Here’s an interesting question for you. Which of the travel industry awards and surveys would you say were the best and most reliable? I mean, without fail, every single day, my inbox has a at least one notification of the results of a survey of travelers or announcement of some kind of awards. Tell you the truth, I gave up on believing the results a long time ago.

Let’s face it, it’s a bit disconcerting when none of the surveys can agree with each other. Have you ever compared the results of similar surveys by different companies? Conde Nast Traveler says the Peninsula Chicago is the best hotel in the U.S., while Travel + Leisure lists the Peninsula Chicago way down as only the 10th best on its list. The best one, according to T + L, is the Triple Creek Ranch in Darby, MT. WTF? And why do these surveys inevitably end up promoting the same cities like New York, Los Angeles,  Miami and Chicago? There’s so many hotels in other places which I know are as good, if not better than these high-flyers in NYC and LA and Chi-town.

For example, if you’re looking at hotels in San Jose, the Valencia (www.hotelvalencia.com/) comes to mind, and if you poke through Seattle hotels, there’s the Max (www.hotelmaxseattle.com/). Just because these hotels don’t have as high a profile as those in NYC and Chicago doesn’t mean they’re not as good.

Travel Troubleshooter Christopher Elliott expands on this subject in some detail here, and then offers tips to spot which awards and surveys are the real deal, and which ones have an ax to grind (as in trying to get some media and public attention or rake in some ad dollars).

You want to be wary of awards or surveys where the winners are also running ads in the publication which is responsible for the award/survey. Stay away from lists that don’t include negative options (like a poll for airlines which does not ask respondents to name their worst carrier).

Look for the methodology and number of respondents. If its just the opinions of the company’s writers and editors, then it ain’t worth squat. And even if actual travelers were surveyed, you need to consider whether they represent your kind of demographics. Meaning that if a luxury travel magazine lists the best cheap hotels chosen by its readers, its most likely that the results woudn’t actually be of any use or reflect reality.

Posted on December 14th, 2008 by Thomas
Filed under: News