Dive Brief:
- Despite record ADRs, U.S. hotel guests across every segment feel they are getting better value for their travel dollars — a result of higher guest satisfaction with hotel room conditions and amenities, according to J.D. Power’s 2025 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index Study, published Tuesday.
- The luxury and upscale segments showed the strongest overall guest satisfaction scores in the study, which surveyed some 39,000 hotel guests at 102 brands across segments for stays between May 2024 and May 2025. Marriott International’s luxury Ritz-Carlton flag had the highest ranking of any brand in the study.
- As the travel landscape becomes more complex, “guests want hotels to provide the comforts of home,” Andrea Stokes, hospitality practice lead at J.D. Power, said in a statement, noting that hotels can significantly influence guest satisfaction through in-room technology enhancements.
Dive Insight:
J.D. Power’s 2025 study found that hotel guests across every segment perceived greater value for the hotel costs they paid compared to the year prior, with the most significant gains made in the upscale, midscale and economy segments.
Drury Hotels ranked highest for guest satisfaction in the upscale segment. Meanwhile, for the third consecutive year, Tru by Hilton had the highest customer satisfaction score among midscale brands, and Microtel by Wyndham had the highest economy segment ranking.
According to the study, higher satisfaction with hotel rooms — including their condition, cleanliness and amenities — led guests’ improved perception around value. For this year’s study, J.D. Power measured overall hotel guest satisfaction based on seven categories: the check-in and checkout experience; communications and connectivity; facilities; food and beverage; the guest room; staff service; and value.
“Hotel owner and operator investments in guest room decor and furnishings, in addition to bathroom updates, are paying off in higher satisfaction,” Stokes said, adding that hotels can significantly influence guest satisfaction with in-room technology like smart TVs and updated room temperature controls.
Some 40% of guests said that having a smart TV or the ability to stream their entertainment is a necessary hotel amenity, up from 21% in 2019, according to the survey.
Industrywide, hotels are revamping in-room design and incorporating emerging technology to match changing traveler preferences.
Additionally, overall satisfaction was higher for guests who had a hotel’s mobile app downloaded on their phone, compared to those who did not, according to the study.
In 2023, J.D. Power reported that 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. Last September, the company found that guest satisfaction was up at hotels run by third-party management.
Across industries, American consumers are shifting their spending to brands they perceive as having more value for their price amid ongoing economic uncertainty, Deloitte reported last month.
