Legacy Hotel, Airline and Rental Car Brands Lag Far Behind Digital Leaders in Travel and Other Industries
When it comes to customer satisfaction, many of the travel apps and websites created by legacy hotel, airline and rental car brands are lagging those of digital native online travel agencies (OTAs) and travel industry disruptors, such as Uber, Lyft and Airbnb. But that’s not all. According to the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Travel App Satisfaction StudySM and the J.D. Power 2019 U.S. Travel Website Satisfaction StudySM, both released today, all travel industry websites—even those operated by digital natives—score substantially lower in customer satisfaction than do high-scoring websites in other industries, such as credit cards.
“Travel apps and websites have become primary conduits through which consumers experience travel, such as searching for a hotel, booking a rental car and getting real-time flight status updates,” said Michael Taylor, Travel Intelligence Lead at J.D. Power. “Given the crucial role they play, many travel apps and websites are still too complex for consumers to navigate and do not offer the most helpful information at the right time. One hotel website, for example, requires 29 separate actions across five different pages to make a reservation. That’s not good enough when customers are experiencing simple, elegant, seamless experiences in their banking and credit card apps and websites.”
Following are key findings of both studies: