A recent survey has found that a “strong online presence” is vital for travel agents to remain competitive.
It’s not just a good website either, most customers are looking for some sort of security and financial protection along with relevant information.
Haven came top of the websites featured for holiday camps and self catering websites and most others fared better than their international counterparts. The main reason for its success was that users found the website easy to use (highlighting a vital need for travel websites to focus on user experience and usability) with comprehensive destination guides. Hoseasons, Keycamp, Hayes and Jarvis as well as British Airways also scored highly.
The survey results showed that out of 54 travel websites benchmarked, it was hotel chains that were the worst performing as they often fail to provide independent reviews and do not respond to customer enquiries.
Budget airlines were also criticised for not giving access to all information.
Based on these results it’s easy to see that for a travel website to be successful and ‘sticky’, it needs:
- A good user experience and be easy to use (getting your designer and user experience experts working together)
- Offer independent reviews (whether your own or a review website like TripAdvisor)
- Be as transparent as possible (give all the information you can muster)
- Promote any security and financial protection you offer very clearly (and prominently!)
- Offer simple and obvious contact points – maybe online chat, social integration or email (as long as you respond quickly enough!)
Digital Trip continue to promote these best practices as standard with any travel website we produce and have been doing so since we were founded. If you’d like more information about how to get more from your website, please talk to us.
Source: TravelMole / eDigitalResearch
