Following a trial which saw customer reviews on Expedia (visible via Google search results) increase by more than 4000% in just 14 days, the world's largest online travel company has appointed Feefo to generate reviews for them from their customers' experiences with their Expedia.co.uk, Expedia.fr, Expedia.de and Expedia.nl sites.

Expedia will use Feefo to gather customer feedback on the service they receive from the various European websites. The move reflects the company's commitment to leveraging customer insight and feedback to build an ever-improving experience for its customers: a key part of Expedia's "People Shaped Travel" philosophy.

The immediacy of the reviews will allow Expedia to react quickly, responding to and correcting any customer concerns. In addition to the customer service benefits, Expedia anticipates the deal will also attract new customers, as 83% of travellers[1] consult reviews as part of their purchasing decision, and Feefo's partnership with Google allows them to generate gold stars in search results for their members, which increases site traffic.

Stuart Newman, Director of Customer Experience EMEA for Expedia said "Every day thousands of people travel and book with Expedia. So, finding a suitable partner to offer a level of engagement and insight with our customers, which reflects these volumes has been a challenge for Expedia. The Feefo system is simple to use and hugely effective, with the return on our investment easy to see, even in such a short time period."

The Feefo customer review system guarantees 100% genuine feedback, as only customers who have bought products and services from its clients are invited to comment. During Expedia's recent 14 day trial the Quality Score from its customers was 92% (those customers that rated Expedia Excellent/Good).

"Online travel is an immensely fast-moving business and the ability to build on and anticipate customer needs is critical to our continued success. The Feefo Team share Expedia's immense belief that all feedback provides valuable insight to drive business improvement with the scale and immediate visibility necessary to maintaining a market-leading customer experience. Having offered verified hotel reviews for many years, we understand the importance of being able to guarantee 100% genuine feedback as Feefo does. Our 92% Quality Score is a true testament to our continued commitment to improving the customer experience and, together with Feefo, we will be able to build on this further and faster in the future," added Newman.

Although this initial phase concentrates on four of Expedia's major European markets, further roll-out to more of its territories is planned for the future.

Andrew Mabbutt, Managing Director for Feefo, said: "Our ratings and reviews offering has been embraced by the travel, hotel and restaurant industry who want to hear and share customers' genuine feedback, not bogus comments. We are delighted that Expedia, the world's largest online travel company, recognises the benefits of our cost-effective and efficient solution and look forward to helping both them and their customers leverage the maximum benefit from reviews over the coming months and years."

Expedia will continue to gather customer reviews on their hotel experiences through its existing technology.

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Notes to Editors
Sources:
[1] ChannelAdvisor "Consumer Shopping Habits Survey", August 2010

About Feefo
Feefo is a customer review system with nearly 1000 brands, more than 100 of which are from the travel industry. Members tell Feefo who their customers are, so only genuine ratings and reviews can be submitted. No moderation is allowed, except for profanities, meaning the members 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)

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 160,000 hotels around the world (including boutique hotels as well as major hotel brand names),over 400 airlines along with 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.

Expedia 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 through Expedia 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 through Expedia® Affiliate Network.

Expedia.co.uk, Expedia.fr, Expedia.nl and Expedia.de and the Airplane logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Expedia, Inc. in the European Union and certain other jurisdictions. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners. © 2013 Expedia, Inc.