Unpopular opinion: Sometimes all you need for the night is a clean, cheap hotel room. Nothing special. No shower with water coming from 6 different shower heads. No choice of goose down vs. foam vs. cotton pillows. No butler’s pantry stocked with Perrier and organic chia seed bars for when you’re feeling peckish at 3am. Nothing frou frou. Just somewhere basic to lay your head overnight.
Most people who consider themselves travel geeks might disagree with me. They (and I’m including my husband in that “they”) spend hours figuring out how to accumulate every Marriott point, how to get to Hyatt Globalist (he still hasn’t figured that one out; he’s just a Discoverist [although he considered a mattress run earlier this year to hit Explorist]), and consider it a big win when they’ve made it to Hilton Honors Diamond status and are upgraded to the Presidential Suite.
And all of that is absolutely fine, to be honest. I mean, because of his hobby of collecting points and miles, Joe and I have stayed at some really, REALLY nice places through the years. But we’ve stayed at a bunch of budget hotels, too. I’d also think that since more people DON’T collect hotel points, DON’T strive for status, and definitely DON’T have the cash to stay at the Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton, knowing which of the budget hotel chains are the better ones, would be important.
J.D. Power apparently thinks so too, because they recently released their 2023 North American Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index (NAGSI) Study. This is the 27th year they’ve done this study, which ranks overall customer satisfaction for every level of hotel:
- Luxury
- Upper upscale
- Upscale
- Upscale extended stay
- Upper midscale
- Midscale
- Economy
- Economy extended stay
Now, as far as I’m concerned, writing about “the best” hotels is not a huge deal. Lots of places publish surveys that either rank or at least list high end hotels.
But I guess since budget hotels aren’t so sparkly and sexy, they don’t get as much of the love. Well, except from J.D. Power.
J.D. Power is an American data analytics, software, and consumer intelligence company. Founded in 1968 by James David Power III (1931-1921; he sold the company to what was then known as McGraw Hill Financial in 2005; it’s been sold a few times since), the company has been a pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence, and algorithmic modeling capabilities that allow for better understanding of consumer behavior. (thanks, Wikipedia!) Jalopnik wrote an amusing history of the man and the company back in 2017; it’s a long but fun read (and has a bit of adult language, so heads up).
So anyway, best budget hotels…
To come up with their rankings, J.D. Power surveyed 33,754 people who had been hotel guests between May 2022 and May 2023. They were asked to give their opinions on a hotel chain’s performance in six factors:
- communications and connectivity
- food and beverage
- guest room
- hotel facility
- staff service
- value for price
J.D. Power used the survey data to rank chain hotel properties across nine categories, based on their overall customer satisfaction rating. 1,000 was considered to be a perfect score.
These were the key findings (for all levels of hotels, not just budget):
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High scores for hotel staff linked to low problem incidence: Overall satisfaction with hotel staff is 701 (on a 1,000-point scale), making it the single highest-scoring factor in this year’s study. Hotel staff play a key role in avoiding and resolving problems, with 86% of hotel guests saying they experienced no problems during their stay.
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Creating a perfect lobby: Guests’ experience with hotel lobbies/common areas can positively affect overall satisfaction, but it plays out differently in various hotel segments. Among luxury hotel guests, for example, it is important to have a lobby that is modern and unique. In upscale hotels, particularly upscale extended stay hotels, guests are looking for a lobby that is welcoming and inviting.
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Value remains crucial to satisfaction: Value for price paid given quality and service received is still top of mind for hotel guests. Overall satisfaction among guests who rate the value for price paid of their guest room as excellent or perfect (on a scale of poor to perfect) is 302 points higher than among guests who do not.
Here’s how the 14 economy (read: budget) hotel chains ranked:
- Americas Best Value Inn (tie)
Score: 637 - Microtel by Wyndham (tie)
Score: 637 - SureStay by Best Western
Score: 618 - Howard Johnson by Wyndham
Score: 610 - Travelodge by Wyndham
Score: 580 - Studio 6
Score: 578 - Red Roof Inn
Score: 576 - Super 8 by Wyndham
Score: 560 - Days Inn by Wyndham
Score: 558 - Knights Inn
Score: 551 - Motel 6
Score: 533 - Econo Lodge
Score: 517 - Rodeway Inn
Score: 499 - OYO
Score: 487
And the 3 economy extended stay hotels:
- WoodSpring Suites
Score: 609 - Extended Stay America
Score: 583 - InTown Suites
Score: 579
The average rating for economy chain hotels was 558, and for the extended stay chains was 585.
Interestingly, the scores for economy hotels in J.D. Power’s 2022 survey, which were also based on a 1,000 point score, were significantly higher:
- Woodspring Suites
Score: 798 - America’s Best Value Inn
Score: 795 - SureStay by Best Western
Score: 792 - Microtel by Wyndham
Score: 785 - Extended Stay America
Score: 777 - Studio 6
Score: 772 - Travelodge by Wyndham
Score: 771 - Red Roof Inn
Score: 770 - Days Inn by Wyndham
Score: 767 - Super 8 by Wyndham
Score: 767 - Howard Johnson by Wyndham
Score: 766 - Econo Lodge
Score: 746 - Intown Suites
Score: 738 - Motel 6
Score: 735 - Rodeway Inn
Score: 725 - OYO Hotels
score: 706 - Knights Inn
Score: 703
The average score for budget/economy hotels in 2022 was 761 (economy hotels and economy extended stay hotels were included in the same mix).
The scores for all other hotel levels in 2022 were also higher than they were in 2023. J.D. Power did mention in their 2023 ranking that the North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index (NAGSI) Study was redesigned for 2023, so perhaps that had an effect on how high rankings were able to go.
Anyway, this page has the statistics for all levels of hotels in J.D. Power’s 2023 study, not just economy hotels. You know…in case you want to check out the numbers for the sexier, more sparkly levels of hotels. 😉
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