SAN RAFAEL, CA— Market Metrix, LLC, a provider of market research services for the hospitality industry, announced results of the Market Metrix Hospitality Index (MMHI) for the first quarter of this year. Ritz-Carlton, JetBlue Airways and Enterprise Rent-A-Car ranked number one in hotel, airline and rental car industry customer satisfaction, respectively. For the first time since 9/11, in a year-over-year comparison, guest satisfaction was down or flat across all hotel segments except for Extended Stay. The biggest losers were in the Casino and Luxury segments with drops of 2.3% and 0.9% respectively. For hotels, and especially companies and properties that are fighting to keep pace, continuing declines in customer satisfaction will further influence demand and consumer price tolerance. Dissatisfied guests are more price sensitive and less likely to return. To recognize their continuing growth, Vacation Clubs was added as a new category in Q1 2005. For Q1 2005, as a group, customer satisfaction with Vacation Clubs (87.4) was second only to the Extended Stay segment (87.9). The winner was Disney Vacation Club (92.1) followed by Trendwest Resorts (88.6). Interestingly, vacation club travelers report feeling more Practical (82.3) than Extended Stay customers (80.3) and more Welcome (90.5) than even Luxury (89.8) guests.
