A discrepancy in standardisation between the hotel and holiday industries is causing confusion amongst people trying to book hotel rooms online.

A study by travel and hospitality website design consultants, Travel UCD, claims that when people search the web for hotel prices, only 48 per cent of the rates displayed on results pages explain whether a price is for a room - the hotel industry standard - or per person - the holiday industry standard.

Consequently, consumers are confused as to the likely cost of their stay.

The Hotel Booking Process Design and Usability report also discovered less than 20 per cent of hotel websites can cope with all the types of room occupancy offered, for example a booking involving more than one room of different standards. Many websites are unable to accept bookings for child occupancy.

Report author and senior consultant, Alex Bainbridge, said: 'Online hotel reservations are predicted to reach 20 per cent of all online travel bookings by 2005, but many sites do not meet the usability needs of their customers, despite the keenness of consumers to book on the web.'