If you wonder why travelers abandon web sites, here’s one answer: a lack of simplicity.
That’s what 54% of users cited as their main reason in the 2004 Customer Respect Net Impact study. Consultant George Cohen told TravelMole:
“Successful companies had a high score for simplicity.”
He said the study is the only one of its kind to objectively measure corporate performance from an online customer’s perspective.
On the positive side, scores for transparency were excellent, according to Mr Cohen. “This shows that airline, travel and leisure firms endeavor to explain their policies fully and clearly,” he said.
A problem with some companies was that they had heavy web pages that made it difficult for users with slow connections to navigate.
Another problem area of surveyed companies was responsiveness, which Mr Cohen said was “frequently poor.”
”Nine percent of organizations failed to respond at all, and of the ones that did, 29% took more than two days,” he said. “Seventy two percent of our respondents said they wouldn’t wait more than a day for a response.”
The survey included consumer groups, but also 36 airline, travel and leisure firms. Of these, Orbitz and Hotwire scored highest overall.
WorldTravel BTI scored lowest, according to Mr Cohen.
Northwest Airlines ranked first among airlines. Southwest Airlines ranked last.
Marriott International scored highest among hotels/resorts, while Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts scored lowest.
Report by David Wilkening
