The latest scores from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index show that overall airline and hotel satisfaction has remained flat this year over last.
Airlines post no gains
While the ACSI scores showed a zero percent overall change in American consumer satisfaction with airlines, a few airlines posted notable boosts: Delta had a 4% increase, US Airways had a 3% boost and American rose 2% in satisfaction. Given the upcoming merger between US Airways and American, that bodes well for the company.
Notable decreases were JetBlue's 5% drop and Southwest's 4% decrease in satisfaction. These two airlines are generally the highest performers, so this result is particularly revealing. Both airlines are still holding sizable leads over their nearest competitor, which is now Delta, but the gap is closing.
"Other" includes smaller carriers such as Alaska, Frontier and Spirit.
United Airlines should be particularly concerned here, as the report highlights that wholly 30% of that airline's customers had a score under 50. With that many dissatisfied customers, there's a significant opportunity for poaching by competitors. This is perhaps why the airline has been doubling down on alternative marketing and loyalty efforts, such as new tiers of credit cards.
Nonetheless, the airline's continued headaches due to Continental tech on-boarding issues should be a case study for American as it begins to combine with US Airways this year.
Airline technology continues to be one of the sweet spots, with the majority of consumers satisfied with the check-in and reservation process.
The only improvement this year was in a slight increase in satisfaction with loyalty programs; the airlines overall had a poor showing this year, with several categories deteriorating as far as the experience: courtesy of flight crew, timeliness, range of schedules, and in-flight service all under-performed in 2014.
Airlines must wake up to the reality of decreased customer satisfaction in an increasingly competitive environment.
Consumers more unsatisfied with hotels
Hotels also posted a disappointing performance this year when compared with last, according to the ACSI organization.
Here's how it all played out on the brand level, followed by more specific results with smaller chains. The big brands ended up even or below their levels from last year - a warning flag again for the larger brands seeking to maintain and build share.
At least hotels have an overall higher satisfaction rate than airlines, especially when considering the sub-brands.
When considering the benchmarks this year, hotels must also wake up to the reality of reduced customer satisfaction in an increasingly competitive environment.
Only one metric improved year-over-year - food - and that only improved by a percentage point. Hotels have been increasingly concerned with developing a comprehensive offering on the food front, providing more options beyond traditionally challenged "hotel restaurant" options.
There were some very telling lapses on the part of hotels. Check-in, staff helpfulness, room quality, website, internet, amenities, and entertainment all dropped significantly this year. For hotels, this is a slew of serious setbacks, and should not be taken lightly. Customers expect more, and the industry is simply not delivering at the level it was last year.
OTAs improve slightly
One of the bright spots - if it could even be called that - is the fact that online travel agencies ticked up one point in the satisfaction index. Still nothing to celebrate, but at least the companies didn't stagnate or drop.
There are no year-over-year benchmarks yet for the OTAs, but here's how that looks. Overall, a pretty good picture for the OTAs and their primary product: the technology and experience to book various travel products.
This particular viewpoint is based on interviews with 7,445 randomly selected customers, conducted via email and telephone between October 21, 2013 and March 11, 2014.
NB: Window seat image courtesy Shutterstock.