Thomson has holidaymakers favourite website

Thomson (www.thomson.co.uk), P&O Ferries (www.poferries.com) and Thomson Airways (www.flights.thomson.co.uk) have the three most popular travel websites, according to a new survey.

Britain's biggest tour operator Thomson has the most user-friendly website, said market research firm eDigitalResearch (www.ecustomeropinions.com/survey/survey), which benchmarks the top 50 UK retail websites every quarter.

First Choice (www.firstchoice.co.uk), owned by the same parent company as Thomson, came in fourth place in the eDigitalResearch survey and P&O Cruises (www.pocruises.co.uk) was in fifth.

The researchers said that the travel websites were generally weak on customer service, however.

Head of research Derek Eccleston said: "Consumers want a site that is simple to purchase from, but at the same time has the inspirational ‘wow’ factor that keeps them engaged. After all, reputations are built on the end to end customer experience, not just having the best site."

Thomson's site allows using to choose their holiday by destination, price, experience or type such as family, adult, or active. Prices are shown on the site within a few clicks and include an online discount.

Mr Eccleston added: "It is clear from the survey that the travel sites that win loyalty will differentiate themselves on transparent pricing, an efficient booking process and best practice customer service."

Travel Republic (www.travelrepublic.co.uk) - an online travel agent which was recently in the news after winning a high profile court case concerning customer financial protection - came in sixth place in the survey, followed by Virgin Holidays (www.virginholidays.co.uk) and budget airline Bmibaby (www.bmibaby.com).

Lastminute.com and Virgin Atlantic (www.virgin-atlantic.com) came bottom in the top 10 list, which was compiled following a survey of 29 travel websites.

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