Park Hyatt, Omni and Outrigger are the American hotels currently providing the best guest experiences, according to a report released by Medallia, a provider of SaaS Customer Experience Management (CEM) solutions. The report uses ratings from some of the world’s most-visited and -used travel and hospitality review sites to rank 47 leading hotel brands across 6 different price tiers. These rankings show which ones provide the most positive experiences for guests — and reveal key drivers of success shared by the most-improved brands.
Hotel guests increasingly rely on customer feedback on review sites when making buying decisions. According to a World Travel Market report, more than one-third of consumers will change hotel bookings after browsing review sites. A recent Local Consumer Review Survey also found that 72 percent of consumers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. To survive in this new environment, hotels must deliver customer experiences that match their brand promises — a challenge making many hotel brands seek deeper insight into real guest voices and needs.
America’s best-performing hotels
The Medallia report identifies the hotel brands that provided the best experiences across different price tiers during the second quarter of 2014. Park Hyatt topped the highly competitive, top-tier Luxury category with an impressive 94 percent positive guest reviews. Meanwhile, Hawaii-based Outrigger Hotels — which maintains only 36 properties — beat out much larger competitors to win the mid-tier Upscale category with a score of 90 percent.
Best Performing:
- Luxury: Park Hyatt – 94 percent positive scores
- Upper Upscale: Omni – 85 percent
- Upscale: Outrigger – 90 percent
- Upper Midscale: Hampton Inn & Suites – 88 percent
- Midscale: Candlewood – 82 percent
- Economy: Value Place – 67 percent
Most-improved hotels found success through better amenities
The report also reveals the hotel brands that improved the most over the past year — showing travelers which hotels they might be unjustly overlooking when planning their next vacation.
Hotel guests responded particularly enthusiastically to improved hotel facilities. Over the past year, the most-improved brand in five of the six tiers won that distinction because of upgrades to its dining and recreational facilities. In the Upper Upscale category, Hard Rock Hotels saw an impressive 10 percent satisfaction increase by improving its bars, restaurants and pools.
However, in the least-expensive Economy category, quality of staff was the biggest differentiator for hotel guests. Value Place — the most-improved brand in that or any category — saw a 14 percent increase in positive guest experiences because of better performances by its frontline staff.
Most-Improved Hotels per Category:
- Luxury: Park Hyatt: +2 percent
- Upper Upscale: Hard Rock: +10 percent
- Upscale: Four Points: +3 percent
- Upper Midscale: Home2 Suites: +6 percent
- Midscale: Quality: +2 percent
- Economy: Value Place: +14 percent
“Ultimately, the most successful hotel brands win by grounding guest experience investments in a solid understanding of what guests are talking about and asking for,” said Michelle de Haaff, Medallia’s vice president of marketing. “In many ways, guest-reported experiences are the new proxy for brands, since consumers use them to make purchasing decisions. This shift makes it as important as ever for hotels to pay close attention to guest voices and incorporate them into strategic decisions and investments.”
Report methodology
Information for this report was obtained from some of the world’s most visited and used travel and hospitality review sites. Only multi-property brands in the U.S. are included. Reviews include those posted on the above sites from April through June 2014. Final scores count reviews in the top 20 percent of the scale (4+ out of 5 points). Classification tiers are based on the STR chain scales. This report covers the U.S. market only.
Click here to view Medallia’s full Social Media Hotels Report.
