40 percent of travel enthusiasts find unresponsive customer support as most frustrating: Report

In a world where travel is more than just an escape but an opportunity for exploration and forming new connections, all travel enthusiasts seek a seamless travel experience. Travel buffs encounter a series of complications in going through the customer support network that acts as a major roadblock in their journey. However, in recent times, the travel industry has become fiercely competitive and travel management is extremely difficult without robust customer support. 

Kapture CX recently conducted a survey where travel buffs shared their most frustrating pain points when travelling, highlighting the need to address customer support challenges in the industry. 

The survey unveils that 40 percent of travellers are intensely annoyed with unresponsive customer support during their travel. The travel industry is built on providing excellent customer support. However, slow and unsatisfactory support ruins the customers’ travel journey as well as an overall experience. As a result, rather than only focusing on managing bookings online, the industry players need to move out of their brick and mortar setups in the customer support journey and increase the bandwidth of their support team that requires interaction with customers. 

Gaurav Juneja, Chief Revenue Officer of Kapture CX said, “As a platform that specialises in improving customer support with AI-first solutions for all industries, it was time to pass over the stand to the travel sector and get acquainted with their problems. With the findings of the survey, we are looking forward to transforming the present customer support landscape within the travel vertical, creating a thriving journey for all travellers.”   

In addition, the survey unveiled that 35 percent of travellers’ journeys are complicated with hidden charges. These hidden costs are significantly higher and can cause extreme dissatisfaction among travellers. Subsequently, this can further have a major impact by causing unforeseeable damage to the company’s reputation by involving lost revenue due to missed sales and hefty legal costs. 

Furthermore, the customers’ pain points are followed by booking complications as 14 percent of travellers are intensely annoyed with such challenges. Hidden charges, price fluctuations, unclear customer policies and technical glitches make up a complicated booking system. For instance, a traveller may find a great deal on a hotel or flight booking, but the change in price can affect the availability and raise several concerns for the customer. 

Apart from this, 10 percent of travellers believe a lack of self-serve options also contributes to a frustrating customer support journey. The survey evidently demonstrates that travellers today seek a more transparent and easy-to-navigate booking process. They also want to see more self-serve options, such as strong AI customer assistance which can help resolve simple customer queries immediately.

With this crucial knowledge at its disposal, the travel industry needs to move the needle on improving customer support, which can go a long mile in elevating the travel experience. In response, tech integration can play a significant role in emphasising the importance of customer feedback in enhancing travel experiences, leading the path to AI-driven revolution.