Market Metrix has released the results of its Hospitality Index for the fourth quarter of 2004. Wingate Inns, Midwest Airlines and Enterprise Rent-A-Car ranked number one in hotel, airline and rental car industry customer satisfaction, respectively.

For the first time, a mid-scale (without food and beverage) hotel company, Wingate Inns, has placed first in the hotel category. Among airlines, for the second consecutive quarter, Midwest Airlines is in the top spot while Enterprise continues to dominate in the rental car category.

Wingate Inns has apparently dazzled its guests and created a devoted following. According to guests Wingate Inns provides “amenities comparable to a 5-star hotel,” and “awesome telecommunications.”

Among hotels, the highest customer satisfaction ratings went to Wingate Inns (91.2), Walt Disney World Resorts (90.5) and Drury Inns (90.4). Overall, Luxury Hotels received the highest ratings (87) with Extended Stay guests reporting the second highest levels (86.4). W Hotels won the Luxury category for the second time and Walt Disney World Resorts continues to dominate the Upper Upscale segment.

Analysis of results revealed a continued increase in bookings on hotel sites and a boost in loyalty program membership. These findings suggest that customers are becoming more loyal and doing less shopping around.

Membership in hotel loyalty programs has been steadily climbing. Since the third quarter of 2002, 34 percent more guests report being members of hotel frequent guest programs.

Increasing loyalty program membership appears to have made a substantial impact on guest loyalty in non-casino hotels. The percentage of guests reporting that they are very likely to return has increased 6 percentage points since the third quarter of 2002.

Hotels have succeeded in winning bookings away from such leading Web sites as Expedia and Orbitz. Increasing their share of Web bookings by nearly 30 percent in the last five quarters, Hotel Web sites now capture 15 percent of all Internet bookings. The top three non-casino hotel Web sites (in terms of capturing reservations of their own guests) include Staybridge, Candlewood and Extended StayAmerica.

The Market Metrix Hospitality Index is a quarterly report of customer satisfaction with hotel, airline and car rental companies based on 35,000 consumer interviews.