Orbitz Customers Rank Fairmont Kea Lani Tops in US

Fairmont Kea Lani in Wailea, Maui. Photo courtesy of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts.

By Sonia Isotov

The Fairmont Kea Lani hotel was the only Hawaii hotel to rank among the top 10 places to stay in the US, according to annual survey results released Tuesday by Orbitz Worldwide.

The 2012 Orbitz Best In Stay Awards recognizes top-rated hotels based on reviews by Orbitz customers.

There were three other hotels in Hawaii that made the list: the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa, the Mauna Lani Bay Hotel on the Big Island, and the Trump International Hotel Waiki Beach Walk.

The top 10 US destination winners are:

• Las Vegas: Bellagio
• New York: The Peninsula
• Chicago: The Talbot Hotel
• Los Angeles: Fairmont Miramar Hotel and Bungalows
• Washington, DC: Sofitel Washington DC Lafayette Square
• Orlando: The Peabody
• Denver: Hyatt Regency Denver at Colorado Convention Center
• San Francisco: Argonaut Hotel
• Maui: The Fairmont Kea Lani
• Miami: Dream South Beach

Orbitz Best In Stay Award winners are selected based on the overall numeric score of nearly 200,000 hotel reviews submitted by Orbitz customers that have booked and stayed at hotels since 2011.

Customers are asked to rate a variety of hotel attributes on a scale of 1 to 5, including amenities, maintenance, hotel staff, room comfort, location, and value.

Those ratings are supplemented by input from nearly 150 Orbitz hotel experts who factor in other market conditions, such as the number of reviews, frequency of booking and reputation of hotel staff.

Other notable results from the Orbitz Hotel Survey indicate the following customer perspectives:

• 64% of consumers said they would choose a hotel solely based on the awards it has received
• 75% of consumers typically stay at three or four star hotels
• Cleanliness (35%), location (22%) and amenities (12%) are the three most important attributes that vacationers look for when choosing a hotel.