Travelers will forgive a surprising amount — a middling breakfast, a dated lobby, a slow elevator. What they won’t forgive is a dirty room. That single truth sits at the top of the 2026 data and reshapes where hospitality brands should spend first.
According to Alchemer’s 2026 Hospitality Benchmark Study, cleanliness is the number-one experience driver at 63%, well ahead of cost and value at 44.8%. It’s the top reason a stay stands out, the top complaint when something goes wrong, and the top reason guests withhold a 5-star review. Here’s the full ranking — and what each driver signals.
TL;DR — key takeaways
- Cleanliness is the #1 experience driver at 63%, per Alchemer’s 2026 Hospitality Benchmark Study.
- Cost / value (44.8%) and comfort (37.7%) round out the top three.
- Cleanliness leads across both hotels (61.8%) and rentals (64.4%) and every age group.
- Fee transparency matters nearly 2× more to rental guests (15.5%) than hotel guests (8.2%).
- Guests were asked to pick their top drivers, so these stack rather than compete.
What is the #1 thing guests care about in 2026?
Cleanliness, cited by 63% of guests, according to Alchemer’s 2026 Hospitality Benchmark Study. It’s the only driver named by a clear majority, and it leads the next factor by nearly 20 points. Think of cleanliness as the price of entry, not a differentiator — you don’t win on it, but you absolutely lose without it.
What do hospitality guests care about most, ranked?
Here’s the complete ranking from the report. Guests could select more than one driver, so the percentages reflect how many hold each as important, not a forced choice.
| Rank | Experience driver | Overall | Hotel | Rental |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Cleanliness of the property | 63.0% | 61.8% | 64.4% |
| #2 | Total cost / value for money | 44.8% | 45.9% | 43.4% |
| #3 | Comfort of the bed and room | 37.7% | 41.7% | 33.0% |
| #4 | Ease and speed of check-in | 37.2% | 34.8% | 40.1% |
| #5 | Quality of customer support | 31.6% | 28.9% | 34.7% |
| #6 | Amenities (Wi-Fi, kitchen, pool…) | 15.7% | 16.4% | 14.8% |
| #7 | Location / neighborhood | 12.9% | 13.0% | 12.8% |
| #8 | Safety and security | 12.5% | 13.6% | 11.2% |
| #9 | Transparency of fees and charges | 11.6% | 8.2% | 15.5% |
| #10 | Space for a larger group | 4.8% | 2.8% | 7.2% |
The shape of the list matters as much as the order. Cleanliness towers over everything, then a tight cluster of value, comfort, check-in and support does the real work of separating a good stay from a great one.
Why does cleanliness matter more than price?
Because it’s the one factor that shows up on every side of the experience. Per Alchemer’s 2026 Hospitality Benchmark Study, cleanliness is the top reason a stay stood out as the best (48.3%), the top complaint when something went wrong (41.7%), and the top reason guests withheld a 5-star review (47.1%). Price can make a stay feel like a good deal; a dirty room makes it a bad memory regardless of what it cost.
You can’t fix what you can’t see. Alchemer captures guest feedback across surveys, reviews and open-text comments, then surfaces the themes — cleanliness, fees, check-in — driving sentiment at every property. Explore Alchemer for Hospitality →
Do hotel and rental guests care about different things?
Mostly they agree — with a few revealing splits. Comfort skews hotel (41.7% vs. 33.0%), reflecting the standardized-room promise. Check-in and customer support skew rental (40.1% and 34.7%), because there’s no front desk to fall back on. And fee transparency matters nearly twice as much to rental guests (15.5% vs. 8.2%) — the cleaning-fee and service-fee problem in a single statistic.
What creates promoters once a property is clean?
Value and comfort. After cleanliness clears the bar, total cost / value for money (44.8%) and comfort of the bed and room (37.7%) are the two drivers that turn a satisfactory stay into a five-star one. The playbook is straightforward: win cleanliness everywhere first, then compete on value and comfort — and, for rentals especially, get the fees honest.
Want the full report? Read the complete 2026 Hospitality Benchmark Report for every breakdown, table and takeaway across loyalty, cleanliness, feedback follow-through, discovery and hotel-vs-rental comparisons.
Methodology: Alchemer’s Research Solutions team surveyed 1,014 U.S. travelers — 540 recent hotel guests and 474 recent vacation-rental guests — in 2026.
FAQ
Q: What is the most important factor in a hotel or rental stay?
A: Cleanliness, cited by 63% of guests — the only factor named by a clear majority, according to Alchemer’s 2026 Hospitality Benchmark Study.
Q: What do guests care about most, in order?
A: Cleanliness (63%), cost/value (44.8%), comfort (37.7%), ease of check-in (37.2%) and customer support (31.6%), per Alchemer’s 2026 data.
Q: Does cleanliness matter more than price to guests?
A: Yes. Cleanliness ranks #1 at 63% while cost/value ranks #2 at 44.8%, and cleanliness is also the top complaint and the top reason guests withhold a 5-star review.
Q: Do hotel and rental guests value different things?
A: Largely the same, but comfort skews hotel while check-in, support and fee transparency skew rental — fee transparency matters nearly twice as much to rental guests.