Following the successful integration of the Feefo, the global feedback engine, in to the Expedia.co.uk service and five other European operations, Expedia.com Ltd is extending the Feefo service to its Australian, Canadian and US brand operations. Having built a reputation across the travel industry for the trustworthiness of the ratings and reviews it generates, Feefo is delighted to confirm that it has enhanced its relationship with the world’s leading travel brand, Expedia.com.
 

“Feefo has achieved a status within the travel industry that we are justifiably proud of,” said Andrew Mabbutt, Managing Director of Feefo, “our partnership with Expedia truly cements our position as the most trusted provider of customer feedback. In only a few months Expedia has generated over one hundred and forty five thousand genuine reviews, rigorously testing our solution, and proving that it reflects the high quality service insisted upon by one of the industry’s largest organisations.”
 

Feefo provides ratings and reviews from only genuine customers – a service that is increasingly important in today’s consumer-centric retail environment, not only to search engine rankings, but also to maintain trust with consumers. With three quarters of overall travel research by leisure consumers now being conducted online [1], a brand’s digital image and transparency has never been more important.   
 

As a provider of a complete service to travellers from flights and cars to hotels and leisure activities, customer service remains paramount to Expedia’s core business. Expedia’s use of the award-winning Feefo platform to compile feedback has become a valued component of their strategy.
 

The 92% Quality Score that Expedia.co.uk holds, along with individual customer reviews are highly visible to consumers from the first moment that Expedia appears in a Google search.  With nine in every ten travel transactions in the UK now “digitally influenced” [2], the confidence that easily-accessible customer reviews can inspire should not be understated.
 

Stuart Newman, the Director of Customer Experience at Expedia, has highlighted the return on investment realised since using Feefo. He notes the “importance of reassuring customers through feedback from others” and identifies “the significant impact on customer engagement, identification of customer pain points and the positive impact on our marketing channel click-through rates” as key drivers in the decision to expand the use of the feedback platform. He adds “We understand that travel decisions can be stressful and customers are looking for reassurance that they have made the right choice, both in terms of the hotels and flights they book and the company they have booked with.”
 

The ability to understand client needs is also fundamental to success within the highly competitive online travel market. Newman expanded on how Expedia will use Feefo in this regard, explaining that “With local language sites across the world, Expedia’s use of the Feefo platform grants us a detailed and international understanding of travel consumer’s strongest likes and dislikes in each market. The ability to then act on this data, drawn from verified customers, provides a valuable tool to ensure that Expedia can uphold our customer focused philosophy and that we continually improve the service we deliver to our customers.”
  

Notes to Editors

Sources: 

[1] Econsultancy “Three quarters of travel research takes place online: survey”, November 2011

[2] http://www.newmediatrendwatch.com Data from international research firm Deloitte showed that 86% of overseas and 91% of domestic travel transactions in the UK are now ‘digitally influenced.' That means even if the final purchase wasn't made online, almost nine in ten travel purchases are influenced in some way by digital channels such as websites, social media, peer reviews and smartphone or tablet apps.

About Feefo
 

Feefo is a customer review system used by over 1200 brands. Merchants tell Feefo who their customers are, so only genuine ratings and reviews can be submitted. No moderation is allowed, except for profanities, meaning the merchants of Feefo stand by their commitment to customer service, by sharing good and bad experiences with the world.
 

45% of personal travellers and 54% of business travellers have made travel plans based on reviews and experience of others. (Google, Think Insights).
 

When deciding between 2 hotels, 65% of people say that seeing a management response would sway them to book with the responding hotel. (Forrester)
 

Online reviews are the most trusted form of advertising apart from a personal recommendation from a friend or family member, or a branded website itself. (Nielsen)
 

Having stars in your Adword campaigns increases Click Through Rates by an average of 17% (Google Q2 2012)

For more information on Feefo and its services, please contact Matt Eames on 08456 800 320 or matt@feefo.com
 

About Expedia

Expedia is the world’s leading online travel agent offering access  to over 220,000 bookable properties around the world (including boutique hotels as well as major hotel brand names),over 400 airlines along with a wide selection of car hire and destination experiences. By combining choice with specialist tools to help refine these options, Expedia helps travellers to find and create the trip that best matches their individual requirements. Now with the award-winning Expedia mobile app you can plan and book flights and hotels on the move. The Expedia app offers helpful tools to manage your trip including: airport terminal maps; hotel check out time and flight status notifications; maps to your hotel and a host of other features. 

Expedia.co.uk is part of the Expedia Inc. brand portfolio. The company delivers consumers value in leisure and business travel, drives incremental demand and direct bookings to travel suppliers, and provides advertisers the opportunity to reach a highly valuable audience of in-market travel consumers throughExpedia Media Solutions. Expedia also powers bookings for some of the world’s leading airlines and hotels, top consumer brands, high traffic websites, and thousands of active affiliates throughExpedia® Affiliate Network.  (NASDAQ: EXPE)  For corporate and industry news and views, visit us atwww.expediainc.com or follow us on Twitter @expediainc.

Trademarks and logos are the property of their respective owners.  © 2013 Expedia, Inc.  All rights reserved.  CST: 2029030-50

For more information please contact:
Matt Eames

Matt@feefo.com   
+44 0203 362 4209.

Feefo Holdings Ltd, Heath Farm, Heath Farm Road, Petersfield, Hampshire, GU31 4HT.