Social media and online travel agencies have been blamed for the poor state of relationships between consumers and travel brands.
MBLM, a US-based brand and marketing consultancy, examined how 6,000 consumers in three countries (US, Mexico and UAE) feel about particular companies in the travel sector, and then compared them to businesses and services providers in other verticals.
The companies in question included British Airways, Southwest, JetBlue, Hilton, Marriott, United, Delta and Ritz-Carlton.
The results for the travel and leisure sector are poor.
The highest placed company out of 200 brands was British Airways in 70th spot.
In comparison, Apple, BMW, Toyota, Amazon and Harley Davidson secured the top five slots.
MBLM defines intimacy as "...an essential relationship between a person and brand that transcends, usage, purchase and loyalty".
In other words, the trust, affinity and confidence a consumer has when they think about a particular company or service.
But why are travel brands falling so far behind their counterparts in other industries?
One obvious element that is often cited is around frequency. Leisure travellers especially simply do not travel enough to have an emotional attachment to a particular travel brand.
But there are other mitigating factors, outlined by MBLM:
1. Disintermediation of purchase
More and more consumers are booking trips using both traditional travel agents and online travel aggregator sites, bypassing the direct airline and hotel brand purchase experience.
2. Disintermediation of Dialogue
The power of social media and online recommendations has clearly proliferated, and travel is one of the categories that generates the most dialogue. Travel brands are getting cut out of conversations taking place on websites like TripAdvisor, which have become aggregates for everyday recommendations and feedback.
The full report with rankings for each of the 200 brands is here, and here for the travel and leisure brands.
NB:Love image via Shutterstock.