Top 10 Travel Booking Websites Based on Customer Satisfaction

Could your travel deal be affected by what you type into a search bar? Some airlines want to make it so.(Photo. Reuters)

One of the most useful tools when it comes to booking a trip nowadays are travel websites. There are many options out there, but some may be better than others. In a survey by J.D. Power an Associates, they found people are most satisfied with a travel site when they get a good price. Booking.com rates the highest in customer satisfaction in the survey.

In J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Independent Travel Website Satisfaction Report, seven factors were considered when measureing customer satisfaction. They include competitiveness of pricing; usefulness of information; availability of booking/reservation options; website/online store; ease of booking/reserving; competitiveness of sales and promotions; and contact with customer service. The most important factor to most customers was getting the best price on a website.

"Reinforcing the correlation between overall satisfaction and satisfaction with pricing, the highest-ranked travel websites in overall satisfaction all have significantly higher price satisfaction scores than the report average," said Sara Wong Hilton, director at J.D. Power and Associates. "While other factors certainly affect overall satisfaction, 75 percent of online travel website consumers indicate price as a primary purchase reason, so there is no denying price greatly impacts the overall website experience."

Out of a possible 1,000 point ranking for customer satisfaction among popular travel sites, Booking.com scored an 816, putting it at the top of the satisfaction list. The hotel reservation site is a part of Priceline.com

The second highest in satisfaction was Hotwire.com. The Expedia-owned site that allows customers to book airline flights, hotels, rental cars, cruises and vacation packages, received an 813. Priceline.com came in third with an 808 rating.

"The top-ranked travel websites in overall satisfaction - Booking.com, Hotwire.com and Priceline.com - have significantly higher satisfaction with pricing," Hilton said in a release.

Here are the top travel booking websites based on customer satisfaction: