Customer service remains poor as study shakes out the top 45 UK travel websites

Travel websites are generally failing when it comes to customer service and helping users with problems online - but luckily other parts of the user experience are looking up.

The latest consumer usability survey from the well-respected eDigitalResearch was extended to cover 45 different UK travel sites - and has some surprising results.

Topping the poll - conducted among 1,261 consumers in February 2010 to test elements such as first impression, search functionality, booking and customer service - were Premier Inn, Virgin Holidays and the strike-riddled British Airways.

Across all sectors in the study - airlines, hotels and accommodation sites, OTAs, cruise and cross-channel providers - the study found that first impressions, initial research and search procedure scored well.

The presentation of results saw a dip in satisfaction amongst those carrying out the survey, but positive responses were given for the booking process.

However, respondents were generally less satisfied with how websites handle customer service issues, with airlines performing particularly poorly.

The final table of top 45 websites - which didn't see any site perform lower than 64% and the Premier Inn scoring 80% - was created using an aggregated score across the individual user disciplines.