IHG’s Holiday Inn Brands Place First and Third Among Upper-Midscale

The 2022 race among upper-midscale brands in BTN’s annual Hotel Survey & Report was close, with only 0.03 points dividing first and second place—and third place trailing close behind as business travel picked up significantly in April across many companies. BTN’s 2021 survey tracked different criteria than 2020 and previous years due to the pandemic.

InterContinental Hotels Group made a strong showing in the upper-midscale segment—after not placing in 2020—taking two of the three places in the rankings, with Holiday Inn in first and Holiday Inn Express snagging third place. Hampton by Hilton held strong in second place between the Holiday Inn brands but representing a dip from its first place showing in 2020.

For the midscale competition, results were not as tight. Among Hilton’s youngest brands, Tru by Hilton topped the charts, followed by Best Western in second and Wyndham Hotel & Resort’s Ramada brand in third. While Hilton and Best Western are veterans the BTN Hotel Survey midscale section, this is Wyndham’s first time placing in this category since 2019.

Upper-Midscale

Holiday Inn’s overall 4.54 rating was 0.02 points higher than its 2020 score, but the brand earned the highest ratings across seven of the survey’s 13 criteria, including strategic locations for business needs, the quality of its meetings products, quality of the sales staff, partnership approach to pricing, flexibility negotiating amenities, reporting quality and overall price-to-value relationship.

IHG VP of Americas Sales Yola Marshall drove home IHG’s focus on training and empowering onsite sales teams to work in tandem with the national and global sales to deliver on Holiday Inn’s brand promise and reputation.

“Of course, this industry, we've had a lot of transition and turnover. So there's a lot that needs to happen [with] on property sellers and how we onboard them,” she said. “We’ve been very deliberate about articulating the difference between the brands to the customers… so teams know how to sell the brands properly, and we can deliver on that.”

She also pointed to the consistency of the product itself, and new design and branding elements that have been attractive to business travelers. “Our open lobby concept at Holiday Inn, which gets people away and outside of their rooms, really resonates with business travelers. And with Holiday Inn Express its all about the sleep experience and the breakfast” that keeps business travelers productive and efficient. Holiday Inn Express placed third among the Upper-Midscale brands with a score of 4.34, and a personal best criteria score in its strategic locations for business needs.

Hampton Inn by Hilton’s 4.51 rating took second place in the Upper-Midscale. Hampton led in six criteria, including cleanliness and attractiveness of facilities, quality of on-property service staff, traveler wellness options, safety and security standards and brand consistency.

“When you get to a Hampton, you know what to expect and that it [will be] delivered flawlessly. And we've just continued to work on that and build on the strengths of that brand,” Hilton global category lead for focused-service brands Bill Duncan told BTN, adding that the secret to delivering on that strength has been the investment in staff training and recognition. “No matter what the circumstances when you get to a Hampton, you’re going to be taken care of.”

Midscale

Hilton also took the top spot in the Midscale brand segment with its brand Tru by Hilton. With a total score of 4.41, Tru nearly swept the Midscale criteria scores, placing highest in 10 of the 13, including cleanliness and attractiveness of hotel facilities, quality meeting facilities, quality of on-property service staff, traveler wellness options, safety and security standards, brand consistency, flexibility negotiating amenities, effective communication to travel buyers, quality of reporting and overall price-to-value ratio.

“This is a very proud moment for this brand,” said Duncan about Tru by Hilton’s first-place ranking, adding that it was a validation of Hilton’s objectives for the brand as an innovator in the Midscale tier. “This brand was really meant to break out and open up this Midscale segment for us to serve customers that we weren't traditionally serving within the Hilton enterprise,” Duncan said, citing infrastructure and project teams that may not have considered Hilton in the past. “It is a very fun, spirited, high energy brand, [and] it's done even more than we thought it would and we're so delighted by it.”

Best Western, rated overall at 4.12 by travel buyers on BTN’s six-point scale, placed second this year in the Midscale category, with the highest ratings in three critical categories for corporate travel buyers: quality of sales staff, partnership approach to negotiating rate and penalties, and strategic locations for business needs.

“One of the things that I think our hoteliers did during the challenges over the last two years was really focus on the clients and the guests, and I think it established who we are. We established that trust with the guests and in turn the corporate clients in meeting their needs,” Best Western CEO Larry Cuculic told BTN during the company's annual conference in Cleveland.

“We’ve got a great sales team led by Wendy Ferrill,” Cuculic said. The team is “very client focused and holds those relationships in the highest regard, working well with programs that manage [requests for proposals]. We work with our members to make sure that we’re responding to RFPs, because that is so important,” Cuculic added.

Placing third this year in the Midscale category was Wyndham’s brand Ramada with a score of 3.56. The brand’s only score above a 4 was in its strategic locations for business needs.