There’s bad news for anyone who is considering booking a trip online: the latest American Customer Satisfaction Index from the University of Michigan finds customer satisfaction has fallen to an all-time low. The online travel industry’s aggregate scored slipped from 76 to 75 last year, a drop of 1.3 percent. It’s the lowest reading since the ACSI began tracking online travel agencies in 2002.
Here’s how the major online agencies did:
Expedia (75) – 3.8 percent
Orbitz (73) -2.7 percent
Travelocity (73) -1.4 percent
(Only Priceline is on the rise, posting an increase of one point, or 1.4 percent, to 73. That’s up 10.6 percent from 2002.)
It’s interesting to compare these numbers to the Transportation Department’s annual complaint data. (Normally, people don’t know to gripe about bad service received from an online agency, so the fact that these numbers even exist must say something about the state of online travel.)
1. Orbitz (45)
2. Travelocity (35)
3. Expedia (30)
4. Cheaptickets (22)
5. Cheapoair/Priceline (tie) (16)
Why is customer satisfaction on the skids? The survey offers a few theories.
Online travel is an industry in flux. The “big three” online travel aggregator sites – Expedia, Orbitz and Travelocity – once had a competitive edge on all fronts. They offered the convenience of booking air, hotel and car from one site with search capabilities and comparative information not offered elsewhere. And, they were offer able to offer discounted pricing not available directly from travel supplier sites. But this is no longer the case.
At the same time, customers are holding online agencies responsible for bad travel experiences, even when they aren’t directly to blame.
Fulfillment is out of the control of these companies. They may sell a ticket and provide excellent service, but if a change needs to be made or there is a problem with the schedule, they may bear the brunt of consumers’ ire, instead of or in addition to the airlines, hotels, or car rental companies involved. These aggregators are trying to innovate with traveler updates, travel support, and unique features like Travelocity’s Road Trip Wizard, but it may not be enough to stave off eventual marginalization.
Marginalization. That’s another way of saying one of these online agencies will go “buh-bye.”
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
The reason that people complain to these online sites is that they themselves create high expectation in their ads. Who doesn’t want Captain Kirk negotiating for them? We come in peace and shoot to kill! And from what I read here and there, that little gnome is about as real as the guarantee it gives.
I understand that the online sites sell products with many constraints, but they *pretend* they will look after you. The consumer then expects them to work with you, and is disappointed when they just hide behind the constraints.
In the end, the consumer probably find that the service depts of these sites are just as bad as any service dept these days.
The other thing with these sites is that for airline tickets, they cost MORE than going through the airline directly after they add in their fees. Plus, with hotels, they don’t offer the same discounts that are available directly, same with rental cars. I found when I last flew to San Antonio, I saved about $150 going directly through Northwest Airlines website and going to Thrifty Car Rental’s website as well.
The traveling public — or maybe it’s just our culture as a whole — continues to think that sites like this is the better way to go. While you can get some great prices and hidden gems, what happens if something goes wrong? If you can manage to get through to a live person, they could very well have been selling TVs the week before and now they are in charge of saving your expensive vacation. Plus, with so much information out there, the responsibility is on you the traveler to understand all the rules and conditions of anything you buy — and they seemingly change every day! It’s almost as if the traveling public forget that there are still travel agents out there who are trained in what they are doing and can also be pretty savvy about finding great vacations at a reasonable price. (Remember folks, cheapest is not always best!) And, should something go wrong — which, if you travel enough, it WILL — you have a real person you can stand in front of and ask for help. My parents had a major medical issue pop up on a trip, booked through their travel agent. One call from the agent and it was all cleared up and my parents got almost all of their money back — thanks to the relationship the agent had with the tour provider. Think that would have happened with Orbitz? I highly doubt it.
I have just booked a flight with affordable flights. they promised me a fare of £620 for return to bankok. 3 days before I was due to travel they informed me that they were unable to do the ticket for this price and it would now be £140 more expensive. the reason given was that your ticket was not confirmed by our system. I withdrew my custom from this company and now will be £200 out of pocket to get another flight.
A truly terrible service from a truly terrible company. I would not reccomend affordable flight to anyone.
i agree with Jasper.
people will expect perfection. and with massive growth somethings bad employees can slip through the cracks. it will be very interesting to see how these company’s will begin to address this issue if they do at all. http://www.tourist-post.com
I would like to see a distinction made between online travel agencies such as Expedia, Travelocity, Kayak, Sidestep and the likes. They are automated booking engines. There has been a tremendous amount their customers that have turned to online travel agencies like http://www.travelwizard.com, that are not automated booking engines, that offer person to person luxury service, with vast amounts of up to date information and destination specialists for every country in the world. This sector of online travel agencies if growing more popular every day.
Bob Mc Millen CEO Travelwizard.com
It is ironic that the online travel agencies latest advertising touts customer service. There is a recognition slowly growing that this is the great flaw of online travel booking. The gradual return to person to person travel planning with professional travel agents will continue. This is because a large impersonal online travel company can’t match traditional agents customer service no matter what the rather expensive advertisements say.
Tom Lewis (Travel agent)