• by Tanya Gazdik , April 30, 2013

TripAdvisor scored the best combined perceived value and satisfaction among online travel services providers, according to YouGov BrandIndex, which measured online travel services providing the highest value and satisfaction levels as perceived by consumers who have made leisure trips at least twice this past year.

Expedia and Travelocity were neck and neck and rated the best combined value and satisfaction scores among their online travel agency peers.

Travelzoo had slightly higher satisfaction scores than both Expedia and Travelocity, but scored lower than all its peers on value.

Priceline -- which earned comparably high marks for its value, perhaps a result of its price bidding system -- received lower satisfaction than its peers. Orbitz and Hotwire also trailed the majority of their peers in satisfaction and value.

While both satisfaction and value scores were positive across all brands reviewed, consumer rated all brands higher on the satisfaction dimension than the value dimension, perhaps reflecting a perceived higher cost of travel in general over the past several weeks, according to YouGov BrandIndex CEO Ted Marzilli.

Marzilli said it was surprising that satisfaction scores were so much higher than value scores across the board,  anywhere from three to five times higher, depending on the brand.

“That clearly demonstrates that there are other factors which influence satisfaction,” Marzilli tells Marketing Daily. “It’s not simply about getting the lowest price. In fact, travelzoo.com rates very high on satisfaction while scoring the lowest on value.”

If any of these brands conducted a customer satisfaction survey with their customers, they would all think they are doing great since the scores are overwhelmingly positive, he said.

“But this analysis demonstrates how you have to monitor the competition to understand whether you are really doing well or not,” Marzilli says. “Otherwise, you don’t know if you are just benefitting from a rising tide and essentially standing still.”

Cheap Tickets, Expedia, Hotwire, Orbitz, Priceline, Travelocity, Travelzoo, and TripAdvisor were measured by YouGov BrandIndex, using two scores simultaneously: Satisfaction, which asks respondents "Are you a satisfied customer?" and value, which asks respondents "Does it give good value for what you pay?" Results were screened for adults 18+ who have taken at least two leisure travel trips over the past year.

YouGov BrandIndex interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample, more than 1.2 million interviews per year. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of more than 1.5 million individuals.