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Take Top Industry Categories --- -- Hotel loyalty programs gain strength; Hilton HHonors most effective -- SAN RAFAEL, Calif. � May 9, 2006 -- 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 first quarter of 2006. Drury Inns, JetBlue Airways and Enterprise Rent-a-Car ranked number one in hotel, airline and rental car industry customer satisfaction, respectively. This is the first time that Drury Inns has won top honors in customer satisfaction for the hotel industry. The chain, established in 1973 by the Drury family, is one of the only hotel chains to build, own, and operate all its hotels. Incredibly, the Drury family still runs the company -- and it shows. With higher satisfaction scores than much pricier hotels, guests rave about the personal treatment they experience with such comments as "the front desk clerk remembered me by name, and that was a great feeling" and "they called me sir even though I was wearing blue jeans and a flannel shirt." But most important, a Drury hotel experience creates responses like, "we will return to that room every time we stay in Shawnee Kansas...LOVE IT!" Importance of Loyalty Programs One of the key measures used by Market Metrix to evaluate brand loyalty is called Loyalty Program Effectiveness. This measure identifies the amount of influence a loyalty program exerts in hotel selection. Some guests will go to great lengths to stay at a hotel that contributes to their member benefits while other programs are less effective in their mission to persuade guests and change behavior. Evaluating annual results for this measure shows that it is grown in importance over the last several years. In 2002, 32% of guests said that the loyalty program was a key factor in deciding where to stay; in 2005, 34% of guests said that it was a key factor. The most effective program in the industry, and the most improved, is Hilton HHonors. HHonors program effectiveness has grown from 34% in 2002 to 39% in 2005. Marriott has the next highest effectiveness at 38%. Cendant�s program has seen the largest decline (7%) over the same period. The top ten brand programs are all part of just three hotel companies: Hilton Hotels Corp. (Hilton HHonors), Marriott International (Marriott Rewards) and Choice Hotels International (Choice Privileges). Homewood Suites, a Hilton brand, ranked first in Program Effectiveness with 40.5%. This indicates that 40.5% of Homewood Suites loyalty club members said their membership was �Very important� in selecting where to stay. Hilton Garden Inn was second and Fairfield Inn by Marriott was third. 
MMHI Top-Hospitality Rankings Q1 2006
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. About Market Metrix
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