Hotel and Motel Management released a 2011 U.S. Hotel Brands Survey yesterday showing Hilton Hotels as the #1 U.S. hotel brand (by rooms) with 192,413 guest rooms and 540 hotels.

Loyalty Traveler just happened to have spent the past couple of weeks independently studying hotel brand size. My readers know my love for numbers (mostly counting points, but also hotels) and this survey is a data mining field for me. However, I question the first row of data for Hilton Hotels in the HMM 2011 U.S. Hotel Brands Survey. I think the first line of this survey shows the editorial staff stepped on a data land mine with this survey release. [Click on picture image to open full size image in new window.]

HMM 2011 U.S. Hotels Brands Survey

My analysis shows Hilton data shown in the HMM survey appears to be global numbers of rooms and hotels, whereas the other brands shown are based on rooms and hotels only in the U.S.

Here is the data from Hilton Hotels About page:

Hilton Hotels About (webpage from 2-17-11)

Hilton Hotels brand may very well be number 1 in the U.S., but we need an apples to apples comparison to know for sure. Those 192,000 rooms and 540 hotels in the Hilton Hotels brand appear to include the number of hotels and rooms from 75 other non-U.S. countries. The other brands shown appear to only include the U.S. rooms and hotel count data.

I know how difficult Hilton’s website and financial reports make hotel counts for Loyalty Traveler. Hilton drives me crazy with the challenge of counting hotels and finding hotel reward category assignments for HHonors properties.

All in all, I find this a useful survey for hotel industry brand data. The front line Hilton Worldwide data just needs fine tuning for accurate brand representation of U.S. hotels only.

Source: HMM 2011 U.S. Hotel Brands Survey (pdf file)

“Consumers should remember that hotel affordability across the world has not been this good since 2004.” – David Roche, President Hotels.com 

Hotels.com Hotel Price Index is a good report for the frequent guest to gauge global hotel prices and price changes over the past year. There are many tables and graphs for the reader accompanied with some insightful commentary that coincides with industry forecasts from other sources I’ve read this summer.

The survey provides travel destination indicators like Bali, Indonesia. Hotel prices have gone through the roof year-over-year – up 57% from $129 per night 2009-Q2 to $203 per night 2010-Q2 in the wake of ”Eat, Pray, Love” fascination with this location. A flood of tourism dollars is a good sort of tsunami for the region, but rapidly inflated prices steer me to better value locations for my travels.

Bargain destinations like Ireland and Portugal may be the better choice for a budget vacation.  Eastern Europe is giving out great value for travel dollars.

The Hotel Price Index preface notes by David Roche, President of Hotels.com, indicate hotel room rates have shown a global rise, about 2% year-over-year for the first time since 2007.  

Asia is recovering most rapidly. Singapore and Bali aid that growth.

Much of North America, Europe and the Middle East are sitting at hotel rates common to 2004. David Roche points to corporate travel picking up more in North America than in Europe in 2010.

And staycations seem here to stay. Recession travel. There are tables showing the average room rates for the 50 states and major cities.

Hotels.com Hotel Price Index survey

1. Global price changes in the first half of 2010
   Overall
   By region
2. Price changes in global destinations
   Prices across the world’s top cities
   Most expensive destinations
   Highest price rises and falls
3. U.S. hotel prices by state
4. U.S. hotel prices by city
5. Caribbean and Latin American destinations
6. European city destinations
7. Prices paid at home and away
8. Where to go for $150 or $100 per night
9. Average room prices by star rating
10. Luxury for less
11. Travel habits
    Top U.S. destinations for U.S. travelers
    Top overseas destinations for U.S. travelers
    Top U.S. destinations for travelers from overseas

I particularly like the sections “Where to Go for $150 and $100 per night” and “Average room prices by star rating”. Cities where I can expect to find a 4-star hotel for $150 per night is the kind of information I find valuable for travel planning.

“Average Room Prices by Star Rating” table shows a European vacation can be upscale and significantly cheaper if you stay in hotels in countries like Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic, Austria and Germany. 4-star hotels may be half the rate in cities around these countries compared to Paris, Rome and London.

I look most closely at the spread between the 3-star, 4-star and 5-star room rates. In Europe I particularly prefer the 4-star rating due to several experiences in unacceptable 3-star hotels. I am looking for a place where there is a low spread in room rates between 4-star and 3-star hotels and a high spread between 4-star and 5-star.  A place like Amsterdam shows a 4-star hotel is on average $36 more than a 3-star hotel. The rate difference is a high $72 to move up to 5-star room rates. This is a good example of a city where the step up to 4-star is half the cost compared to the step up from 4-star to 5-star rates.

15 cities with the best 5-star value is another great table for cities where a luxury hotel is still available for under $200 per night. Las Vegas is the only cheap hotel destination in the USA.

New York City just blows my mind with its room rates. $150 per night doesn’t even buy a 2-star hotel room. $300 is the average room rate for a 4-star hotel. When I wrote about the InterContinental Hotel New York Times Square yesterday all I could think is how I could save $500 to $600 per night on this luxury hotel by using 40,000 points. Loyalty points are a great investment travel plan if you have need for NYC hotel rooms and you are paying your own bill.

There are several Starwood resorts in Portugal on my bucket list and  I see Cash & Points awards at 4,000 points + $60 for a hotel like the Convento de Espinheiro, Evora. Provided the right SPG promotion I might even go for 149€ per night. My frequent flyer accounts call to me – redeem.

The J D Power Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index is probably the largest annual hotel brand ranking system based on a consumer survey of over 53,000 hotel guest comments from May 2009 through June 2010. The data included in this post is from the J D Power report while the commentary is my Loyalty Traveler thoughts and analysis based on the 2010 study. My purpose is to view the hotel brand rankings with regard to choosing a hotel loyalty program based on the merits of the hotel brands in addition to the hotel loyalty program.

This initial post is an overview of the JD Power 2010 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study.

Additional posts will follow to look more closely at the hotel brands ranking in the different market segments of luxury brands, upscale, midscale, economy/budget, and extended stay.

JDPower.com 2010 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study link and press release

This is the 14^th year of the North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction study. These are the 2010 hotel brand market segment leaders according to J D Power.

The following hotel brands rank highest in guest satisfaction within their respective segments:

• Luxury: The Ritz-Carlton
• Upscale: Omni Hotels & Resorts
• Mid-Scale Full Service: Hilton Garden Inn (for a second consecutive year)
• Mid-Scale Limited Service: Drury Inn & Suites (for a fifth consecutive year)
• Economy/Budget: Microtel Inns & Suites (for a ninth consecutive year)
• Extended Stay: Homewood Suites

An interesting result is guest satisfaction increased across all market segments in 2010 compared to last year’s index, particularly with regard to cost and fees. Now this tells me something about the impact of the unprecedented hotel rate drops of the past year in North America. 

Still only 58% of hotel guests make reservations online and that is a 4% rise from last year’s study. The good news is most guests book through the hotel brand website rather than through online travel agencies. Loyalty program benefits are probably a significant factor in this choice. The study states twice as many guests had reservation problems with a third party online site compared to guests booking through the hotel’s own websites.

The top five “must-have” amenities for hotel guests in 2010 are

1. wireless Internet access;
2. complimentary breakfast;
3. bedding and pillow choices,
4. pillow-top mattresses; and
5. free parking.

The hotel chain standouts in the hotel loyalty program category are Hilton HHonors and Marriott Rewards with top 3 brands in most categories.

Hotel brand rankings in the different market segments for each major hotel loyalty program:

Best Western Rewards

• Midscale Full Service (Best Western #7) 

Carlson Hotels Goldpoints Plus

• Upscale (Radisson Hotels #12)
• Midscale Limited Service (Country Inn & Suites #7) 

Choice Privileges

• Midscale Full Service (Quality #9; Clarion #10)
• Midscale Limited Service (Comfort Suites #8; Sleep Inn #10; Comfort Inn #13)
• Economy/Budget (Econolodge #6; Rodeway Inn #10)

Hilton HHonors had no brands included in the luxury category. Conrad and Waldorf-Astoria Collection apparently are too few in number for inclusion in the study.

• Luxury (none) – Conrad and Waldorf-Astoria have too few hotels for ranking
• Upscale (Embassy Suites #2; Hilton Hotels #7; Doubletree #11),
• Midscale Full Service (Hilton Garden Inn #1),
• Midscale Limited Service (Hampton Inn #3);
• Extended Stay (Homewood Suites #1)

Hyatt Gold Passport

• Luxury (none) – Park Hyatt has too few hotels for ranking
• Upscale (Hyatt Regency/Grand Hyatt #10)
• Midscale full service (Hyatt Place #2)
• Extended Stay (none) – Hyatt Summerfield Suites has too few hotels for ranking

InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club Rewards

• Luxury (InterContinental Hotels #5)
• Upscale (Hotel Indigo #8; Crowne Plaza #13)
• Midscale Full Service (Holiday Inn #6),
• Midscale Limited Service (Holiday Inn Express #6)
• Extended Stay (Staybridge Suites #2; Candlewood Suites #4)

Marriott Rewards brands earned a top three rank in every category from

• Luxury (Ritz-Carlton #1; JW Marriott #3)
• Upscale (Renaissance #3)
• Midscale full service (Courtyard #3)
• Midscale with limited service (SpringHill Suites #2; Fairfield Inn #5)
• Extended stay (Residence Inn #3; TownePlace Suites #5).

Starwood Preferred Guest

• Luxury (W Hotels #6) – St. Regis and Luxury Collection have too few hotels for ranking
• Upscale (Aloft #4; Westin #6; Sheraton #14)
• Midscale Full Service (Four Points #4),
• Midscale Limited Service (none)
• Extended Stay (none) – Element is Starwood’s extended stay brand but still only seven hotels)

Wyndham Rewards

• Luxury (none)
• Upscale (Wyndham Hotels & Resorts #9)
• Midscale Full Service (Wyndham Garden #5; Ramada #8; Howard Johnson Hotels/Plaza #11),
• Midscale Limited Service (Wingate #4; Baymont Inn & Suites #12)
• Economy/Budget (Microtel Inn & Suites #1; Howard Johnson Express/Inns #2; Super 8 #4; Days Inn #5; Travelodge #7; Knights Inn #11)
• Extended Stay (none) 

Wyndham Rewards is obviously the economy/budget market leader. Wyndham Rewards also has a great points-to-miles exchange rate for getting cheap airline tickets from your hotel stays. 

I will continue my analysis of the JD Power North America Guest Satisfaction Survey with commentary on the hotel brands ranking in the different market segments in one or two other posts to follow. 

Related Posts: Loyalty traveler comments on JD Power Luxury Segment and luxury hotel brands     (Aug 11, 2010)

Loyalty traveler comments on JD Power Upscale Segment Hotel Brands

Loyalty Traveler Comments on JD Power 2010 Midscale Full Service Brand Ratings (Aug 13, 2010)

Loyalty Traveler comments on JD Power 2010 Midscale Limited Service Brands (August 15, 2010)

Loyalty Traveler comments on JD Power 2010 Economy/Budget Hotel Brand Ratings (August 16, 2010)

Comments on JD Power 2010 Extended Stay Hotel Satisfaction Index (Aug 17)

Ritz-Carlton, Le Meridien, Crowne Plaza, and Hampton Inn take top place in their respective hotel market segments of luxury, upper upscale, upscale, and midscale. So we have Marriott, Starwood, InterContinental Hotels Group, and Hilton ready to take the survey results to the PR market for 2010.

All the big hotel chains are happy.

The BTN Hotel Survey is based on a survey of 387 corporate buyers. These are the people who negotiate contracts for corporate rates and conventions and such. Survey questions address topics like appearance of facilities, courteous staff, quality of food, quality of in room amenities, quality of business facilities, and perhaps most importantly the overall price-value relationship.

Here are leaders by hotel market segment.

Luxury Hotel Brands

     1. Ritz-Carlton (Marriott)

     2. Four Seasons

     3. Fairmont

     3. Waldorf-Astoria (Hilton)

     5. Mandarin-Oriental

     6. St. Regis (Starwood)

     7. Luxury Collection (Starwood)

Upper Upscale Hotel Brands

     1. Le Meridien (Starwood)

     2. InterContinental Hotels (Intercontinental Hotels Group – IHG)

     3. JW Marriott (Marriott)

     3. Sofitel (Accor)

     5. Renaissance (Marriott)

     6.  W Hotels (Starwood)

     7. Hilton

     7. Hyatt

     9. Omni

     10. Loews

     10. Westin (Starwood)

     12. Kimpton

     12. Marriott

     14. Sheraton (Starwood)

Upscale Hotel Brands

     1. Crowne Plaza (IHG)

     2. Hilton Garden Inn (Hilton)

     2. Hyatt Place (Hyatt)

     4.  EmbassySuites (Hilton)

     5. Doubletree (Hilton)

     6. Wyndham

     7. Four Points (Starwood)

     8. Courtyard (Marriott)

     9. Radisson (Carlson)

     9. SpringHill Suites (Marriott)

Midscale Hotel Brands

     1. Hampton Inn (Hilton)

     2. La Quinta Inn & Suites (La Quinta)

     3. Holiday Inn Express (IHG)

     4. Holiday Inn (IHG)

     5. Fairfield Inn (Marriott)

     6. Best Western

     7. Comfort Inn (Choice)

Source link: BTN 2010 U.S. Hotel Chain Survey