Starwood dominates list of 10 most digitally savvy hotel brands

L2 Think Tank released its third annual ranking of the most digitally savvy hotels, labeling W Hotels the lone “genius.” Banyan Tree Hotels was ranked the lowest among 57 brands and was characterized as “feeble.”

In fact, five of the top 10 hotels are, like W Hotels, Starwood brands.

In L2’s “Digital IQ Index: Hotels,” W Hotels led the field with a 142 score (Genius) score, and was lauded as having a “site [that] blends content relevance and best in-class functionality.”

In addition to integrating the Starwood Preferred Guest program, L2 cited W’s “Four Stories film contest collaboration with intel,” and noted that “signals innovation.”

Banyan Tree, which finished last among 57 hotels, was cited for having “no mobile programming,” and a lack of personalization options.

The scoring classifications were: Genius (140+), Gifted (110-139), Average (90-109), Challenged (70-89), Feeble (less than 70).

Here are the top 10 hotels and their scores:

1. W Hotels (142)
2. InterContinental Hotels (136)
2. Westin Hotels (136)
4. Four Seasons Hotels (134)
4. The Luxury Collection (134)
6. Sheraton Hotels (133)
7. St. Regis (130)
8. Hilton Hotels (127)
9. Fairmont Hotels (122)
10. The Ritz Carlton (118)

The scores were weighted like this: 40% for a site’s effectiveness; 30% for digital marketing; 20% for mobile, and 10% for social media.

The Challenged and Feeble

Meanwhile, the Challenged and Feeble categories expanded from 33% of the hotels ranked in 2012 to 41% of the hotels in 2013, and that suggests a “bifurcation as winnners pull away from losers,” L2 states.

The Gifted category grew from 23% in 2012 to 37% of hotels in 2013 based on their social and mobile investments, L2 states.

Here are the 10 lowest-ranking hotels, which fell into either the Feeble or Challenged categories.

57. Banyan Tree (65)
56. Raffles (69)
55. Oberoi Hotels (71)
53. Relais & Chateaux (74)
53. Concorde Hotels (74)
52. Pan Pacific Hotels (75)
51. Warwick Hotels (76)
49. M Gallery (77), the only brand with no Twitter account
49. Dorchester Collection (77)
48. Rosewood Hotels (79)

Among the report’s key findings, hotels with multiple brands scored higher (111) than independent, publicly traded hotels (92), and independent private-company hotels (88) as their parent companies, such as Starwood, had the resources to spread their skills over each brand’s online, mobile and social platforms.