Consumers are more price conscious than ever before, so the dearth of great travel deals, as well as a difficulty in finding them on independent online travel Web sites, has led to lower satisfaction with these sites, according to a recent study by J.D. Power and Associates.
Although more travelers are making online airline, rental car and hotel reservations this year, the percentage of bookings on independent discount travel Web sites has increased only slightly since 2007, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2008 Independent Travel Web Site Satisfaction Study.SM And although 64 percent of consumers surveyed said they are “pleased” or “delighted” with their search experiences on these discount travel Web sites, the overall satisfaction levels declined this year from 2007.
In addition, price has become a more important consideration than a year ago in online searches for airline tickets, hotels, car rentals and tour packages, according to the study. It’s now the primary factor for more than half of younger consumers. Some 56 percent of Generation Y consumers (those born between 1977 and 1994) listed price as their main concern in searches on independent travel Web sites.
While 70 percent of travel reservations were booked online in 2008—up from 53 percent in 2007—only 16 percent were made through independent travel Web sites.
The study finds that nearly two-thirds of customers are making reservations online using a corporate-branded Web site—one directly operated by airline, rental car and hotel companies.
While price is a major factor in contributing to the drop in customer satisfaction with independent travel Web sites, excessive content and tools on travel Web sites also are contributing to the overall decline in customer satisfaction. Specifically, customers most frequently cite the additional pages that pop up during the booking process as a problem, which lowers customer satisfaction.
On a brighter note for consumers, the study finds that independent travel Web sites continue to offer the best search tools available for a choice of discounted deals on hotels and bargains on tour packages. A few highlights about consumer satisfaction with online travel Web site performance from this year’s study include:
- For a third straight year, Hotwire.com, a subsidiary of Expedia, Inc., based in San Francisco, CA, ranks highest in customer satisfaction with independent travel Web sites.
- Priceline.com, which uses spokesman William Shatner of Star Trek fame, moves up to the No. 2 ranking in satisfaction this year.
- Both Hotwire.com and Priceline.com continue to post strong customer satisfaction scores due to offering competitive prices. These two sites also posted increases in the number of hotel reservations being booked online.
- Travelocity and Expedia.com, which have a higher percentage of airline customers, received lower satisfaction scores this year, perhaps because of the frustration among air travelers with fees for bags, seat preferences and higher fares in general, according to the study.
The 2008 Independent Travel Web Site Satisfaction Study is based on nearly 7,700 online travel Web site user evaluations during the past 12 months.
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