The deciding factor between a mediocre stay in a hotel and a memorable experience often boils down to the hotel’s management team. It is this team that ensures that guests have a problem-free and pleasurable experience at the hotel. Managing a hotel on behalf of owners, third-party hotel management companies offer expertise, operational efficiency and innovation. Hotel management companies have been found to offer significantly better overall guest experiences, a recent survey has found.
The overall guest satisfaction with branded hotels run by the U.S. biggest third-party management companies has seen a dramatic improvement this year, outpacing both chain-managed and independent hotels, according to J.D. Power 2024 North America Third-Party Hotel Management Guest Satisfaction Benchmark.
Third-party management companies operating branded hotels are going all out by consistently delivering well-maintained buildings, clean guestrooms and an overall better guest experience than those seen among independently-operated branded and the chain-managed hotels, said Andrea Stokes, hospitality practice lead at J.D. Power. “What is most noteworthy is that the largest third-party hotel operators are delivering an improved level of staff service even as higher room rates are pushing guest expectations higher.”
Key Findings
- Overall guest satisfaction saw a significant jump YOY: Guest satisfaction in hotels operated by third-party management companies is 683 (on a 1,000-point scale), increasing 8 points from the previous year. This improvement is mostly driven by improvements in satisfaction with cleanliness of the rooms, upkeep and maintenance of the property and staff’s responsiveness to guests’ queries and requests.
- Improved guest experience offsets higher prices: While guests at branded hotels said their rooms were costly this year, the overall improvement in perceived value for price for the largest third-party managed properties has soared 6 points on average from last year. This highlights that guests think that these hotels offer good value for quality and service received.
- Faster front desk service and improved staff responsiveness: Across all operational areas in the benchmark, staff service recorded the highest guest scores. There has been a marked improvement YOY in satisfaction with staff service, fueled by considerably higher scores for front desk staff efficiency and responsiveness to guest questions or concerns.
Benchmark Rating
Davidson Hospitality Group ranked the highest in overall guest satisfaction for the third consecutive year, with a score of 735. This was followed by HEI Hotels & Resorts (705) and White Lodging (704).
Now in its fifth year, the North America Third-Party Hotel Management Guest Satisfaction Benchmark assesses guest satisfaction with branded hotels that are operated by the biggest third-party firms. The evaluation is based on six factors: communications and connectivity, F&B, guestroom, hotel facilities, staff service and value for price.
The benchmark includes third-party hotel operators with over 14,000 branded hotel rooms under management was is based on 4,907 guest responses for branded stays between May 2023 through May 2024.
