New study reveals travelers prefer a simple, modern experience

13-04-23

• According to Travelport research, the majority of consumers spend more time searching online than buying.

According to new independent research commissioned by Travelport, a global technology company that manages bookings for hundreds of thousands of travel providers worldwide, consumers want the travel industry to modernise. The study into what consumers want and expect revealed multiple gaps that explain customers' lack of trust in travel sellers, namely a lack of simplified and intuitive experiences, simple support and transparency. For the travel industry, this insight offers valuable insights and opportunities to generate more sales and customer loyalty.

"The travel industry is in a position to build on the goodwill gained during the pandemic by modernising and giving consumers the simple, easy and supportive experience they expect," said Jen Catto, Travelport's Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). "According to a new study commissioned by Travelport, customers would rather shop in any other industry than travel. Now that the industry is recovering, there is a huge opportunity for travel brands to reinvest in the customer experience, building customer loyalty and simultaneously increasing revenue. It's a win-win for everyone.

Key findings of the study:

Time and transparency over price: 

Supporting the belief that "time is money", Travelport's study confirmed that consumers spend more time searching online than shopping, consulting reviews, looking for recommendations and examining other factors of what goes into an offer. The study revealed that the majority (69%) of consumers research an online purchase on a daily or weekly basis, with very few (only 2%) saying they never research an online purchase. Travelport also found that nearly all consumers (93%) believe that the best modern retailers make it easy for them to find exactly what they want. With multiple options available for every aspect of a trip, this is particularly crucial for travel sellers. Full transparency is what most consumers want most (90%), which means modern sellers must share all product information upfront to help consumers save time and gain confidence in their purchases. Doing so will be profitable for retailers. In fact, the majority of respondents (59%) said that getting exactly what they want is more important than how much they pay for it.

Even Generation Z wants convenient and human customer service: 

The majority of respondents in the study (77%), regardless of age, have interacted with a chatbot. However, only a quarter of the theoretical "digital natives", aged 18-41, use them frequently. Three quarters of all respondents prefer to talk to a human (via chat or phone) when something goes wrong, but what is unexpected is that more (83%) of younger consumers, aged 18-41, actually want more human support than their elders, aged 42 and older. In addition, consumers in this study shared the importance of easy returns and exchanges (43%), filtered options (40%) and personalised offers (29%). These factors clearly indicate that more personal support is valued at every stage of the shopping process, from research to purchase and beyond.

Consumers will travel more and spend more on sustainability: 

Climate change and sustainability are top priorities for consumers, especially for those passionate about travel. Travelport's study revealed that almost half of consumers (49%) would choose to spend more and even more (60%) would take longer and more indirect transport routes to their destination to save on carbon (CO2) emissions when travelling. This varies by age group, with the study results showing that (33%) of consumers aged 18-41 would travel 2 to 3 hours longer to save on CO2 emissions, compared to only (19%) of consumers aged 42 and over.