Online travel bookers still have to reach for the phone - 29 Aug 2007
More than three-quarters of people who booked travel online this summer resorted to making a telephone call at some stage of the booking.
According to a survey by call-centre outsourcing operation PPT Solutions, 31% of the 250 respondents booked travel - ranging from a flight, hotel or complete package - online this summer. Where a telephone number was provided for enquiries, 75.7% said they had used it.
The main reasons cited included needing to change a booking (18%), unclear information (13%) and websites that crashed during the booking (9%).
However, the problems did not stop online. When calls were made to travel operators, 46% experienced difficulties, including a lack of product knowledge among staff, or a failure to call them back where necessary.