Business Travel News again this year surveyed corporate readers responsible for hotel buying decisions and asked them to rate the performance of U.S. hotel chains in six segments—deluxe, upscale, midprice, budget/economy, and upscale and midprice extended stay—in 13 separate attributes.
Download a PDF of the full 2008 U.S. Hotel Chain Survey here. Included are all results, rakings, analysis and Web-only features. Individual features are listed below; click on the headline for the full story.
JW Marriott Wins Upscale As Marriott, Hilton DominateTravel buyers are showing high levels of satisfaction with Marriott International and Hilton Hotels Corp., as the two companies' brands dominated most tiers in the 2008 U.S. Hotel Chain Survey.
Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton Tie As Deluxe Tier Leads Rate GrowthFour Seasons Hotels and Resorts and Ritz-Carlton have battled back and forth for years to be buyers' top deluxe brand, and this year they share the U.S. Hotel Chain Survey crown.
Hilton Garden Inn Rises Above Two Midprice Marriott BrandsFor the first time since 2001, Hilton Garden Inn claimed the top spot in the U.S. Hotel Chain survey's midprice segment, a tier that is among the fastest-growing in the hotel industry in terms of revenue and supply, and one of increasing interest to business travel buyers as more look to trade down service levels within their hotel programs for cost savings.
Suite Clarity: Homewood, Homestead Sweep Extended StayIn a year when the U.S. extended stay lodging sector reached record levels of revenue and supply, buyers gave top scores to Hilton Hotels Corp.'s brand in the upscale extended stay segment, Homewood Suites by Hilton.
Days Inn Tops Closely Contested Economy Rankings(BTNonline Web-Only Feature)After several years in the silver and bronze positions, Days Inn this year edged out its competitors to become the brand travel buyers rated highest in the tightly contested economy tier.
2008 U.S. Hotel Chain Survey MethodologyBusiness Travel News' U.S. Hotel Chain Survey annually measures corporate travel buyer opinions of the lodging brands they use.
BTN e-mailed 7,391 corporate readers responsible for hotel buying decisions, asking them to rate hotels with which they did business in the past year in six hotel segments: deluxe, upscale, midprice, budget/economy, and upscale and midprice extended stay. Equation Research tabulated 539 responses.