Guest satisfaction in hotels dipped 1.3 percent in the past year, according to the "American Customer Satisfaction Index Travel Report 2018-2019." Marriott International and Hilton led the category, with their brands JW Marriott, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott and Hilton Garden Inn taking the top four spots.
The report gave companies and brands within the travel and hospitality industry a score on a scale of 0 to 100. Hotels overall came in at 75, with Hilton and Marriott tying at 80. JW Marriott received the highest score, 84, followed by Embassy Suites and Fairfield Inn & Suites at 83 and Hilton Garden Inn at 82. Marriott Hotels, IHG’s Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Courtyard by Marriott and Best Western Hotels & Resorts' Best Western Premier brand tied at 81. Economy brands Days Inn (Wyndham Hotels & Resorts), Econo Lodge (Choice Hotels International), Super 8 (Wyndham) and Motel 6 (G6 Hospitality) ranked at the bottom with scores of 68, 67, 65 and 63, respectively.
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The report also measured satisfaction with specific aspects of the hotel experience. These scores were all down from the previous year. Making a reservation and checking in both scored an 84, staff courtesy and helpfulness received an 82, room quality came in at 81 and call center satisfaction fell 6 percent, the biggest drop, to 78.
For comparison, the same report gave airlines a 74, travel websites a 79 and TripAdvisor an 82. The report was based on interviews with 12,873 customers, who were chosen at random and contacted via email between April 2018 and March 2019.