Expedia Forms Consumer Advisory Panel

Traveling can be an altogether unpleasant experience. Between flight delays, lost luggage, and mysteriously vanishing reservations, a day at the airports can give leave you with quite the headache. Add to that the additional strain one can find when planning your trips online and things can get downright unpleasant.

One local online company is taking a step in the right direction, today announcing the formation of the online travel industry’s first consumer advisory council.

Expedia.com has formed the community of several thousand travelers, who will provide ongoing feedback in areas ranging from overall industry topics to specific features and services to helping the company continually improve its Web site and service.

Expedia.com has partnered with MarketTools, a provider of online market research technologies, to develop and maintain consumer relationships and activity as well as gather and analyze feedback.

Council members will be invited from the general online travel community as well as Expedia’s customer base.

“We think of the Expedia Traveler Council the way architects think of their clients,” said Richard Barton, president and CEO of Expedia, Inc. “The more we know about what travelers want us to build, the closer we can come to realizing their vision. Expedia has been built on four years of customer input, and the Expedia Traveler Council takes that existing feedback loop to the next level.”

Expedia is using MarketTools’ market research technology, zPanel Management System and zTelligence, to gather, analyze and share aggregate interactive data from the travel community.