Super Bowl travellers write more reviews during the game period, and they expect great food, quiet rooms and good wifi during their stay, reveals a study.
The research was carried by online reputation management company Trust You and the Tisch Center For Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management.
The researchers looked at the past five years (2009-2013) of review data in each of the Super Bowl cities so hoteliers in the New York-New Jersey area (where the Super Bowl is scheduled to take place in February) can be prepared.
Super Bowl period = more reviews
The number of hotel guest reviews has steadily increased over the past five years. Most host cities saw an increase in the number of hotel reviews during Super Bowl week compared to the same week the previous year.
Performance Scores increased slightly (compared to same period last year) during the last two Super Bowls held in New Orleans (2013) and Indianapolis (2012).
But, Performance Scores in Dallas (2011) and Miami (2010) were low compared to same period previous year.
Among all five Super Bowl destinations, Tampa (2009) saw the best overall improvement compared to same period previous year.
This year, hotels in NYC-NJ region may have to be extremely attentive to guest needs to see improved scores as New York currently leads the US major markets with the highest TrustScore.
What Super Bowl fans need?
Food:
- Super Bowl guests are picky diners compared to guests who stayed in the same cities during the same weeks the year prior. Three of the past five Super Bowl destinations saw a decrease in the Food Score.
- New Orleans, this year's host noticed a 5% increase in hotel reviews for food satisfaction, and Dallas (2011 host) hotels saw a 6% increase in Food Scores over the prior year.
Peace and quiet rooms:
- Nearly every Super Bowl destinations saw an increase in Room Scores sentiment category, except Indianapolis. Guests appear to have been tolerant of any cheering, or fans celebrating.
- New York hotels earn relatively positive Noise Level Scores compared to major markets within the US. New York ranks No. 2 behind Orlando in Noise Level Scores, according to 2013 sentiment analysis from TrustYou.
Good wifi:
- With vast majority of travellers expecting free WiFi in hotels, Super Bowl period is no exception when it comes to the need of WiFi at hotel rooms.
- Last year's Super Bowl attracted about 24.1 million tweets, including few epic and timely tweet from the cookie brand Oreo and Audi during the power outage at the event venue.
- Unsurprisingly, the study also claims that internet may be a more essential amenity at hotels during the Super Bowl period. However, past data shows that hotel Internet satisfaction scores during the Super Bowl period are lower compared to the same period prior year.
Entire report can be download -
here.
Related read:How New Orleans leveraged technology for this year's Super Bowl
NB: Football fans image via Shutterstock.