Lodging Survey Identifies Key Trends

The new American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) 2010 Lodging Survey, the most comprehensive industry-wide survey of its kind, polled 9,000 U.S. hotel properties regarding in-room amenities, security and technology features, food and beverage options, guest services, sustainability, property offerings, and much more to give hoteliers an detailed analysis of the industry at large.

Funded by the American Hotel & Lodging Educational Foundation (AH&LEF) and conducted by STR, the survey is conducted every two years to track notable trends in all segments of U.S. hotels in more than 100 areas.

Among the many major findings, the survey revealed the following:

New technologies are becoming more common:

-    For the first time hotels were asked if they utilize social networking sites for marketing purposes; although upper-end hotels appear more apt, 75 percent of respondents do.

-  Wireless Internet access rose to 94 percent, up from 91 percent in 2008.

Hotels are getting healthier:
-  The number of hotels with exercise equipment in rooms nearly tripled to 17 percent, from six percent in 2008; 83 percent have an exercise room/health and fitness facility, up from 63 percent in 2004.

-   Fifty-six percent have 100 percent non-smoking rooms, an 18 point increase from 2008; 38 percent make allergy free rooms available, up from 24 percent.

Properties are becoming greener:

-  Properties using energy-efficient lighting jumped from 68 percent in 2008 to 88 percent;

- Appearing on the survey for the first time, 44 percent of participants said they have or are working toward a green certification.

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