Coyle Hospitality Group gathered word of mouth feedback from 5,000 unique travelers to gain a better understanding of what makes a great hotel stay. That is, what makes a hotel stay great enough for the traveler to rave about it.
The bed and bathroom have been made the primary focus of the guestroom in the industry. Hospitality companies have spent significant sums of human and monetary capital on the bed and bathroom to gain competitive advantage. But was this money spent in vain? Do guests talk about the bed and bathroom when describing their best experiences? When guests do talk about the bed and bathrooms, what do they talk about?
By looking at about 5,000 guest experiences, CHG hoped to find out how important the bed and bath were in the best hotel experiences.
Bed & Bedding
When respondents talked about their best experiences, 18% of the time bed & bedding was mentioned. In fact, bed & bedding was the fourth most frequently mentioned attribute overall. The attribute was mentioned in 20% of the Upscale best experiences and was one of the segment’s top five mentioned attributes. Bed & bedding was a key attribute for just about all segments.
Bath
While bed & bedding was mentioned in 18% of best experiences, only 10% of best experiences mentioned bath attributes (towels, amenities, water pressure). Except for the Economy and Luxury segments, most segments showed that bath attributes were mentioned in fewer best experiences than the bed & bedding attributes.
However, when we separated the Lifestyle and Casino best experiences from the segments, we found that the bath category was mentioned more often than usual. In fact, bath attributes were one of the top attributes for Casino best experiences.
Looking at the specific bath attributes, Lifestyle best experiences often mentioned the bath amenities attribute, and respondents would often describe the brands of bath amenities provided. Interestingly, for Casino best experiences, respondents often mentioned attributes that described the physical facilities, such as the water pressure and the shower, but the attribute was not frequently mentioned in most of the best experiences.
| Bath Attributes | % of All Best Experiences | % of Lifestyle | % of Casino |
| Bath | 10% | 18% | 22% |
| Towels | 3% | 0% | 4% |
| Bath Amenities (shampoo/conditioner) |
4% | 12% | 6% |
| Water Pressure/Shower | 2% | 4% | 9 |
For Economy and Luxury best experiences, bath attributes were mentioned in 13% of the time, which is similar to the percentage mentioned for bed & bedding. However, Economy best experiences often mentioned towels, while respondents at Luxury best experiences often talked about bath amenities, such as shampoo and conditioner. Of particular note, W Hotels were often given positive remarks for their Bliss product line.
In conclusion, the bed & bedding is definitely a key aspect of a hotel best experience. The bathroom, however, differs depending on the segment or whether the hotel has a Lifestyle concept or is part of a Casino experience. The bathroom was frequently mentioned in Casino best experiences, particularly due to descriptions about the shower and water pressure. Lifestyle best experiences had an unusually high number of mentions for bath amenities at 12% of Lifestyle best experiences. Bath amenities were also a key attribute for Luxury best experiences.
Economy best experiences also mentioned bath attributes more frequently than other segments, primarily due to the descriptions about towels. This suggests that the budget-conscious traveler cares more about the quality of the towel than the brand of shampoo that is provided.
Our conclusion is that the Luxury and Lifestyle consumer cares more about the bath amenities the hotel supplies, and this impression is probably taken home with them, literally.
Hotels or hotel companies wishing to learn more about how their particular brand or segment fared should contact Katie Ho at research@coylehospitality.com.
Upcoming studies are:
- Differentiating attributes of commonly categorized hotel segments
- Service vs. Engagement – Is it what they do or how they do it?
- Guestroom – The main drivers of satisfaction
- Food & Beverage – Bars & Breakfasts
If you would like to receive any of these reports when they are published, please sign up for sQoreboard, Coyle’s news & research mailing list at: www.coylehospitality.com/sQoreboard
More data from the survey can be found at Coyle’s website at: www.coylehospitality.com/research
About Coyle Hospitality Group
Coyle Hospitality Group is a market leader providing mystery shopping and brand quality assurance services exclusively to hotels, restaurants and spas worldwide. Since 1996, Coyle has completed over 30,000 quality evaluations exclusively for hospitality clients. For more information please visit www.coylehospitality.com or call (212) 629-2083.
