Travel Apps Better Than Websites, But More Progress Necessary

Joe Cortez October 18, 2023

Seoul, South Korea - July 29th, 2015; An illustrative editorial of travel planning using a map app on a laptop, the Duolingo language learning app on an iPhone, passport, Visa Debit card, and some foreign cash and coins.

More travelers are happier booking on their mobile apps instead of company websites, but overall delight lags behind other industries.

Travel smartphone apps have come a long way since they were first introduced, leaving flyers more satisfied than working with websites – but the experts stay the experience still has a long runway for improvement.

Those are the findings of the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Travel App Satisfaction Study and the J.D. Power 2023 U.S. Travel Website Satisfaction Study, released on October 17, 2023.

Apps Provide More Satisfaction, but Further Work Needed to Catch Up

One of the key findings of the study is how customers prefer to work with travel provider websites and smartphone apps. On average, travelers are happiest with hotel and rental car smartphone apps, followed by airline apps, rental car websites, hotel websites, with airline websites the least satisfying tool.

“Travel apps and websites are unique because they are most frequently used when travelers are experiencing some level of stress, like when they are in travel mode, juggling bags, watching the clock or trying to navigate an unfamiliar place,” Michael Taylor, managing director of travel, hospitality and retail at J.D. Power, said in a press release. “Apps and websites hold a great deal of information about the particular user and their journey, making use of that information to personalize the journey, anticipate and provide support are critical to improvement.”

Although travel apps seem to create the most delight for travelers, the findings from the study suggest the industry needs to do more to satisfy their audience. As a whole, the travel industry’s website presence ranks below the insurance industry by nearly 80 points.

Among individual providers, Alaska Airlines ranks the highest in satisfaction for both airline apps and airline websites. Southwest Airlines ranks second for travel app satisfaction, but third in website ratings. Conversely, JetBlue scored second in website satisfaction and third among travel apps.

Travelers were split when it comes to hotel chain’s digital performance. World of Hyatt earned the top satisfaction rating in both website and mobile apps, while Hilton Honors came in second in both categories. While Choice Hotels was tied with Hilton for app satisfaction, Wyndham Hotels and Resorts earned third in the website category.

Between rental car providers, National Car Rental was the unilateral winner for both app and website satisfaction. Alamo ranked second in both categories. Enterprise earned the third spot for app satisfaction, while Hertz earned third place for website satisfaction.

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