Customer response creaky for online travel
More than half of online travel websites are slow to respond to customer inquiries, a research firm found in a new study.
In addition, nearly 3 in 10 firms shared customer’s personal data with other companies without permission, according to the Customer Respect Group (CRG).
Their survey analyzed more than 40 travel sites.
They found that 24% of airlines, hotels and resellers of their services never answered customer inquiries. Another 33% answered a day later. Responses that take longer than a day are considered late, said the CRG.
On customer privacy, 28% of the sites shared customer’s personal data without permission, said the Boston-based CRG, which publishes online customer-respect ratings on a variety of industries
“Industries, in general, still have a problem in the sharing of personal data,” said Terry Golesworthy, president of the CRG. “Airlines, however, are particularly not good at it.”
The CRG weighs a number of attributes related to customer service in coming up with an overall rating from 1 to 10 for an industry. Ten is the highest.
The travel industry, overall, rated 6.8, which was higher than the average Customer Respect Index of 5.9 for all the industries analyzed by the CRG.
“The online resellers are much better at this,” Mr Golesworthy said. “This is their business, so they obviously try to focus on making their websites as good as they can be, in order to make a profit.”
Report by David Wilkening
David
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Phocuswright reveals the world's largest travel markets in volume in 2025
Higher departure tax and visa cost, e-arrival card: Japan unleashes the fiscal weapon against tourists
Cyclone in Sri Lanka had limited effect on tourism in contrary to media reports
Singapore to forbid entry to undesirable travelers with new no-boarding directive
Euromonitor International unveils world’s top 100 city destinations for 2025