WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Trump Hotels provides the worst online customer experience and Marriott the best among hotels and resorts, while US Airways' online experience for customers ranked best and Frontier Airlines' worst, a Massachusetts research firm's study shows. But travel firms overall need to brush up on their responsiveness to customer inquiries and respect for customers' privacy when handling sensitive personal information, the study showed.
"The online travel industry is the biggest (business to customer) market and is growing massively," said Terry Golesworthy, president of The Customer Respect Group, which on Friday released their Online Customer Respect Study for first-quarter 2005.
"The Travel Industry Association recently revealed that 45 million customers made a purchase online in the last 12 months. Where they spend their dollars will depend on the level of trust they feel with individual Web sites. Those that fail to respect the customer will undoubtedly lose potential revenue, which -- given the industry's overall financial malaise -- may mean the difference between success and going out of business."
The online travel sector is becoming increasingly important. Online travel bookings reached $50 billion in 2004, and are expected to grow to $90 billion by 2009.
The Customer Respect Group study rated a number of travel sector Web sites based on simplicity of use, responsiveness to inquiries, privacy, attitude, transparency and use of customer data.
Marriott International ranked best among hotels and resorts -- 8.4 on a scale of 10 -- while Trump Hotels & Casino Resorts did worst at 3.4. After Marriott was Mandalay Bay with 7.6, Starwood Hotels and Resorts at 7.5, Harrah's at 7.1, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts at 7.1, Hilton Hotels and Wyndham Hotels tied at 7, Mohegan Sun at 6.8, Radisson Hotels and Resorts at 6.7, Caesars Entertainment at 5.9, MGM Mirage at 5.7, and Disney (Travel) at 5.7.
US Airways scored best with an 8 among airlines, while Frontier Airlines' 5.3 ranking was lowest.
US Airways was followed by British Airways at 7.8, Air Canada at 7.4, Independence Air at 7.1, Northwest Airlines Corp. at 7.3, Hawaiian Airlines at 6.9, Delta Air Lines at 6.8, JetBlue Airways at 6.8, Continental Airlines at 6.7, Alaska Air Group at 6.5, AirTran Airways at 6.4, America West at 6.3, ATA Airlines at 6.3, American Airlines at 5.9, Spirit Airlines at 6.4, United Airlines at 5.8, and Southwest Airlines at 5.5,
Of the two passenger transportation companies, Amtrak scored an 8.4, while Greyhound scored a 5.2.
Orbitz scored 8.6, the highest among Web-based travel resellers (which resell travel services like flights, hotel stays and car rentals), while Ebookers' 5.5 was the lowest.
After Orbitz was Travelocity at 8.2, Expedia at 8.1, Hotwire at 8, Priceline at 7.7, Cheaptickets.com at 7.3, TravelZoo at 6.2, and Hotels.com at 6.1.
The average Customer Respect Index score for travel sector firms was 6.8. By category, airlines scored an average of 6.6; hotels and resorts scored 6.6; Web-based resellers scored 7.3; and passenger transportation scored 6.8.
Overall, the travel industry received the worst score for responsiveness. Though Web site users constantly state that receiving timely responses can make a big difference in choosing what company and what Web site they use, industry-wide, 24 percent of inquiries were never returned, and a 33 percent were delivered back more than a day later, long past what research shows to be the "threshold of timeliness." However, 30 percent of inquiries received a response within four hours.
For privacy, travel service reseller Expedia topped the list with a score of 9.5, which tied the best score of any company in the last 12 months. Other top performers included Marriott, Hotwire and Orbitz. At the other end of the privacy spectrum, Trump Hotels and Casinos at 3.4 fell into the bottom 10 percent of all companies studied last year.
How travel firms treat customers' personal information could cost them business, a separate CRG study showed. While at least one-fifth of customers surveyed in that study said they would hesitate to give out the detailed personal information travel firms collect (credit card and phone numbers, addresses, and travel dates, as well as number, names and ages of family members), nearly a third of travel firms -- 28 percent -- share or even sell personal data without permission, and another 10 percent that aren't clear what they do with it. But most travel companies -- 62 percent -- don't share their customers' personal data without permission.
Customer concern over how their information is handled "suggests that some $10 billion may be in play for companies that demonstrate respect for customers and their information," CRG said.
