Top travel websites criticised

In a study of customer service offered by various websites, travel sites came out worst, below banking, insurance, consumer goods and telecoms. The study tested websites by emailing questions regarding their products and services. In the case of travel, questions about the destination, legal requirements and timetable information was asked. The online software provider Transversal, which undertook the study, said 60% of travel websites failed to respond to the questions answered by email and of those that responded, most couldn’t answer more than two our of ten of the questions. Of the 40% that did respond, it took an average of 42 hours to get the answers back to the customer. The company only tested 10 websites in all, but a spokeswoman told TravelMole.com it tested the top ten leading flight and holiday websites. The study will be welcome news to agents, whose value-add is the one-to-one contact and expertise they can offer customers, and who are regularly given death sentences by reports such as yesterday’s Mintel study, which highlighted the growth of online travel. Report by Ginny McGrath