Almost any travel tech company these days is looking to recruit the best would-be employees, especially if they are tech professionals.
And, that's one reason why the 2012 Glassdoor Travel Industry Report Card, which has employees rating their own companies and CEOs, can't easily be ignored.
The annual compilation, detailed in the Glassdoor blog, finds Orbitz retaining its top ranking in the online travel agency, review site and global distribution category with a 4.0 out of a possible 5.0 and CEO Barney Harford earning an 88% approval rating, second only to TripAdvisor's Steve Kaufer at 91%.
Orbitz actually took the top spot in the overall travel industry ranking in 2012, edging Southwest Airlines, which had been the kingpin in 2010 and 2011.
Kaufer's CEO ranking gets an asterisk because he only received 10-14 anonymous employee reviews while Harford attracted the requisite 15 or more.
Harford's 88% approval rating in 2012 was up from 81% in 2011, while Kaufer wasn't ranked last year.
TripAdvisor ranked second as a company -- among six companies scrutinized in the OTA, review site and GDS category -- with a 3.7 score.
Kaufer sits on Glassdoor's board, and Expedia co-founder Rich Barton is chairman.
Here's a chart detailing the results of this category, with companies listed in alphabetical order:
Travelocity came in last among the six companies in the category with a 2.8 company rating, down from 3.3 (with only 10-14 reviews) in 2011.
And Travelocity CEO Carl Sparks received a 50% approval rating (with only 10-14 reviews), which was last among the six CEOs ranked in the category.
Glassdoor's enables company employees to post anonymous comments about their companies and says it vets any that raise questions about their authenticity.
In the review section about Travelocity, one current employee writes about the company's alleged lack of focus:
Pros
Flexible time off and work from home
Cons
Constant state of disorder and chaos. The company cannot figure out where its priorities lie. It is losing a lot of talent because of the indecisiveness and lack of focus. There is a great divide between the Indian offshore development team and the DFW teams.
Advice to Senior Management
Listen to your employees and stop the chaos. Make a decision and stick with it!
Glassdoor also enables past employees to comment, and this might raise all kinds of issues about their motivation if they were axed from their jobs, for example.
Orbitz's 4.0 company rating was highest in the overall travel category, and it was followed by Southwest Airlines (3.9) and Ritz-Carlton (3.8), respectively.
Here are the results for the travel industry rankings:
The rankings were gleaned from employee reviews for the 12 months ending May 22, 2012.