416.967.3337 

www.proteanstrategies.com 

Truth from Research

OVERVIEW

RECENT PROTEAN STUDY OF HOW US BUSINESS AND LEISURE TRAVELERS RESPOND TO TRADING DAILY HOUSEKEEPING SERVICE FOR CASH OR LOYALTY AWARDS.

THE STUDY UNCOVERS SOME OF THE UNPLEASANT TRUTHS ABOUT THE PERCEIVED VALUE OF HOTEL SERVICES, AND IN THE BROADEST WAY SUGGESTS REEVALUATING THE WAY HOUSEKEEPING IS DELIVERED.

Tidy My Room

or Tidy My Pocket

H ousekeeping, the sacred cow of hotel keeping, may not be as important as we always thought it was. In fact, it may be almost irrelevant to many guests. In a recent

study, 79% of US travelers said they would probably or definitely exchange daily cleaning of their hotel room for 1,000 extra loyalty points. More than two out of three said they would probably or definitely rather have $10 off the price of the room than have their room cleaned every day.

These are the findings of a study of US Travelers conducted in May, 2012. Protean Strategies, a hotel marketing and consulting firm, conducted the study to help clients decide whether to offer no-cleaning options to guests. A number of chains and independent hotels have been offering guests this option, with mixed results.

79% 21%

Page 2

Travelers are

not as resistant

to these offers

as was

thought. The

important

thing to

remember is

people don’t

always do

what they say,

so hoteliers

need to be

careful in how

they proceed.

Nevertheless,

the study con-

firms that this

approach is

definitely

worth consid-

ering

20% Offered the Deal Of the 320 business and leisure travels surveyed, nearly one in five had been offered an alternative to daily room cleaning on arrival at their hotel (at least once in the past 12 months). In fact, business travelers were more likely to have been offered the alternative than leisure travelers (24% compared to 13%).

68% Said “Yes” And 68% of those offered an alternative, said “YES, Please, I really am not interested in having my room cleaned every day. Give me a few points, a small discount or a discount in the restaurant, and I’ll be happy as a clam.” Well, maybe they didn’t actually say that, but that’s what they did.

Why? Not because they prefer a clean room! Why? It’s not clear and consistent, but it’s interesting to take a look at the reasons people gave for not taking up the offer. Less than an aggregate of 1 in 5 people who refused the offer did so be-cause they preferred having a clean room or they thought a clean room was important. Mostly they declined because they did not have the points program, did not eat or drink in the hotel or they were traveling on an expense account.

$5 > Clean Room The survey offers insights into the value travelers put on hotel ser-vices, in general: a $5 discount on the room rate is worth more than a clean room to (potentially) 42% of those surveyed, but the same $5 if applied to food and beverage would be worth more than a clean room to only 35%.

Page 3

50% Feel Better About the Hotel The motives behind the offer, from the hotel’s point of view, are not necessarily clear. But the offer, whether or not the respondent would take it, would make around 50% feel better about the hotel, while 41% would feel neither better nor worse. Offering this option is much more likely to impress travelers who generally stay at 3 Star or budget hotels than those who stay at luxury or 4 star properties.

60% See it as Delivering Better Value Over 60% of budget minded travelers agree that this approach is an indication that the hotel is interested in delivering the best value to guests – but those who stay in luxury hotels or boutique hotels disagree with this notion. Luxury hotel guests are unlikely to see this as a sign that the hotel is interested in helping the environ-ment, but they are somewhat likely to credit the hotel with want-ing to offer the best service.

20% See it as a Way to Help Save the Environment Generally, if these offers work, it is because the traveler sees value in the reward or discount. Only 20% suggest that saving the envi-ronment would have anything to do with their choice. On the negative side, around 11% see these offers as ways for the hotel to reduce costs at the travelers expense and as green washing.

And 11% are Totally Sceptical of the Hotel’s Motive On the negative side, around 11% see these offers as ways for the hotel to reduce costs at the travelers expense and as green wash-ing.

Offers such as

these improve

the way travel-

ers think of the

hotel or brand.

But, not neces-

sarily directly n

the way the

hotel might

hope — it is

more a ques-

tion of value

than saving

the planet.

But, given our

understanding

of how the

guest-brain

works, keeping

an environ-

mental spin

might be

paramount

Page 4

Three Insights into Who Can be Bought for How Many (Points)

Higher end business travelers hold out for longer, before succumbing . Really, the only kind of traveler that sees the value of a clean room is the Boutique or Lifestyle Hotel afi-cionado

Not much difference in the low end (fewer points), but overall, high end travelers are somewhat less likely to take the trade.

Leisure travelers can be bought for less than business travelers!

The way

guests will re-

spond to offers

in lieu of daily

housekeeping

varies: the

study shows

frequent trav-

elers will react

differently from

occasional

travelers; busi-

ness guests re-

spond differ-

ently from holi-

dayers, and so

on.

 

Call or email us today for more information on our suite of Hospitality

Consulting Services and custom studies   

Protean Hospitality Partnership 80 Cumberland Street, Suite 1503 

Toronto M5R 3V1 Canada 

416.967.3337 ext 101 

Bernstein@proteanstrategies.com www.proteanstrategies.com

Laurence Bernstein has a

diverse background of mar-

keting, research and business

consulting experience, culmi-

nating in his current focus on

helping hospitality and retail

brands by aligning business

goals with emotional and

cognitive customer experiences. Over a twenty five

year career in advertising, marketing and con-

sumer research, he has developed experiential

strategies for major hotel, restaurant and travel

brands, He is currently managing partner at Pro-

tean Strategies, a boutique consultancy he

founded in 1998.

Laurence graduated from the Cornell School of

Hotel Administration and held successive manage-

ment positions with Westin Hotels, before starting his

career in communication and strategic marketing

consulting. He has spoken at conferences and

conducted seminars throughout North America,

Europe, and Asia.

Custom Runs of this Protean Study are available Call us today to order a customized version of this study. The infor-mation can be viewed in terms of:

Income

Education

Gender

Travel Frequency

Preferred Hotel Segment (Luxury, 4 Star, 3 Star, Economy and Boutique/Life Style)

Business versus Leisure Travel