Rating Travel Planning Websites
User Satisfacton with Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz is Declining
Feb 19, 2008
Luxury vacations have to start somewhere, and for most of us that means researching online for air travel and hotel deals. What, on average, does the general consumer think about his or her experiences with online travel planning websites? The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) ranks and rates various services. Aspects related to travel planning are, likely, of particular interest to readers of this section.
Along with ForeSee Results, the ASCI rated the Big Three travel planning websites, i.e. Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz (along with a choice of "other"). The results can predict future use of online travel sites. Company to company comparison is interesting, and can reveal which of the sites will become more, and less, popular over time. Websites live and die by their traffic; what does the future hold for online travel planning sites?
- Luxury Travel spoke with Larry Freed, the CEO of ForeSee Results, about these most heavily trafficked online travel planning websites. He described how customer satisfaction with the online travel industry is deteriorating. Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz all saw their scores (on a 100-point scale) drop to 75, 73, and 73 respectively, while Priceline (new to travel) also scored a 73 out of 100 for user satisfaction. Only the option of "other" saw a raise in customer satisfaction to 79.
- So - this "other" option seems to be the most competitive. It includes hotel websites, airline websites, and travel deal aggregates such as Kayak and Sidestep (interestingly, Kayak acquired Sidestep). Travel deals on hotel and airline websites put pressure on the three major travel sites, what with hotels offering discounts to travel planners who book directly on their sites, and airlines packaging in car rental options and rewards programs.
- Larry Freed asserted that Kayak is the model of the future for travel planning aggragates. Certainly, from the consumer perspective, having all the prices compared on one easy to understand page makes Kayak a real contender. Others in this category, such as Hotwire, aren't a big enough online force alone to merit their own category. However, Kayak, Hotwire and others together are enough for travel planners to compare to the Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz, and make the switch. Customer loyalty is a big deal. The more competition there is on the online landscape, says Larry Freed, the better it is for consumers to make better choices.
- Travelocity is changing in light of the growing popularity of the travel planning aggregators and hotel and airline websites. Management is working hard at improving customer service, and trying to ensure that if something goes wrong (with a stated price, package, travel deal, etc), users will have their voices heard. "Competition continues to innovate," said Freed. "As the smaller players change the game, satisfaction with the big players will decline if they just tread water."
Resolution of booking problems and other customer service issues are important for user satisfaction, and satisfaction, of course, leads to loyalty and repeat consumers. If Travelocity, Expedia, and Orbitz want to remain the Big Three travel planning websites, they'll each have to evolve with customer preferences and demands for quality service. Hopefully, the companies' management is making moves in the right direction.
Related, on Suite 101:
Airline Travel Satisfaction is Low
Customer Satisfaction with Hotels Hits New Low
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