A new large-scale consumer satisfaction survey from JD Power has revealed bad news for the travel industry. More than 12,000 users of airline, hotel, travel agent, and car rental apps found relatively low levels of satisfaction.
Ease of use was particularly problematic …
Although travel apps can involve detailed information, and might be expected to struggle in terms of ease of use, the survey found that this didn’t seem to be the reason they lagged behind financial apps.
JD Power found that ease of use was the most important factor, and many airline and hotel apps are failing to live up to expectations there.
Unsurprisingly, the most-used apps are airline ones, as these have the highest utility value. They generally prompt you when check-in opens and allow you to add your boarding pass to the Wallet app, as well as alerting you to any delays to your flight. Of those who had any travel app installed, 90% included at least one airline app.
The biggest complaint about airline apps was slow loading times.
The best travel apps were found to be:
- Airline: JetBlue, followed by Southwest and Alaska
- Hotel: World of Hyatt, then IHG and Hilton Honors
- Travel agent: Orbitz, followed by Priceline and Expedia
- Car rental: National, then Enterprise and Hertz
Photo: Shutterstock
