Hospitality and Related Services - Tourism: Principles, Practices, Philosophies - page 127

Technology has had a profound in uence on the lodging industry in recent years. Over 90 percent
of hotel companies have Web sites, and industry surveys show that business travelers want Internet
access in their guest rooms. Many hotels are becoming wireless. Online expenditures for hotel
bookings are increasing.
Self-service check-in and check-out continues to grow as self-service kiosks are multiplying.
The kiosks are located in the lobby and allow the guests to check in or out of the hotel by
simply swiping their credit card, eliminating the need to go to the front desk. The kiosks are similar
to the ones used by the airlines. Major chains, such as Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, and
Fairmont, are installing kiosks that allow busy customers to check themselves in and get a key.
According to kiosk maker NCR Corporation, a person who checks in at a kiosk can speed the process
by 48 percent.
Smith Travel Research and AH&LA provide valuable information on the lodging industry. In
addition to the annual lodging pro le, AH&LA has Smith Travel Research do a comprehensive study of
the industry periodically. The last AH&LA study was released in 2010 and looked at the size, scope,
and emerging and made comparisons with previous studies.

The lodging industry has increased their emphasis on market segmentation in recent years. Many of
the big chains offer products at almost every price level: full-service luxury hotels, luxury all-suite
hotels, resort hotels, moderately priced full-service hotels, moderately priced all-suites, moderately
priced limited-service, and economy or budget motels. Hotels and motels are classi ed in a variety of
ways. One of the most common is by location, such as resort, city center, airport, suburban, or
highway.

trends of the lodging industry

Rank

There are a number of very large companies in the lodging industry, and many of the big chains are
getting bigger. Hotels (published by Marketing and Technology Group, a Chicago-based business-to-
business media company whose properties serve the global information needs of professionals in the
food service and hospitality industries) compiles an annual listing of the world

s 325 largest corporate
hotel chains. The October 2010 issue reports the fortieth annual listing of lodging

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s giant companies.
The concentration of the lodging industry is clearly demonstrated by the ranking of the top 25, which
appears in Table 6.1. The ranking is based on the number of rooms. The top ten companies have
4.3 million rooms. Hotels reports that the InterContinental Hotel Group continues to head the list
with a total room count of 646,679. Wyndham Hotel Group (formerly Cendant) was second with
597,674. Marriott International ranked third with 595,461 rooms. Hilton Hotels Corporation was
fourth with 585,060, and Accor Hotels rounded out the top five with 499,456.
While 14 of the top 25 international franchised hotel chains are headquartered in the United
States, the list is global. England has the top-ranked InterContinental Hotels Group; France has
Accor, ranked fifth, and Groupe du Louvre, ranked twelfth; China has Jin Jiang International Hotels,
ranked thirteenth, Home Inns and Hotels Management, ranked nineteenth, and GreenTree Inns and
Hotel Management Group, Inc., ranked twenty-second; Germany has TUI AG Hotels and Resorts,
ranked fourteenth; Belgium has the Rezidor Hotel Group, ranked fifteenth; and Spain has Sol Melia SA,
ranked seventeenth, NH Hoteles SA, ranked twenty- rst, and Barcelo Hotels and Resorts ranked
twenty-fourth.

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Trends

The trend in the lodging industry has been away from independently owned and operated properties
toward chain and franchise af liations, which get larger and larger. There are also referral groups or
voluntary membership associations. Both independents and chains have found it pro table to join
together to market their properties.