Super Bowl attendees are discerning about more than just football - they have high expectations when it comes to hotel service, food, noise levels and WiFi connectivity.
That according to feedback from online reputation management company TrustYou's database of 250 million hotel reviews that assessed guest satisfaction levels at Super Bowl host city hotels during the last five years.
"This is a time when cities and hoteliers really go out of their way to take care of a special kind of traveler there for a special reason," said Donna Quadri-Felitti, Ph.D. at New York University, Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management, who collaborated with TrustYou on evaluating the hotel reviews.
Although host city hotels typically shower Super Bowl guests with added amenities and services, customer service scores nonetheless only rose one or two percentage points over the prior year.
"This shows that expectations of savvy travelers -- those going for a mega event -- really are high," said Quadri-Felitti.
In the noise level category, scores improved at host cities over the prior year. TrustYou said that New York hotels traditionally score high on noise levels compared to other U .S. major markets, so it is expected that scores will be positive in this category.
All things considered, New York and New Jersey hoteliers will have to work hard when it comes to exceeding expectations on the food and beverage front. Scores were down in the food sentiment category year over year.
"I was flabbergasted that out of the weeks food was not rated well," said Quadri-Felitti.
WiFi also took a hit in ratings, with Internet satisfaction scores falling for all five years compared to guests who stayed the year before.
"Hotels and cities really do a great job of preparing for this event," said Quadri-Felitti. "With all that preparation it's still difficult to wow and really get good increases in your service scores."
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