The other day I had an email pop into my Yahoo account about a hotel called Viking. My first thoughts were of the old Norse sailors and a rough and tumble meager lodging. On discovering the Hotel Viking all my thoughts were changed.

According to the hotels web site, “The award-winning Hotel Viking situated atop Newport’s Historic Hill neighborhood with breathtaking views of Bellevue Avenue mix in your mind’s eye with sightings of notable guests gone-by. There have been a few, since 1926, Will Rogers, Ella Fitzgerald, John and Jackie Kennedy.”

“The Hotel Viking opened to an awestruck public in May 1926. As a member of the prestigious Historic Hotels of America, the hotel holds a special place in history. From the clock above the Front Desk depicting ancient Nordic Runes to the original 1926 brass letter box in the Lobby, the hotel offers a wonderful combination of style, comfort and modern amenities.”

This is a beautiful property with wonderful colors, patterns and textures. If we take a look at their web site we can see that someone has not only updated their lodgings, but their web site as well. They have moved to a more modern web development using semantic markup. While they’ve gone to this effort, they still have a number of errors to overcome to validate.

If we look a bit at the usability of the site (accomodations, rates and photo gallery) it was easy right off to find their link for rooms and suites, rates weren’t readily available, but they had a nice photo gallery of images.

- 58 HTML errors
- 203 CSS errors.
-Failed accessibility test

Overall I would give the site an A for form and a B- function.

Billed as Canada’s Secluded Romantic Mountain Getaway the Emerald Lake Lodge is nestled in Field, British Columbia, Canada. Originally built in 1902 by the Canadian Pacific Railway it’s grown to become a winter wonderland and a secluded summer lodge that is a jewel in the Canadian crown of lodgings. This is absolutely one of those properties where I have the internal struggle trying to decide which season I want to visit it in first, summer or winter…decisions, decisions, decisions.

As of late I’ve been discovering and rediscovering the beauty that Canada holds. Around each corner seems to be another amazingly decorated lodge or Inn. This property simply is stunning with the amazing backdrop of the Canadian Rocky Mountains and the near by Emerald Lake. One look at the photo gallery will having you wanting to call to make a reservation right away.

I’m definatly sold on staying at this lodge one day, so let’s jump right into the code. One glance at the code and file names and you can tell that someone has spent some time using semantic markup with tableless design and optimized the file names for search engines. While great effort has been taken with the code there are still a few markup errors on the main page, but overall this site is to be applauded.

- 9 HTML errors
- 1 CSS error.
-Failed accessibility test

Overall I would give the site an A- for form and a A- function.

Last night I happened across the Georgetown Inn in Washington D.C. It’s acclaimed to be one of the most recognizable establishments in D.C. and has been so for the more than 40 years. One look at their web page and your transported back to colonial times when things were a lot simpler. It’s conveniently located on Wisconsin Avenue within a couple miles of the Capitol, White House, National Mall and most other major monuments.

The obligatory Flash photo gallery infuses you with stately images of local monuments, the hotel itself and the Mall. I like how the images fade from black and white to color almost as a representation of changing from the past to the present. The site is laid out well overall with nice clean lines and soothing colors. The site like the hotel gives you a air of sophistication like you’d be a better, higher class of person just by walking through their doors.

A quick glance at their menu reveals a bit of a split personality. There appears to be two main menu’s with a possible third. This is a bit distracting, but manageable. Fairly quickly I find a guest room link that takes me to a nice view of the different room types, however I don’t readily see rates. This is assuaged a bit by the ad for $119 summer rates. I know right away if it fits in my budget. Next I look for the hotel photo gallery and I wasn’t disappointed to see a hotel photo tour on the menu.

Rather disappointingly I look at the code behind this properly adorned site and I see a raft of deprecated code. There is no semantic markup or tableless design, only old bloated code. Their search engine optimization is nowhere to be found as there isn’t a single header in the main page. There’s so much potential here for improvement in the usability, accessibility and search engine ranking of the site. They just renovated their 96, European-style accommodations, too bad some of that didn’t go to improving their web site as well.

- 15 HTML errors
- 13 CSS errors.
-Failed accessibility test

Overall I would give the site an B+ for form and a C function.

A couple of years ago I was able to get a little taste of the beauty that is in Canada. I drove from Bathurst , New Brunswick to Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was a beautiful drive with a stop in Shediack for some crab cakes and planked Salmon. Not only was the food wonderful but the scenery was breathtaking.

All those memories came flooding back as I found this amazing inn called the Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino, B.C. Canada which is on the west coast. The first shot of the inn’s website transports you to a cool, crisp mountain resort surrounded by awe inspiring scenes everywhere you turn. You see an imposing mountain range ringed by a pristine forest of pine trees. Then peeking out of the forest edge is a storied resort overlooking the waterfront. To the each side is a beach that whispers of kayaks and watercraft trailing through the nearby waters. Your imagination runs wild and the tombs of stories that could be told about this area rush to your minds’ forefront.

The Inn’s web site is very attractive overall with a nice clean layout and soft colors. There is a tendency to get a bit wordy at times and you have to guess at times at what text is a link. The main Flash image is beautiful but can make you feel a bit dizzy at times.

For some reason the chose to go against the norm with their navigation as well. A rule for all lodging websites are that the main menu should contain accommodations, rates, and a photo gallery. While they do have a rates links they’ve substituted an explore the inn for accommodations. Remember Steve Krugs’ addage, “Don’t Make Me Think.” The main Flash video seems to substitute for a photo gallery as well. As a potential guest I want to see what the options are for room and board as well as the price associated with each. I shouldn’t have to wonder where these are and how to get there.

Looking into their code I can see they’ve gone the extra mile to make their markup standout as well as the front-end images. Their site does use nicer tableless markup however they haven’t got things quite nailed down to where the pages will validate.

- 12 HTML error
- 1 CSS error.
-Failed accessibility test

Overall I would give the site an B.

Even though Ive spent years living in Idaho I’ve never had the opportunity to venture up into the pan-handle of Idaho. Coeur d’Alene is a beautiful place from pictures I’ve seen and people I’ve talked to. It looks like an amazing, somewhat untouched area with still a bit of pristine beauty about it.

Nestled on the lakes’ edge is the Coeur d’Alene Resort. It captures your imagination at the first glimpse and you’re wisked away to enjoying a peacful afternoon on a whitewashed adirondack chair wrapped in a woolen blanket next to your someone special reading a book and sipping a warm drink. You notice the clouds sweep across the sky and a deer peer out of a clearing surrounded by grand pine trees.

If you’re a golf fan you’ve got to check out their local golf course as it is the only course I’ve seen where one of the holes is on an island in the middle of the lake. You enjoy a leisurly boat ride over to the island to sink the put if you’re good enough to be able to land your ball on the green.

Their web site is layed out as well as their property. It’ very fresh and simple to view and navigate. I also viewed their source and while their code is older and depricated there is only one validation error on the main page. This is a great chance to make an excellent web site nearly perfect. Out of all the travel/hotel sites I’ve evaluated this has got to be one of the cleanest outside and in. Kudos to The Coeur d’Alene Resort and their web staff!

- 1 HTML error
- 1 CSS error.
-Passed accessibility test

Overall I would give the site an A-.