Mark's previous entry):

Why can't I take a trip from Cody, WY to... anywhere? I tried from Cody, WY to Boston, MA, and all I receive is this error:

Quote:

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No corresponding geographic location could be found for one of the specified addresses. This may be due to the fact that the address is relatively new, or it may be incorrect.
Error code: 602

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When receiving the above error message, I am not returned to where I came from, instead, I get a blank page.

I tried a few other places and the same occurs. It appears that you can go to (and through) Cody, WY... you just can't leave if that's where you are starting from. Should the residents of Cody be informed of this situation? ;-)

Actually, after a bit more testing, I was able to get out of Cody, but each time I did, if I wanted to remove the city I was going to, this would happen:

"Remove this leg" results in this error:

Quote:

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Microsoft VBScript runtime error '800a0009'

Subscript out of range: '[number: -1]'

/roadtrip/roadtrip1.asp, line 49

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Looks like there is some confusion about zero-based arrays here...

How do I know if entering a state is appropriate? Entering just "Boston" or "Los Angeles" results in a "City not found" message. It seems the state is a required, not optional, field.

If the site only has US cities for now, why are there options to select Canadian provinces and Australian states?

California is missing its two-character state code in the combobox.

Tab order on Firefox 3.0.5 is not consistent (Safari 4 beta seems okay).

Mileage calculator - if I don't put in a state, could it use the national average as a default?

That's all for now.







Mark - I haven't had a chance to take on the Living Las Vegas site, but I'll be sure to stop by and have a look-see.

St Paul MN keeps coming up as 'City not found'.

I had wanted to plot my route from St Paul to Boston.

I hit every town I went for, and some of them were small towns like Leadville CO and Chinle AZ and so on.

Quote:

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Posted By Mark I tried a trip departing from Cody, Wyoming and just about every city in Montana that I tried came back with a "destination not found error."

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Did you enter "cody wyoming" in the first box ?

When I typed in cody in the first box and Wyoming in the second it came up straight away [twice.]

Although if you type "cody wyoming" in the first box it won't recognise it, you can only type "cody" and then use the "which state" drop down box.

Quote:

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Posted By Lifemagician St Paul MN keeps coming up as 'City not found'.

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I used the same method as I mentioned above "st paul" in the first box and
"minnesota" in the second and got the same as you, however I then tried
"saint paul" and all is well, although that will cause confusion and will need addressing.

Quote:

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Posted By Tim It seems the state is a required, not optional, field.

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Yes, the "name state if appropriate" tag could be confusing but I guess if you are travelling between 2 city's in America then it is gonna be in a State and therefor appropriate. I presume this is to cover searches outside of the US but would be clearer if it just prompted you to "name which state"

Hi,
There's a new version with some slight differences. Any feedback would be appreciated. One major difference is that we open our lodging results, city results, attraction results in the same page now. It just fades the background and creates a cool new window. (we wanted to steer away (no pun intended) from the popup window idea)

Road Trip Tool

Thanks for all your help
Keith

At the moment if I put in a route all I get is the following message;

"The Google maps API key used on this website was registered for a different web site. You can generate a new key for this website at http://code.google.com/apis/maps/."

Edit ] The above problem is no longer, but I have tried 3 simple routes from Denver with no luck. It is tracking the route on the map but when you click on "add stop" I get an error code [602] and "no corresponding geographic location" notice that has been noted before.

I think I'd use it if I could add stops without spending a night.

The way it is currently set up, you have to state a number of nights you want to spend at each stop. How do you set it up so you can get directions to a restaurant or attraction you'd like to stop at on the way to your stay for the night?