Association releases 2006 loding study

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) released its 2006 Lodging Survey. The survey tracks the size, scope, and emerging trends of the lodging industry. Among the many major findings, the survey revealed the following: the percentage of hotels with in-room cable or satellite TV has grown steadily since 1990, from 69 percent to 99 percent in 2006; voice mail continues to become a common amenity in hotel rooms. Eighty-six percent of all hotels now offer voice mail, up from 72 percent in 2004. All hotels in the luxury chain scale indicated they offer voice mail.

High-speed Internet access has grown substantially. Of all responding properties, 50 percent offered this service in 2004, which grew to 89 percent in 2006. Wireless Internet access is likely the fastest growing in-room amenity. The number of hotels that offer this service more than doubled over the last two years. In 2006, 82 percent of all hotels offered this service compared to 35 percent in 2004. Ninety-eight percent of all respondents in 2006 indicated they use the Internet to obtain a booking, which was up from 89 percent in 2004.

More than 9,300 U.S. hotel properties were polled on more than 100 areas, including types of in-room amenities, security and technology features, food and beverage options, number of beds, guest services and property offerings.