Consumer satisfaction survey of hotel booking websites shows high satisfaction with‘accurate room information,’but low with‘additional costs’

- Hotels.com and Expedia show higher damage redress settlement rates than those of other hotel booking sites -

Reservations through hotel booking websites are increasing as the summer vacation season is in full swing, but there is not sufficient objective quality information that consumers can rely on and refer to when comparing services provided by those websites. For this reason, the Korea Consumer Agency (President Hee-sook Lee) analyzed the consumer satisfaction level and rate of damage redress settlement of four (4) hotel booking sites used by many consumers in order to help consumers make informed choices by providing objective quality comparative information. 

According to the result of the analysis, the consumer satisfaction level was 3.74 points on average (out of a possible 5 points), and Hotels.com won the highest point, followed by Expedia, Booking.com, and Agoda. And as for the rate of damage redress settlement, Hotels.com and Expedia showed relatively higher rates of settlement than those of Agoda and Booking.com.

Hotels.com gained a high level of consumer satisfaction in the areas of ‘ease of use and responsiveness to customers,’ ‘compensation claims handling,’ and ‘service favorability.’ And Expedia earned relatively high levels of consumer satisfaction in their ‘price and a variety of additional benefits,’ and ‘payment system,’ and in the case of Booking.com, consumers also showed relatively high satisfaction with ‘accurate room information,’ ‘compensation claims handling,’ and ‘additional costs.’ 

□ Hotels.com and Expedia show higher damage redress settlement rates than those of other hotel booking websites.

For the past three years (2015~2017), the KCA received a total of 273 applications for damage redress associated with the four (4) hotel booking websites, and in the case of 2017, the number of damage redress applications was 130, up 46.1% from the previous year (89 cases). More specifically, Hotels.com accounted for the largest portion (37.7%) of the redress applications, followed by Expedia, Booking.com, and Agoda.

As for the rate of damage redress settlement*, Hotels.com and Expedia showed 63.1% and 62.3%, respectively, but in the case of Agoda and Booking.com, the rate was relatively lower. * Rate of cases where consumers were awarded compensation such as refund, damages, contract cancellation, etc.

The KCA shared the survey results with the online hotel booking sites in question, and asked them to improve their vulnerable sectors and actively cooperate in damage redress for consumers. In addition, it will continue to provide service comparison information, not only to help consumers make rational purchasing decisions, but also to encourage corporations to improve the quality of their services.

The survey of 1,200 hotel booking site users revealed that the level of consumer satisfaction with‘accurate room information (3.81 points)’and ‘ease of use and responsiveness to customers (3.72 points)’was high, but the consumer satisfaction level associated with‘additional costs (3.07 points)’ and ‘payment system (3.52 points)’was relatively low.

□ While consumers show high satisfaction with ‘accuracy of room information,’ the level of consumer satisfaction with ‘additional costs’ is low.  

Source: Korea Consumer Agency 2018.09.04. Press Release