Amid the pandemic, business travelers have issued more
complaints toward airlines, hotels and car rental companies, according to a new
American Customer Satisfaction Index Report. In addition, business travelers
have become less satisfied with how airlines and hotels handle their
complaints.
ACSI interviewed 7,898 travelers between April 1, 2020 and
March 28, 2021. About 33 percent of the respondents traveled for business and
67 percent traveled for leisure. Respondents were asked to evaluate their
experiences with the largest suppliers (in terms of market share) in air, hotel
and car rental. ACSI modeled the data to estimate customer satisfaction on an
ascending scale from 1 to 100 and compared responses to those collected for the
previous survey conducted from April 2019 to March 2020.
Not only are business traveler complaining to their airlines
more, they have become less satisfied with how airlines have handled their
concerns. The percentage of business travelers who complained to their airline
rose from 32 percent in 2020 to 38 percent in 2021. Traveler satisfaction
toward airlines among the business traveler cohort that complained to airlines dropped
from 79 to 71 out of 100. ACSI attributed the drop to the change in service
business travelers were accustomed before the pandemic. "Business travel
has fallen dramatically during the coronavirus crisis, with many companies
suspending travel," the report said. "More than ever, business travel
is necessity rather than a choice, and those that travel may be missing the
level of service they are used to."
Amid the pandemic, business travelers have become less
satisfied with how hotels have handled their complaints. Between 2020 and 2021,
the share of business travelers who have complained to hotels rose from 26
percent to 32 percent. Satisfaction toward how hotels handled their complaints
dropped from 80 to 74 out of 100.
Finally, more business travelers issued a complaint to their
car rental companies amid the pandemic, 46 percent compared to 40 percent. Their
satisfaction, however, stayed constant at 75 out of 100.