Last month, we had the pleasure of hosting the knowledgeable Jeremiah Owyang to discuss the merging of paid, owned & earned media in our May edition of Social Savvy. While getting ready, we explored the quickly growing trend of “sharing” and its effects on the economy and brands. Jeremiah recently shared a post about how brands are increasingly facing disruption from sharing, borrowing, or swapping instead of traditional buying. We are shifting towards a new model he calls the “collaborative economy,” which includes businesses like Airbnb, Rent the Runway, and Relay Rides that threaten companies such as Hyatt, Nordstrom’s, and Hertz. I noticed this trend also appeared in our latest Brand Passion Index, which focused on popular travel booking sites. With summer vacation here, it’s the perfect time for travel, so I looked into social opinions on these seven brands: Expedia, Airbnb,

In the graphic above, the amount of chatter about a brand is indicated by the size of the bubble, while the placement of the bubble shows the sentiment and the intensity of passion.

The well-established Expedia generated the largest share of buzz with 29% of the overall chatter, but only had the third highest Passion Intensity (51) and one of the lowest Net Sentiment scores (43). Online consumers complained about its high prices and lackluster customer service.

Expedia has some truly awful customer service – tried three days in a row – I have sat on hold for 20+ minutes each time. #callmebackjerks

Expedia customer service was abominable. In the process of a simple matter of rescheduling a connection due to one airline changing its flight schedule, I spoke to over 10 representatives, spent 12 hours on the phone, had my flights fixed, then cancelled, then reinstated and then duplicated.

I thought the Expedia site was the most expensive. I rarely use travel operators as I don’t find their prices competitive.

i’ve noticed expedia has become very expensive recently.

According to the model of the collaborative economy, the latest travel sites focused on sharing ended up in the top right corner, often called the love zone: Airbnb and Hipmunk took the spotlight. Hipmunk was the most popular, boasting the highest Passion Intensity (84) and the highest Net Sentiment (73). Even though the newcomer accounted for just about 2% of the overall discussions, users still praised the Hipmunk website for its ease of use and functionality.

Hipmunk’s price graph function is amazing! And the little chipmunk loading icon… too cute.

Hipmunk’s airfare alerts are amazing. Love this service.

I love hipmunk for looking up flights. It is clear and concise.

Love hipmunk. I will never go back to the columns of times/numbers other sites show.

I love Hipmunk.. great aggregation site, and the giant charts are really useful when planning trips.

Close behind Hipmunk was Airbnb, which amazingly generated the second largest share of buzz with 22% of the overall chatter, as well as the second largest Passion Intensity (77) and Net Sentiment (60). During the course of my analysis, the brand’s metrics took a slight dive after legislation in New York questioned the legality of the property-renting service. Still, the verbatim I surfaced showed that online consumers love to compliment the company’s customer service and uniquely designed interface.

Officially @airbnb has the BEST customer svc out there. Responsive&Timely, Personal&Authentic. Couldnt ask for more. Youve got a user for life!

So it seems the consensus is that @airbnb is the best thing ever. I’m sold.

Love the @Airbnb Xmas email I’ve just received. Quite original =).

I’m loving the new @Airbnb’s web design. #goodjob

My experience with airbnb has been excellent. They also guarantee your money and say they will work hard to find an alternate place if your first one falls through.

So who’s your go-to for booking travel online? Let me know!