Gómez Hotel Industry Benchmark - Homepage Data - September 2003

The Gómez Hotel Industry Homepage Benchmark for September reveals:

1. Aggregate benchmark response times normalized in the month of September 2003. The average for all firms was 3.85 seconds for homepage response time, which is faster than last month's average of 4.06.
2. Choice Hotels topped the leader board in Network Data Center response time this month with an impressive four-spot jump to number one. Its average response time was 2.37 seconds, besting reigning champ Marriott by four-hundredths of a second.
3. All three last-mile measurements, Corporate/Institutional, Residential High Speed and Dial-Up, achieved record speeds for response time during the month of September. The times were faster than previous months -- an extraordinary accomplishment given September is a historically busy travel month in terms of business and pleasure bookings.

Analyst Comments:

Although all last mile measurements set record breaking times for the average homepage response time, the Network Data Center times did not. This prompted us to take a look back at performance over the past six months to identify trends and determine acceptable response times for the industry. The chart at right illustrates benchmark performance over the past six months for the Hotel Industry Homepage Benchmark. As might be expected, response times fluctuate over the duration of each month. April and July witnessed the fastest months with 3.1 and 3.6 second averages respectively, while June and August both exceeded the four-second mark.

Based on the six-month trend, Gómez finds that four seconds is a reasonable benchmark for homepage performance. Times above show that 3.77 seconds is the Network Data Center mean for response time performance across all sites; three-tenths of a second is imperceptible to consumers. This is an operational standard that business and marketing managers should communicate to their IT staff as an acceptable metric necessary to meet customer expectations. By setting standards for performance, companies can gauge relative improvement and measure site success over time. Gómez takes this notion one step further by measuring the response time and availability of key transactions on highly trafficked online hotel sites. Gómez calls this transactional benchmark its Hotels GPI, which debuts next month. The Hotels GPI will reveal even greater detail about Web site architecture, performance and reliability by testing search capabilities and multiple pages within online platforms.

Stay tuned & join Gómez senior performance analyst John Lovett and Hsyndicate senior editor Kevin Heilbronner on October 22 at 2 PM ET for a special Webcast to highlight Gómez's new Internet transactional benchmark for the hotel industry. This 30-minute Webcast will cover:

• The business case for online transactional benchmarking
• The methodology behind the Hotels Gómez Performance Index (GPI)
• Preliminary findings
• Where and when the Hotels GPI will be published
• Q&A

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

All attendees who opt in will receive a daily Hotels GPI report for one week following this event.

Related Contents:

• Audio Interview w/ John Lovett, Senior Performance Analyst, Gómez, Inc. - Follow-up to Report: Gómez Hotel Industry Benchmark - June 2003

• Gómez Hotel Industry Benchmark - Homepage Data - July 2003

John Lovett, Senior Performance Analyst - John Lovett is responsible for competitive site performance and usability analysis and testing delivered via the company's Performance Benchmark Assessment, Usability Benchmark Assessment and Gómez Performance Index products and services. Previously, his responsibilities included research and analysis of e-commerce strategies including evaluating the competitive environment between traditional retail outlets and pure-play Internet companies. A highly regarded speaker, Mr. Lovett is called on to present at industry events such as the DMA net.Marketing Conference, Wired to the World and the Sports Media & Technology Summit. His work has been cited in media outlets such as the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Business 2.0, National Public Radio, E-Commerce Times and CBS MarketWatch as an authority on the Internet space. He holds a BA in English from Colorado State University.

Gómez helps companies weigh the benefit of content and functionality against performance to maximize Internet channel effectiveness. The site elements we benchmark are instrumental in shaping overall customer satisfaction, and drive customers' willingness to utilize the online channel. To learn more, visit www.gomez.com.

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