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What Travelers Really Want
Power Trip · December 7, 2003

Make my trip more comfortable. Lose the surprise surcharges. And treat me like a human being, for cryin' out loud.

When I asked what you wanted from a travel experience, that's what you said. But your answers in interviews represent more than an abstract wish-list. The way these simple requests have been implemented by the travel industry - but more often, not implemented - offer an example from which any business can learn.

Are travel companies really that clueless? Yes. Maybe it's because the customer surveys of travelers are a little misleading. One poll, for example, concludes that more Americans want to take shorter vacations. Another says cost, not comfort, is the deciding factor in an airline ticket purchase. And yet another study claims American travelers want to take trips to another planet.

But look at who's behind the research. Most of it is sponsored by a company that stands to gain from underwriting a poll, such as a travel agency specializing in last-minute trips, an airline trying to justify its decision to add another row of seats to economy class, or a company on the forefront of inter-planetary tourism.

In other words, the data isn't just useless. It's frequently misleading, too.

So what do travelers want? To find out, I conducted a series of interviews with real travelers - a kind of mini focus-group. Here's what they told me:

They don't want to be treated like livestock. This complaint applies mostly to airlines, although car rental companies might pay attention also. Two airlines, American and Midwest, recently added new rows of seats to their planes in order to fit in more passengers. "The airline seats have to be changed," says Scott Hollier, a physical therapist from Abbeville, La. "They are the most uncomfortable things to sit on and in. It's like a cattle car. Everyone is on edge and uncomfortable."

I've already weighed in on economy-class sections in a previous column. Most airlines don't care about these gripes, because they have their own self-serving polls which claim travelers care more about cheap seats than comfortable ones. Lately, I've also heard quite a few complaints about hopelessly small rental cars.

Business lessons learned: Customers want to avoid pain. I just spent an afternoon visiting JetBlue, the feisty upstart airline based in New York, and the folks I spoke with couldn't believe the number of airlines trying to cram more passengers into less space. JetBlue, by the way, recently took a row of seats out to increase comfort. No wonder it's winning every popularity contest in the travel industry and raking in the profits.

They want travel companies to play fair. Ever tried to book a hotel room, reserve a rental car or buy a plane ticket yourself? Then you've probably seen the miracle of yield-management first-hand. Yield-management calculates the price you pay based on projected demand and availability, not distance. And it's nonsense. "I'd like to change the way most carriers calculate their airfare," says Lisa Frederick, a travel coordinator from Richardson, Texas.

For example, a major airline recently charged one of Frederick's company executives $2,400 for a nonstop flight from Dallas to San Jose, Calif. But the same ticket from a different Texas airport cost another traveler just $668. That kind of odd pricing is common. If you don't believe me, try reserving a one-way ticket anywhere. Then try buying a round-trip ticket. The one-way fare often is much higher than half the round-trip fare. Go figure.

Business lessons learned: If your customers don't think you're treating them fairly, they'll bail out. Frederick says she's more comfortable with Southwest Airlines' pricing, which is based on the route, advance purchase time and availability. "It never fails to make me smile when Southwest Airlines is one of the only major carriers to make a profit, while most of the other carriers are losing money," she says.

They don't want to be taken advantage of. Often, travelers are left with the impression that they're getting the short end of the figurative stick when they're on the road. And they're often right. "If the airline can overbook or resell an unused seat, it shouldn't be able to charge me to cancel or change a reservation," says Tab Stone, a doctor from Los Angeles. "And if it lowers a fare I've already booked, it should automatically credit me for the difference I'd have been eligible for at the time of booking." Airlines and hotels say the system is what it is, and this kind of "double-dipping" - or basically charging two customers for the same seat or room - is a standard industry practice. But that doesn't make it right, at least according to customers.

Business lessons learned: Car rental companies, unlike airlines and hotels, have liberal cancellation policies. As a result, customers take liberal advantage of them. Do these travelers take advantage of car companies in an effort to even things out? Maybe. Either way, someone is paying for these policies - usually someone who shouldn't be paying.

They don't want to be surprised. In an effort to lift profits, hotels have relentlessly added new surcharges to their bills. Guests are often startled when they see a "resort fee" to cover the expense of maintaining a pool they never used, or a fee for an on-property health club they didn't know existed. "Why can't the total amount on your bill be the amount you were quoted when you booked the room?" asks Michael McNeil, a health-services coordinator for a university in Philadelphia. On a recent hotel visit, he paid an extra $9.20 after fees and surcharges. "Make them stop!" he begs. Yet hotels aren't listening to the likes of McNeil. The extras may not endear them to customers, but they are good for the bottom line.

Business lesson learned: "Gotcha" fees may help earnings in the short term, but in the long run they'll hurt. Many travelers are opting for alternate accommodations, such as bed and breakfasts, short-term apartments, or even staying with a friend. The hotel business is ailing, and its long-term prospects look bleak.

They want flexibility - and compassion. In order to make more money, airlines have raised their ticket-change fees and ordered reservations agents to stop granting customers "waivers and favors" for passengers who can't make their flights. Customers don't like it. "I wish I could get rid of the fees for changing tickets," says Mary Kay Moreland, a retired teacher from Deming, N.M. "If the dates of our plans change, we should be able to exchange our ticket for a new one, paying only the difference in fares, not a penalty fee for changing." Although there's evidence that the major airlines are making some exceptions to their rules, for the most part they continue to stick to this customer-hostile policy.

Business lesson learned: If you don't take care of your customer, someone else will. No-frills airlines such as AirTran and Spirit have far less onerous change policies, and they're all growing while their big rivals fade away.

What lessons will you learn from the travel industry? How will you apply them to your business? It's up to you.

These tips look deceptively easy, but ask a manager of any major airline, hotel chain or car rental company why they haven't "gotten it," and they'll probably be at a loss for words. Chances are they've always done things a certain way. Or maybe they feel they know what's best for the customer.

They're slow to change - too slow. They're dinosaurs on the verge of extinction, in my opinion. And that's no way to run a business.

Christopher Elliott is a travel commentator based in Key Largo, Fla. All e-mailed questions may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion.

Get a look behind the scenes at Power Trip. Check out Elliott's Travel Notes blog.