Anyone’s guest: U.S. hotel rankings for 2026

While the hotel industry has experienced a recovery since the days of the pandemic, a rising cost of living is causing many consumers to think more carefully about their finances and spending habits.

With operating costs rising and travelers becoming more selective about where they spend, competition for hotel bookings is as intense as ever in 2026.

Drawing on YouGov BrandIndex, our U.S. hotel rankings 2026 look at which hotel brands are leading across key measures of traveler intent and brand perception. The primary ranking focuses on Consideration among Americans who say they are likely to book a hotel in the next 12 months, with additional views of year-over-year movement, business vs. leisure-only travelers, and Value and Quality perceptions. For the purpose of this analysis, Airbnb and VRBO are not included.

In this article, we cover:

• Top 25 hotel brands by Consideration among Americans likely to book a hotel in the next year
• Top 10 biggest improvers in hotel brand Consideration year-over-year
• How hotel brand consideration differs among business and leisure travelers
• How hotel brands compare on Value and Quality
• Where to find more hotel brand data and competitor benchmarks
• Methodology behind the rankings

Marriott and Hilton lead hotel consideration

Marriott ranks first in YouGov’s U.S. hotel rankings 2026, with 45.3% of Americans likely to book a hotel in the next year saying they would consider Marriott the next time they book. Hilton follows closely at 44.9%, making the top of the ranking a near tie between two of the best-known hotel names in the U.S. market.

Courtyard by Marriott takes third place at 37.8%, giving Marriott another brand near the top of the list. Holiday Inn ranks fourth at 36.7%, while Holiday Inn Express rounds out the top five at 36.2%.

The rest of the top 10 includes Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, DoubleTree by Hilton, Sheraton, and Hyatt. Notably, the top 10 brands in these rankings are owned by Marriott (Marriott, Courtyard by Marriott, Sheraton), Hilton (Hilton, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, DoubleTree by Hilton), IHG (Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express), or Hyatt.

Together, this points to the continuing strength of familiar, widely distributed hotel options that can work across different trip types, budgets, and traveler needs.

Which hotel brands improved most year-over-year?

Holiday Inn posts the strongest year-over-year gain, increasing 2.2 percentage points in Consideration among Americans likely to book a hotel in the next year. Hyatt follows with a 1.9-point gain, while Marriott rises 1.6 points.

The rest of the top improvers show movement across different parts of the hotel market. Red Roof Inn and DoubleTree by Hilton each gain 1.2 points, while Wyndham rises 1.1 points. Motel 6, Hampton Inn, Hyatt House, and Super 8 Motels also recorded positive movement.

Marriott appears in both the biggest improvers and the leaders rankings, combining category-leading Consideration with continued momentum.

Business and leisure travelers consider different hotel brands

Among business travelers, Hilton ranks first, with 46.5% saying they would consider the brand the next time they book a hotel, followed by Marriott at 44.6%. Among leisure-only travelers, the order reverses: Marriott leads at 39.3%, followed by Hilton at 37.1%.

Some brands skew more clearly toward business travelers. The share who would consider Hilton is 9.4 percentage points higher among business travelers than among leisure-only travelers. This is also true for 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).

Other brands lean toward leisure travelers. Comfort Inn scores 5.0 points higher with leisure travelers than with business travelers. Best Western (+4.8 points) and La Quinta Inn (+4.2 points) are also more likely to be considered by leisure travelers.

Value and Quality tell different stories

Booking consideration shows which hotel brands travelers are thinking about booking with. Value and Quality help explain how those brands are positioned in consumers’ minds.

Among those likely to travel in the next 12 months, Holiday Inn Express leads in Value with a net score of 34.5, followed by Holiday Inn at 30.6 and Courtyard by Marriott at 26.4. Marriott and Hampton Inn also perform strongly on Value, with scores of 25.7 and 25.4, respectively.

Quality produces a different top tier. Hilton records the highest Quality score with 51.9, narrowly ahead of Marriott at 51.0. Courtyard by Marriott follows at 40.1, with Hyatt, Sheraton, Hilton Garden Inn, DoubleTree by Hilton, Hampton Inn, Holiday Inn Express, and Holiday Inn rounding out the top 10 rankings.

Looking across all the various rankings, Marriott, Hilton, Courtyard by Marriott, Holiday Inn Express, Holiday Inn, and Hampton Inn have a consistent presence, but clear strengths emerge. Hilton leads among business travelers, edging the competition with its high Quality score. The Marriott tops the list among leisure travelers, striking the balance with high performance across both quality and value. Holiday Inn emerges as an increasingly considered option year-on-year, while also recording a top score for value for money, a noteworthy correlation as the cost of living increases.

Explore more hotel brand data

These rankings offer a preview of the hotel sector data available in YouGov BrandIndex. Deeper analysis can help hotel brands understand not only where they rank, but why they rank there and which audiences offer the strongest opportunities to improve.

In a hotel brand briefing, YouGov can walk you through:

• Full hotel brand rankings beyond the top 25, including comparison against Airbnb and VRBO
• Competitor benchmarks across Consideration, Value, Quality, Satisfaction, Recommendation, Reputation, and other BrandIndex metrics
• Year-over-year movement across the full eligible brand universe
• Audience cuts by business travelers, leisure travelers, generation, income, travel frequency, and loyalty status
• Brand perception gaps between consideration, value, quality, satisfaction, and recommendation

Methodology

YouGov BrandIndex: July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026. U.S. adults, n> 10,960, U.S. Business travelers, n> 2,290, U.S. Leisure travelers, n> 6,300.

YouGov BrandIndex: July 1, 2024 – June 30, 2025 vs July 1, 2025 – June 30, 2026. U.S. adults, n> 11,770.

Consideration: When you are in the market next to make a purchase, which brands would you consider?

Value: Which of the following brands do you think represents good or poor value for money?

Quality: Which of the following brands do you think represents good or poor quality?

Scores are shown to one decimal place. Changes are shown as score-point differences versus the previous period.

Airbnb and VRBO are excluded from the hotel rankings.

Disclosure: The data analysis in this article was conducted by YouGov with the assistance of AI tools.

About YouGov BrandIndex

YouGov BrandIndex is an always-on, daily brand tracking tool that measures consumer perceptions of thousands of brands across sectors and markets. For hotel brands, BrandIndex helps marketers understand how their brand performs across key metrics including Consideration, Value, Quality, Satisfaction, Recommendation, Reputation, Impression, Buzz, and Purchase Intent.

BrandIndex can be used to monitor brand health over time, benchmark against competitors, identify audience-specific strengths and weaknesses, and understand how consumer perceptions shift across traveler groups.