Membership in Frequent-Stay Programs Doubles
Repeat Business;
Programs Grow Nearly 12 Percent in 2003
SAN RAFAEL, Calif., Feb. 3, 2004 - Market Metrix, LLC, the leading
provider of market research services for the hospitality industry, today
announced results of the Market Metrix Hospitality Index (MMHI) for the
fourth quarter of 2004. Walt Disney World Resorts, Jet Blue Airways
and Enterprise Rent-A-Car ranked number one in hotel, airline and rental
car industry customer satisfaction, respectively. While this is the
first win for Walt Disney World Resorts overall, the hospitality company
has won in the "Upscale Hotel" niche category for the last six quarters
in a row. Jet Blue and Enterprise have both won five out of the last
six quarters in their industry categories.
Frequent-Stay Programs on the Rise
Guests are finding frequent-stay, or hotel loyalty, programs increasingly
important. The number of guests enrolled in frequent-stay programs
grew in 2003 by nearly 12 percent. The number of guests who indicated
that membership in a hotel's frequent-stay program was "very important"
in selecting their most recent hotel stay rose steadily throughout 2003,
with a 25 percent annual increase.
"Features like transferability of points and instant redemption, combined
with no blackout dates and no point expiration, are making it faster and
easier for members to redeem their points for hotel and merchandise rewards
and are helping drive guests to join such programs in greater numbers,"
said Jonathan Barsky, Ph.D., Market Metrix co-founder and partner and University
of San Francisco marketing professor. "This is welcome news for hotels,
because members of hotel loyalty programs are nearly twice as likely to
return to a hotel compared to non-members. Beyond the repeat hotel
business that these programs encourage, club members typically spend more
per room, are less sensitive to price increases and are more satisfied
with their hotel experience."
Members of a hotel's loyalty program are much more likely to make their
reservations online than non-members. Loyalty club members use the
Internet 43 percent of the time to make their hotel reservations.
Non-members go online only 32 percent of the time to book their hotel rooms.
Loyalty club members who make their reservations online are more likely
to use the hotel or brand's website versus general travel sites than non-members.
Fifty-nine percent of loyalty club members use the hotel or brand's website
to make their online reservations. Non-members use these websites
considerably less -- only 27 percent of the time.
MMHI Top-Hospitality Rankings
Q4 2003
Hotel
-- Walt Disney World Resorts
Airline
-- Jet Blue Airways
Car Rental
-- Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Luxury Hotels
-- Hotel Intercontinental - Hotel Intercontinental
won the "Luxury" segment for the first time, edging out the Ritz Carlton,
as well as the Four Seasons, which previously ranked in two "Luxury" hotel
brands every quarter, dropping this quarter to fourth place.
Upscale Hotels
-- Walt Disney World Resorts - Brand has won the
category for the last six quarters in a row.
Upper Mid-Price Hotels
-- Country Inns & Suites by Carlson - Although
their rooms are priced at about half that of rooms in the "Luxury" category,
Country Inns & Suites scored higher in satisfaction than three out
of six "Luxury" hotel brands.
Mid-Price Hotels
-- Drury Inns - Drury Inns beat four of six "Luxury"
brands in customer satisfaction scores, despite selling rooms at less than
half the reported rate of those in the "Luxury" category.
Economy Hotels
-- La Quinta Inns - La Quinta won the category for
the first time.
Extended-Stay Hotels
-- Candlewood - Candlewood has placed top in the
category for two straight quarters. Candlewood and Homewood Suites
have been the top two "Extended-Stay Hotel" brands for the last six quarters.
Casino
-- Golden Nugget - Golden Nugget won in the overall
"Casino" category for the second time in the past three quarters.
Upscale Casino
-- Bellagio - The Venetian has consistently ranked
in the top two among upscale casinos. This quarter, however, the Mirage
was the runner-up.
Hotel Reservations Website -- Hotel Brand
-- Wyndham
Hotel Reservations Website -- Travel
-- Hotwire.com |
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About MMHI
The Market Metrix Hospitality Index is a quarterly report of customer
satisfaction with hotel, airline and car rental companies based on 35,000
in-depth consumer interviews. The MMHI ranks top hospitality brands
by industry and, for hotels, by categories such as luxury, mid-price and
economy. Detailed, in-depth and customized reports are available
for subscribers. No other customer satisfaction index offers MMHI's
reporting frequency, volume of customer interviews, cross-industry results
or innovative satisfaction measures.
The MMHI contains 135 hotel brands, 25 airlines and 11 car rental companies.
The wealth of data is presented in an easy-to-use format, enabling subscribers
to quickly identify trends and find best practices. Subscribers can
measure their company's stand-alone performance and dynamically benchmark
their ratings against those of self-selected competitors and highly ranked
companies within and across the other hospitality industries. In
addition to standard measures of customer satisfaction, MMHI has pioneered
several proprietary measures. Hospitality companies that provide
Loyalty Emotions -- select emotional experiences for customers, such as
"pampered," "relaxed" or "hip/cool," depending on category and niche --
obtain higher rates and can increase prices with fewer defections.
Loyalty Program Strength measures the relative success of a company's loyalty
program compared to other programs in the industry. The Secure Customer
measures a customer's intent to return and likelihood of recommending the
hospitality company, important indicators of satisfaction.
About Market Metrix
Market Metrix, LLC was founded in 1996 by partners Jonathan Barsky,
Ph.D., and Lenny Nash to provide the hospitality industry with better customer
and employee satisfaction measurement programs and management tools.
In addition to MMHI, Market Metrix provides clients with award-winning
survey systems and strategic services. Market Metrix also operates
the Consumer Research Center, which provides focus group facilities, data
entry services and a state-of-the-art specialty call center. Based
in San Rafael, Calif., Market Metrix is partner-owned and has 50 employees.
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