Four Seasons, Hilton and Marriott Top L2′s Second annual Digital IQ Index®: Hotels; the study reveals that differentiated content on site and mobile bookings drive traffic and high margin revenue.

The research demonstrates a clear relationship between hotel brands’ Digital IQ® and shareholder value.

“In this year’s report, an overwhelming 38 percent of brands registered an Average ranking, versus just 10 percent in 2011. The standard deviation across the Index tightened from 38 in 2011 to 21 in 2012, suggesting differentiation in digital has become increasingly difficult.”   — Scott Galloway.

Key Findings

L2 data reveals a positive relationship between Digital IQ and Year-over-year growth in Revenue Per Available Room (RevPAR), and between Digital IQ and YOY change in stock price.

Content demonstrates substantial ROI: sites with user reviews lost 38% less traffic to OTAs and sites with local, curated content enjoyed 16% greater average time on site.

Larger organizations with multiple brands significantly outpaced independent hoteliers on digital platforms, registering an average Digital IQ of 109 versus 92 for independent private brands and 87 for independent publically traded brands.

Social media usage continues to soar. The percentage of brands deploying both global and property pages on Facebook rose from 73% in 2011 to 95% in 2012, and on Twitter increased from 56% to 70%.

Two thirds of brands in the study support a mobile optimized site with all offering mobile-booking functionality. Mobile enabled brands may be capturing the most profitable bookings as 70% of bookings via mobile are for same day (high price) stays.

Top Ten Ranked Brands in the Study:

1. Four Seasons
2. Hilton
3. Marriot
4. Hyatt
5. The Ritz-Carlton
6. InterContinental
7. Westin
8. Sheraton
9. W Hotels
10. Fairmont

To dowload the full report:

www.l2thinktank.com/research/hotels-2012