Dive Brief:
- Hotel apps performed best in user satisfaction, compared to other digital travel tools like rental car apps, airline apps, rental car websites, hotel websites and airline websites, according to J.D. Power’s 2023 U.S. Travel App and Website Satisfaction studies, released Tuesday.
- World of Hyatt ranked the highest in overall customer satisfaction, followed by Choice Hotels and Hilton Honors, which tied for second place.
- Travel apps and websites are increasingly used by hotel guests to simplify their travel experience. But, according to Michael Taylor, managing director of travel, hospitality and retail at J.D. Power, there’s room for improvement of these digital tools.
Dive Insight:
IHG followed Hyatt, Choice and Hilton in J.D. Power's travel app satisfaction study. Marriott Bonvoy came next, then Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and Best Western.
Travel apps and websites are heavily relied-upon digital tools that contain important information or resources for users, like digital hotel keys, according to J.D. Power.
More hotel guests are utilizing these apps in recent years, with the proportion of guests who have a hotel brand’s app on their mobile device up 12% this year compared to 2019, Andrea Stokes, practice lead, hospitality at J.D. Power, told Hotel Dive.
Among guests with an app, she said, more are using it to communicate with hotel staff (up 8% from 2019 to 2023), as their room key (up 7% from 2019 to 2023) and to order room service (up 10% from 2019 to 2023).
On World of Hyatt, specifically, guests can connect with member support via phone or direct messaging, view recent bills, track their rewards points, and plan their stays by viewing Hyatt’s collection of hotels and experiences. On the app, guests also have the ability to personalize their check-ins by selecting a preferred check-in time and confirming their room and housekeeping preferences.
Personalization is one area all hotel apps and websites can improve on, Taylor said, especially as it becomes a way to gain repeat business.
“Apps and websites hold a great deal of information about the particular user and their journey,” Taylor said. “Making use of that information to personalize the journey, anticipate and provide support are critical to improvement.”
Last month, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts made a bid to increase personalization for guests with the launch of a guest engagement platform featuring smart mobile check-in and checkout as well as AI messaging capabilities.
