SAN MATEO, Calif., May 03, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) –
–Travelocity.com ranks initial for altogether patron experience; automobile let homepage re-design pays dividends

–Thrifty.com ranks initial for altogether technical quality, capturing ideal scores for both Reliability and Responsiveness (Speed)

–*Share this news around Twitter @Keynote_Mobile

Keynote
Competitive Research, a attention investigate organisation of
http://www.keynote.com/


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, currently announced a formula of a new investigate examining the
business and technical efficacy of let automobile engagement websites. In
a 2012 Rental Car investigate Travelocity.com took initial place for Overall
Customer Experience, while in a Technical Quality apportionment of a study
Thrifty.com scored initial overall, fixation initial for both Reliability and
Responsiveness (Speed). The whole investigate is accessible for immediate
purchase. To ask some-more information greatfully visit:
http://bit.ly/CarRentalStudy .

Winners of Keynote
Competitive Research studies are invited to attend in the
company’s Online
Excellence Program that recognizes a “best of a best” websites
as ranked in a studies. The rankings are formed on responses from real
users, who were celebrated as they achieved tasks on any of a sites
studied, as good as genuine information collected by Keynote website
monitoring to consider a technical peculiarity of a sites. For any study,
Keynote recognizes a companies with a altogether tip ranking, as well
as those exhibiting value in specific categories.

For a ‘Customer Experience’ apportionment of a study, Keynote celebrated and
conducted online interviews with 2,000 online adults as they interacted
with a websites of a sum of 10 heading let automobile engagement websites:
Alamo, Avis, Budget, Dollar, Enterprise, Expedia, Hertz, Orbitz,
Thrifty, and Travelocity. Each investigate member had used a Web to
investigate and/or book a let automobile online and designed to do so again
within a subsequent 12 months.

For a ‘Technical Quality’ apportionment of a study, Keynote performed
6,000 sum measurements for any site, for a sum of 60,000 total
measurements, from 12 locations in a U.S. The information was collected every
day over a one month duration during a websites’ rise duration (8:00
AM-Midnight)(8:EST.)(8:Monday-Sunday).

Keynote Competitive Research produces heading attention investigate using
a company’s commercially accessible Web
opening monitoring and genuine user knowledge contrast products.
Keynote frequently evaluates a stream state of online customer
experience, technical peculiarity (responsiveness/reliability) and
doing of best practices on heading websites opposite a wide
accumulation of straight markets including financial services, automotive,
media/entertainment, retail, transport and technology.

More Information about a Customer Experience Rankings for Rental
Car Booking Websites

For a Customer Experience member of a study, Keynote sent 200
U.S. proprietor Internet users to any of a 10 let automobile websites. The
panelists were initial asked to spend prolonged adequate on a site’s home page
to form an sense of a site and benefit an bargain of its
singular offerings. Next, panelists were asked to consider of a outing they
competence take to a vital city where they would lease a car, and choosing
specific dates, use a site to find a let automobile that would accommodate
them and anyone they competence typically transport with (e.g., family, business
colleagues, etc.). Panelists were asked to demeanour for a let automobile that
would best fit their needs — including price, special options, and
accessibility for specific dates. Once they found a let automobile that fit
all a correct criteria they were asked to write down a sum cost.
Next, they were asked to ensue by a routine of renting the
vehicle, going as distant as probable but indeed completing the
reservation, embody anything else they competence need (e.g., special
options) and adding them to a reservation as well, creation note of the
final cost quote. Finally, a panelists were asked to use a site to
find a answer to a doubt or problem they might have had when finding,
reserving, or renting a car, possibly during this investigate or in the
past. If they were incompetent to find a answer on a site, panelists were
educated to try a options accessible for contacting customer
use for additional assistance.

The investigate suggested that when tested by online users, Travelocity.com
offers a strongest Overall Customer Experience, followed closely
behind by Expedia.com that scored initial for Brand Impact and
Budget.com, that rated tip for Customer Satisfaction. Other key
commentary include:

–
Five sites — Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, Budget, and Hertz —
comprised a transparent tip tier, providing a best patron knowledge for
site visitors in 2012;

–
Reservation Process, Price Satisfaction, Quality and Reputation,
Design Organization, Find Rental Car, Visual Appeal, Car
Descriptions Details, and Locate Help also continue to be key
drivers for code and conversion;

–
Several sites gifted poignant shifts in year-over-year
performance:

–
Travelocity softened significantly for Overall Customer
Experience, Conversion, Customer Satisfaction, Design
Organization, and Visual Appeal

–
Budget softened significantly for Overall Customer
Experience, Customer Satisfaction, Quality Reputation, Design
Organization, and Visual Appeal

–
Avis softened significantly for Overall Customer
Experience, Conversion, Customer Satisfaction, Quality
Reputation, Design Organization, and Visual Appeal

–
Both Budget (tops for Customer Satisfaction) and Travelocity (tops for
Overall Customer Experience) rested their Car Rental homepages in
ways that led to larger user satisfaction.

“Almost all of a sites did good in formulating a gratifying reservation
process,” pronounced Chris Musto, ubiquitous manager of a Keynote
Competitive Research organisation during Keynote. “Where they tended to diverge
was in patron support for questions or issues, cost compensation and
panelists’ feelings after regulating a sites about a peculiarity and
repute of a automobile let group or online transport group they
visited.”

More Information about a Technical Quality Rankings in
a U.S. Rental Car Booking Websites Study

In further to evaluating patron knowledge with tangible users, the
Keynote investigate also examined dual extended aspects of technical quality:
responsiveness and reliability. Responsiveness comprises: high speed
response, DSL (midband) response, response time consistency, geographic
unity and bucket handling, while trustworthiness is comprised of
accessibility and outages. For a ‘Technical Quality’ apportionment of the
study, regulating dimensions computers located in 12 cities opposite a U.S.,
Keynote totalled a standard transaction of acid for and renting a
let automobile online. Each totalled transaction began during a site’s Home
Page afterwards followed a routine of acid for and selecting a rental
car, and finale during a reservation page that prompts a user to enter
his/her personal information. Based on a thousands of transactions
monitored over a march of a study, Thrifty’s website ranked first
in Overall Technical Quality.

In sequence to collect a Technical Quality information Keynote used a Transaction
Perspective(R) product, a heading genuine browser-based use for
measuring and monitoring website opening from a finish user
perspective. With Keynote Transaction Perspective a association examines
website opening from mixed geographic locations by simulating
users clicking by exchange on a website. Keynote collected
approximately 6,000 information points that minute any of a sites’
technical opening in terms of page responsiveness and reliability.

The investigate is accessible for squeeze from Keynote and comes with
endless investigate of code impact, merger impact, trustworthiness and
responsiveness and a factors that expostulate sites’ opening in these
areas. Clients will accept an executive presentation, endless back-up
charts and illustrations, and online entrance to all clickstreams,
verbatims, doubt responses and row contribution for all panelists during all
sites for all tasks and can download and use this information in their own
research. To scrutinise about a duplicate view:
http://bit.ly/CarRentalStudy .

About Keynote Systems

Keynote(R)
Systems, Inc.,


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is a tellurian personality in Internet
and mobile cloud contrast monitoring. Keynote maintains the
world’s largest on-demand opening monitoring and testing
infrastructure for Web and mobile sites comprised of over 4,000
dimensions computers and mobile inclination in over 275 locations around
a universe that capacitate companies to invariably urge a online and
mobile experience. Known as ‘The Mobile and Internet Performance
Authority(TM), Keynote offers 3 market-leading product platforms:

Keynote
Perspective(R) provides on-demand opening monitoring for
craving Web and mobile sites including online portals, e-commerce
sites and B2B sites. Over 2,000 business rest on Keynote Perspective
services to know precisely how their websites, content, and applications
perform on tangible browsers, networks, and mobile devices.

Keynote
DeviceAnywhere(TM) is an enterprise-class, cloud-based, mobile
focus lifecycle government (ALM) contrast peculiarity assurance
platform. It is used by over 1,000 mobile developers and enterprises to
broach mobile applications, calm and services faster while reducing
downtime and contrast costs.

Keynote
SIGOS offers active end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS) testing
and monitoring solutions for mobile, bound and VoIP communications. Its
SITE and Global Roamer products are used by over 200 network operators,
calm providers, carriers and regulators in over 100 countries
worldwide.

Keynote’s 4,000 business paint tip Internet and mobile companies
and embody American Express, ATT, Disney, eBay, E*TRADE, Expedia,
Google, Microsoft, SonyEricsson, T-Mobile and Vodafone. Keynote Systems
is headquartered in San Mateo, California and can be reached during

http://www.keynote.com/

or by phone in a U.S. during 1-800-KEYNOTE.

Keynote(R), DataPulse(R), CustomerScope(R), Keynote CE Rankings(R), Keynote
Customer Experience Rankings(R), Perspective(R), Keynote Red Alert(R), Keynote
Traffic Perspective(R), Keynote WebEffective(R), The Internet Performance
Authority(R), MyKeynote(R) , SIGOS(R), SITE(R), The Mobile Internet
Performance Authority(TM) and Keynote FlexUse(TM) are trademarks or registered
trademarks of Keynote Systems, Inc. in a United States and/or other
countries. All other trademarks are a skill of their respective
owners. (C) 2012 Keynote Systems, Inc.

SOURCE: Keynote(R) Systems, Inc.

        Keynote Systems, Inc.
        Dan Berkowitz, 650-403-3305
        dberkowitz@keynote.com

Copyright Business Wire 2012

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NORWALK, Conn., May 2, 2012 /PRNewswire around COMTEX/ –
Go ahead, give that staycation a boot. Even with aloft airfares and hotel rates approaching this summer, it is probable – with a small looking – to find an affordable summer vacation, according to priceline.com’s


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Travel Ekspert Brian Ek.

The inhabitant normal airfare for summer transport (June 1 – Aug 31, 2012) is $378, that is 2% aloft than final year, according to priceline.com’s possess statistics. Airfares are being driven by a mixed of high fuel costs and reduced capacity, as many airlines have cut a series of seats flown. For hotels, STR (Smith Travel Research) recently reported that normal hotel occupancy was 65.5% for a week of Apr 15th, while a normal daily room rate increasing 7.8% to $106.66. If these trends continue, convenience travelers might see a mixed of high rates and no vacancies in high-demand markets.

“Average fares and rates might be up, though there are exceptions where convenience travelers can still find bargains this summer,” pronounced Ek. “The pivotal is anticipating a end where all components of your outing – airfare, hotel, and let automobile – are attractively labelled so that an costly hotel rate, for example, doesn’t cancel out your airfare savings.”

Flexible travelers will find they can boost their transport assets by perplexing priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price® airline, hotel and let automobile services, where consumers bid and afterwards accept their itineraries if their bids are supposed by transport suppliers. By bidding, consumers can save adult to 60% on hotel rooms, adult to 40% on airline tickets and adult to 40% on let cars compared to published rates and fares. “Even with aloft hotel occupancy and fewer airline seats, there are rooms, seats and let cars accessible for summer transport during these really appealing discounts,” combined Ek.

Here are some of The Travel Ekspert’s recommendations for affordably labelled summer vacations. Examples next were all shopped on
http://www.priceline.com on Apr 30 and May 1. Prices and accessibility are theme to change.

Chicago. This summer, a Windy City is a discount traveler’s trifecta. The normal summer airfare to O’Hare is $339 (down 4.4% vs. final year), while Midway is an even some-more affordable $305. Summer bidders regulating priceline.com’s Name Your Own Price® let automobile use are carrying success with $16/day bids for compress cars and $15/day for economy. we found a Hotel 71, a 3.5 star hotel in downtown Chicago that rates 8.6 on a customers’ compensation scale, during $163/night for a Jun 23rd check-in (and we don’t compensate for a reservation until your stay). Priceline.com also gives guest a choice of profitable for their reservations during a time of booking. And a two-night atmosphere hotel vacation package, with round-trip airfare from St. Louis and accommodations during a 3-star Central Loop Hotel was $311.49 (July 14-16).

San Francisco. Summer airfares are down 3.4% to an normal $402. I’m saying Name Your Own Price® let automobile business carrying success with $19/day bids for compress cars and $18/day for economy, so a assets are north of 60% compared to published rates. Hotels are a small on a pricey side for a summer, nonetheless we found a 3-star Powell for $189/night for a Jun 23rd check-in. A 2-night atmosphere hotel vacation package with turn outing airfare from Los Angeles and accommodations during a 4-star Parc 55 Wyndham on Union Square was $344.84 per chairman (July 14 check-in).

Las Vegas. The supervision is still sullen on a employees jetting off to Las Vegas, and that’s good news for convenience travelers perplexing to measure a inexpensive trip. Airfares to Las Vegas this summer have forsaken 3.3% over final year, to an normal $366. Rental automobile deals are impressive. I’m saying Name Your Own Price® business carrying success with bids as low as $12/day for an economy automobile and $13/day for a compact. Midweek is when you’ll save a many money. For check-in Tuesday, Aug 7, we found a 5-star Aria Resort Casino had bedrooms for $119 a night. Bargain hunters might also like a 3-star Excalibur for $38 a night.

Florida. Summer airfares to Ft. Lauderdale are down 3.1% year over year, to $299 on average. West Palm Beach summer airfares are averaging $326, down 0.3%. Watch out for Miami – summer airfares there are adult roughly 5%. In Ft. Lauderdale, I’m saying summer let automobile business regulating Name Your Own Price® carrying success with bids as low as $16 for an economy automobile and $17 for a compact, assets in both cases of some-more than 60%. Hotel rates are attractive. For example, priceline.com is display a 4-star Crowne Plaza Hollywood Beach Resort for $109 a night.

Take a cruise. The attention is aggressively courting cruisers, and a prices simulate it, down 5% to 12% compared to final year, with assets adult to 75% off a published rates. Carnival is charity summer Caribbean cruises, vacating from Miami, labelled during $62 a night per person, and that includes stateroom, dishes and entertainment. Norwegian has Bahamas cruises from Miami for as small as $42 a night per person, and they’re throwing in total seaside excursions for kids 2-12 when accompanied by a profitable adult. Royal Caribbean and Norwegian are charity drastically reduced journey atmosphere pricing to Europe, as good as onboard perks like limited-time pre-paid gratuities, giveaway onboard spending credits, sauna offers and more. Priceline Cruises also is sweetening a understanding with giveaway hotel stays of adult to 5 nights depending on length of journey and stateroom selected.

New York City. Let’s see if we can lift a rabbit out of a hat. Actually, summer airfares into JFK are down 3.4% year over year, to $368 average, while Newark is down 1.4% to $367, and LaGuardia is adult 2.3% to $308. Best understanding on a let automobile is in Newark, where Name Your Own Price® business are carrying success with bids as low as $19 for an economy car, and $20 for a compact. As distant as hotel, here’s a large income saver. Instead of engagement in Manhattan during over $200 a night, try staying opposite a stream in Jersey City and take open transport into a city. For a Jul 20th check-in, we found a 4-star Westin Jersey City Newport, that gets an 8.9 out of 10 compensation rating from guests, for a really affordable $166 a night.

Now to answer some other questions:

Across a pond, or no? we searched all over Europe and had a tough time anticipating destinations where a airfare didn’t blow a budget, and that includes some of a PIIGS countries (Portugal, Ireland, Italy Greece Spain). we was captivated to a 6-night Ireland package, Jul 14-21, for $1,254.62 per person, that enclosed turn outing airfare from New York and 6 nights during a Finston Country House Hotel, a desirable 45-acre skill located 10 miles from Dublin Airport. Also for those dates, we found a $1,379.28 per chairman Prague package that enclosed airfare from New York and 6 nights during a 3-star Courtyard By Marriott Prague Flora, that scores 9 out of 10 with guests.

Whither Mexico. The good news is, priceline.com’s many renouned Mexico traveller destinations, including Cancun, Cozumel, Mexico City and Cabo San Lucas, are not underneath a transport warning. And a deals are really interesting. For example, for a week of Aug 11-18, we found an $818.45 per chairman atmosphere hotel package that enclosed airfare from New York and 6 nights during a Gran Melia Cancun Resort. we also found an $83/night rate during a 3-star Coral Princess Hotel Resort in Cozumel for a Jun 22nd check-in.

About The Priceline GroupThe Priceline Group


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is a personality in tellurian online hotel reservations, with over 210,000 participating hotels worldwide. The Group is stoical of 4 primary brands – Booking.com, priceline.com, Agoda.com and Rentalcars.com – and several subordinate brands. The Priceline Group provides online transport services in over 160 countries in Europe, North America, South America, a Asia-Pacific region, a Middle East and Africa.

Booking.com is a series one online hotel reservation use in a world, charity over 185,000 hotels (as of Feb 27, 2012), and is accessible in 41 languages. More new hotel depends are accessible on a Booking.com website. Priceline.com gives convenience travelers mixed ways to save on their airline tickets, hotel rooms, let cars, vacation packages and cruises.

In further to removing constrained published prices, travelers can take advantage of priceline.com’s famous Name Your Own Price® service, that can broach a lowest prices available. Agoda.com is an Asia-based online hotel reservation use that is accessible in 37 languages. Rentalcars.com is a multinational automobile sinecure service, charity a reservation services in over 4,000 locations. Customer support is supposing in 38 languages.

SOURCE priceline.com

Copyright (C) 2012 PR Newswire. All rights reserved

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