Marriott leads Hilton by the barest of margins in YouGov’s new U.S. hotel rankings, but the data also shows meaningful differences in what travelers value, and which brands are gaining ground.
Based on YouGov BrandIndex data from more than 10,000 U.S. adults, the rankings look at hotel consideration among Americans likely to book a hotel in the next 12 months, along with year-over-year movement and perceptions of value and quality.
Marriott leads with 45.3 percent of Americans likely to book a hotel in the next 12 months saying they would consider the brand for their next stay. Hilton follows at 44.9 percent, making the top of the chart a near tie between the industry’s two most recognizable names.
The rankings also break down consideration by business and leisure travelers, as well as year-over-year movement and perceptions of value and quality. Airbnb and Vrbo were excluded from the analysis.
Courtyard by Marriott ranks third at 37.8 percent, followed by Holiday Inn at 36.7 percent and Holiday Inn Express at 36.2 percent. Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, DoubleTree by Hilton, Sheraton, and Hyatt round out the top 10—a list drawn entirely from the portfolios of Marriott, Hilton, IHG, and Hyatt. YouGov reads the concentration as evidence of the continued pull of familiar, widely distributed brands that can flex across trip types and budgets at a moment when rising living costs have travelers scrutinizing their spending.
Holiday Inn posted the strongest year-over-year gain, up 2.2 percentage points in consideration, followed by Hyatt at 1.9 points and Marriott at 1.6 points. Red Roof Inn and DoubleTree by Hilton each rose 1.2 points, Wyndham gained 1.1 points, and Motel 6, Hampton Inn, Hyatt House, and Super 8 also moved up. Marriott’s appearance on both the leaders list and the improvers list gives it the rare combination of category-leading consideration and continued momentum.
The business-versus-leisure breakdown is where the data gets most interesting for advisors selling into the upper end of the market. Among business travelers, Hilton takes the top spot at 46.5 percent consideration, with Marriott second at 44.6 percent. The order flips among leisure-only travelers, where Marriott leads at 39.3 percent and Hilton follows at 37.1 percent.
Several luxury and upper-upscale brands skew heavily toward the business traveler. Hilton’s consideration runs 9.4 percentage points higher among business travelers than leisure-only travelers, with Hyatt Place (8.0 points), Grand Hyatt (7.9 points), Four Seasons (7.4 points), Sheraton (7.2 points), and JW Marriott (7.0 points) showing similar gaps. On the leisure side, the tilt runs toward midscale and economy: Comfort Inn scores 5.0 points higher with leisure travelers, followed by Best Western (4.8 points) and La Quinta (4.2 points).
Value and quality perceptions tell separate stories. Holiday Inn Express leads on value with a net score of 34.5, ahead of Holiday Inn at 30.6 and Courtyard by Marriott at 26.4, with Marriott (25.7) and Hampton Inn (25.4) close behind. Quality flips the hierarchy back toward the flagships: Hilton posts the highest quality score at 51.9, narrowly ahead of Marriott at 51.0, with Courtyard by Marriott third at 40.1. Hyatt, Sheraton, Hilton Garden Inn, DoubleTree by Hilton, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Holiday Inn complete the quality top 10.
Taken together, the rankings sketch out distinct lanes: Hilton wins the business traveler on the strength of its quality perception, Marriott balances quality and value well enough to lead with leisure travelers, and Holiday Inn pairs its top value score with the year’s biggest consideration gain—a telling combination as cost-of-living pressures reshape how Americans book.
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