Staff service was a top driver in guest satisfaction for the largest North American third-party management companies, according to a new J.D. Power analysis released Tuesday.
The company based the third-party management assessment on its annual Hotel Guest Satisfaction Survey, which is collected over 12 months from May to April each year. For the 2020 survey, J.D. Power collected nearly 38,000 hotel stays. Third parties with at least 14,000 North American hotel rooms under management were included.
"Now, more than ever, when travelers have heightened concerns about health, safety, cleanliness and availability of amenities, it's clear that a well-trained, courteous hotel staff can define a guest experience," J.D. Power hospitality practice lead Andrea Stokes said in a statement.
Crestline Hotels & Resorts ranked highest in overall guest satisfaction, with a score of 861 on a 1,000-point scale. Atrium Hospitality and Pyramid Hotel Group tied for second with 860 each.
The company asked 150 questions and measured six factors, with multiple elements among each factor:
- Arrival and departure (including front desk and staff service)
- Guest room (including cleanliness, condition and quality of linens)
- Food and beverage
- Services and amenities (including fitness centers and pools)
- Hotel facilities (including parking, grounds, safety and security)
- Costs and fees
"Companies near the top of the list all performed well around the staff service idea, which is why we called it out," Stokes told BTN, adding that the top four companies ranked highest for service then for guest rooms.
J.D. Power has at least 10,000 properties in its database, Stokes said, and "it allowed us to do this analysis and take our factors and run our statistic models to look at management companies in this way and provide a benchmark. We know they compete for new owners and new management contracts, so we thought this would be useful for them, to be able to benchmark their performance against their key competitors."