After researching the hotel options for an upcoming trip, I knew exactly which hotel I wanted to stay at. The only thing left was to pick the right type of room. Even though the property only had about 50 rooms in total, they claimed to offer six different room types.

Once I read through the paragraph of text describing each room type, I determined which one met my requirements. But something bugged me about the process: why did this hotel, like so many others, inundate customers with such a long list of room types? Isn’t there a better way to present these options?

In my case, the room types were nearly identical, aside from the king versus queen bed and the optional kitchenette. The hotel probably could have reduced the selection from six types to three, and nobody would notice the difference.

Along these lines, there’s another way to make choosing a room easier for customers. Instead of presenting the room types in a list, and forcing customers to read a bunch of text about each one, just present the information in the form of a comparison chart. By highlighting how the rooms are the same and how they’re different, you’ll be giving customers everything they need to make a quick and accurate decision. So, even if a legacy booking system requires you to present a long list of room types, at least you can provide customers with a more efficient way of picking the right one — without asking them to wade through paragraphs of text about every room.