“Travellers can’t remember who they’re buying from. Yes, really!” proclaims Travelport in delivering shocking new survey results for the trade. But retailers can do something about, it adds: “The results show a clear link between the buying process and brand recall – or lack thereof. Happy shoppers remember the retailer. But shoppers that have bland experiences, don’t.”

“Brand recall is the minimum benchmark of effective retailing. But do you know which travel agency you last booked with? Was it Booking.com, lastminute.com, Expedia…? Well, a lot of our respondents don’t know either,” the global technology company, which powers travel bookings for hundreds of thousands of travel suppliers worldwide, says.

In fact, Travelport’s just-released Modern Retail Study, which surveyed thousands of leisure and business travellers around the world, report that nearly half (46%) of travellers can’t remember which online travel agency (OTA) they used to book their last leisure trip.

The independent research was commissioned to better understand the current online travel retailing landscape and identify gaps in travellers’ shopping experiences, says Travelport, and the main takeaway is that OTA’s “have a game-changing opportunity to make a lasting impression on travellers.”

Conducted in three disparate markets – the US, Saudi Arabia, and Japan – study results revealed important factors that contribute to brand recall for OTAs, such as the experience of booking. Of all travellers surveyed that could recall the last OTA they booked with, the vast majority (78%) ranked the experience as ‘above average’ or ‘excellent.’ And while most US travellers do not have a preferred OTA (55%), many travellers in Saudi Arabia (63%) and Japan (70%) say they do have a favourite travel site.

Of those travellers that do have a preferred OTA, factors such as ‘a wider range of options’ have fuelled loyalty in Saudi Arabia (54%), the US (51%) and Japan (38%). OTAs are also winning over travellers in Japan with personalized experiences (45%) as well as the ability to ‘easily navigate the site’ in Saudi Arabia (42%) and in the US (40%).

“As one of the first sectors to go digital many years ago, the travel industry has a strong history of innovation,” said Jen Catto, Chief Marketing Officer for Travelport. “However, travellers’ digital expectations have rapidly evolved, far surpassing current travel retailing capabilities. Prioritizing the needs of our customers to better serve their customers is our priority – agencies need more choice, clear comparison shopping, and easy ways to manage experiences like exchanges. While price is important, these value-add factors create an ‘excellent’ modern retailing experience that stands out and earns loyalty.”

Price sensitive

Historically, OTAs have been trying to compete on one factor alone – price – but that isn’t what customers need to remember the experience. Of the travellers who can’t remember the last OTA they used, nearly half (44%) ranked their last experience as ‘poor,’ or ‘below average.’

Where many travellers in Saudia Arabia (60%) and the US (60%) were shown to be the most forgetful of specific OTA brands they’ve used, there was a significant 19 and 27 percentage point gap between recall and an ‘above average’ experience, respectively.

The Modern Retail Study indicates that OTAs may be less distinguishable because they have been focusing on the wrong things. While there is a heavy focus on price, that has likely come at the expense of other experience factors that travellers care about when booking a trip.

As travellers are using OTA sites for research and comparison, the survey revealed there’s a missed opportunity for bookings as the majority travellers do not follow through with booking car (67%) or air travel (55%), and more than one-third (36%) do not book their hotel accommodations on OTA sites. However, travellers also shared that the ability to ‘book everything at once,’ is one of the most important reasons for using an OTA.

Business travellers

Even with the majority (78%) of business travellers collectively bound by corporate policy, the research finds that 99% of employees don’t know the name of their travel management company (TMC) they use to book business trips.

Looking deeper into the potential causes, the survey found that most business travellers (69%) find the options provided as ‘undesirable’ while more than one-third (46%) want more choice, (38%) lack confidence overall in their TMC booking, and (35%) want business trip options that support their well-being.

Online travel retailers, the survey concludes, now have an opportunity to earn loyalty from their customers in the modern retail era by focusing on factors beyond price.

See the full report HERE.