Online travel might be booming but it seems many of us still need a human being.
Leading online travel website ZUJI Australia has introduced a telephone line to help travellers make their bookings. The company says the telephone service will work “in conjunction” with its extensive online booking engine, which offers 67,000 hotels, 400 airlines and more than 1 million holiday options.
The managing director of ZUJI Australia, James Gaskell, says the service will help customers individualise their trips and be particularly useful for those making complicated bookings such as multiple stops. ”We hope it will also help our customers who mightn’t be as confident online, or for those who just want the reassurance of a human voice,” Gaskell says.
While some are still looking for human contact, online travel is far from declining, with research by PhoCusWright showing Australia has the highest level of online travel penetration in the Asia Pacific region, with more than a third of travel booked online.
Online travel is expected to account for 38 per cent of the total travel market in Australia this year, with online travel agencies recording double-digit growth and hotel bookings predicted to be the fastest-growing segment.
This article is an excerpt from Jane E. Fraser’s weekly travel column in The Sun Herald, Sydney.
Australian based hotel booking site Hotel.com.au has had telephone support for reservations or enquiries for several years- one online service not leaving the online customer in the dark!