Travel sites survey

CHC Online Travel OV: "

A survey of travel websites has not done the Brits proud! Research company, Shelley Taylor & Associates, surveyed 46 travel websites and found that British sites were among the worst in the world.

While the report did say that no online travel site really cuts the mustard, it did put American sites in the top five places - Expedia, Travelocity, Hilton, Orbitz and American Airlines - down below, way down, were FlyBe, Ryanair, Bridge the World, Holiday Autos and Travel Bag.

Click-Here Commerce: ONLINE TRAVEL is the first international study to evaluate online travel user experiences and present the success factors of e-travel sites. Our research analyzes each step in the process: site entry, the Home page, globally available links, pre-sale assistance, account management, booking, post-transaction communication, receipt of ticket and/or voucher and modification, cancellation and/or refunds. Click-Here Commerce: ONLINE TRAVEL will provide a template for optimal practice. It is critical to learn from the mistakes of others and, even more importantly, to use best practices as a springboard for site development and future profits."


More from Travel mole; .Failings


The report called Click-Here Commerce: Online Travel looked at a total 46 online travel sites including 17 from the UK along with 22 from North America, six from Europe and one other.


The worst five sites were all found to be British. From worst they were Flybe, Ryanair, Bridge the World, Holiday Autos and Travel Bag.


Meanwhile the top five sites were all American. Top of the list was Expedia followed by Travelocity, Hilton, Orbitz and Continental Airlines.


Ms Taylor told TravelMole that even the top five sites were not as good as they should and could be. She said: “The travel sites we looked at were not even near where Amazon was five years ago. It’s like they [travel websites] are living in their own bubble and do not want to grow up.”


When asked what Amazon was doing that travel websites are not, Ms Taylor pointed to factors such as personalisation - welcoming users back to the site; keeping records of customers’ previous purchases and making recommendations; having a number of paths to the same information; and making things very easy to find despite the fact they have a vast array of products and services.


She said that one problem could be that travel companies were “incestuous” and were recruiting from within the industry, rather than looking outside to get a “fresh perspective”. And she added that there was too much focus on price, when this was not the only factor that customers were interested in