iPerceptions - Customer Satisfaction Measurement

NEW YORK, NY - iPerceptions Inc. today released a summary analysis of year over year findings from its proprietary 2003 Hospitality Sector Site Satisfaction & Competitive Analysis Report. This report is based on feedback obtained from over 45,000 unique visitors to web sites of some of the most recognized brands in North America and Europe including Holiday Inn, Savoy, InterContinental, Radisson, and Omni Hotels. It represents two million plus data points.

HIGHLIGHT - Purpose of visit

There has been a change in the web user's "purpose of visit" to hospitality focused web sites. 38% of business travelers are making reservation related visits to hospitality web sites compared to 33% in the previous year. 30% of leisure travelers are making reservation related visits this year compared to 26% last year. One of the reasons that might contribute to this shift in purpose of visit is the introduction of "guaranteed lowest rates", a policy that many web site owners introduced this past year. With the increase in reservation related visits, we have seen a decrease in visits to compare rates or offers - that number shifting from 24% to 18% for business travelers and from 39% to 30% for leisure travelers. This is a very positive change for web site owners. As more and more web site visitors make online reservations, site owners should expect overall reservation costs to decrease and their site's "look to book" ratios to increase.

HIGHLIGHT - Number of nights booked per year

Despite a weak economy and a post 9/11 environment, the number of nights booked per year by business travelers visiting hospitality web sites is holding up and remains constant however the same cannot be said for the leisure traveler. Data indicates there has been a 30% drop in the number of leisure travelers visiting hospitality web sites who book stays of 21 plus nights per year.

HIGHLIGHT - Frequency of site visits

The percentage of first time visits to a web site by business travelers decreased 5% while more frequent visits (6 times or more to the same site) increased 12%. These numbers suggest that web site owners are attracting an increasingly loyal audience of business travelers. Conversely, first time visits by leisure travelers increased 5% while more frequent visits (6 times or more to the same site) decreased 24%. This increase in first time visits by the leisure traveler suggests those users who continue to travel are increasingly turning to the web to meet their travel needs and are not restricting their visits to one specific site.

"Our use of User-Relationship Satisfaction© to understand, measure and benchmark the relationship between online users and an organization's corporate objectives, strategies and brand, drives the data contained in our 2003 Hospitality Sector Site Satisfaction & Competitive Analysis Report", says Jerry Tarasofsky, CEO at iPerceptions. More importantly, our analytics address industry specific problems including "look to book" ratios as well as branding and loyalty issues that are high on our clients priority list." said Mr. Tarasofsky

About iPerceptions Inc

iPerceptions Inc., is a business intelligence company headquartered in New York that provides metrics to analyze User-Relationship Satisfaction© - a unique measure of user loyalty that helps organizations align their web initiatives with the needs, wants, and preferences of their targeted user groups Their webValidator solution delivers actionable information and industry best-practice benchmarks to iPerceptions' clients including Reebok, Nasdaq, Omni Hotels, IBM, Disney, Bayer, Pfizer, InterContinental Hotels, CBS MarketWatch, General Motors, Fujitsu, Radisson Hotels, EDS, Wells Fargo, BMW, Deloitte &Touche, Daimler Chrysler, and Mazda. The company's corporate offices are located in New York City and Montreal, Canada. Sales offices are located in New York, Toronto, Montreal and London, England.