The Sales-Ready Index US50: America's hotel brands, scored on what they actually promise business travelers
50 brands scored · 5 checks · edition 2026-07 · method v1.1 · last ruled · download the data
7 verified score changes since edition 2026-07 · 33 source documents moved and awaiting review. A moved document is an input; only a human ruling moves a score.
You're booking a hotel for a customer demo on Tuesday. You need a quiet room, a real desk, and WiFi fast enough that nobody thinks your laptop crashed. You check 50 hotel brands across America. Not one of them commits, in writing, to giving you all three. Marriott runs 25 of the brands here, Hilton runs 18; IHG runs 6. We scored all 50 on published commitments only: brand standards, app capabilities, stated programs and policies. Result: One brand—Crowne Plaza—touches 80 on raw points. It still fails: it publishes 1 of 3 on Quiet & Rest. The average is 54.
🔄 What Changed This Week
- Hilton Hotels & Resorts ↗️ +2 pts
- Hyatt Hotels Corporation ↗️ +1 pts
Key takeaways
- Crowne Plaza leads at 80 of 100, against a field average of 54.
- The widest gap is quiet & rest, where 30 of the 50 brands publish nothing at all.
- Not one brand scores full marks on 2 dimensions: quiet & rest, connectivity.
- Scored on published commitments only. Unstated is No, a hedge is No, “contact sales” is No.
- 17 of the 50 scores below carry the source document that decided each check; for the rest the checks are published but the documents are not yet in the evidence record.
Verdict: Crowne Plaza scores highest at 80 of 100, and is strongest on 4 of the 5 dimensions. The ranking is not a recommendation: pick by the dimension your trip actually turns on, using the table below.
Which brand is strongest on each dimension?
Direct answer: Crowne Plaza is strongest on 4 of the 5 dimensions; quiet & rest → Westin.
| Dimension | Strongest published commitment |
|---|---|
| Quiet & rest | Westin: 2 of 3. 30 of 50 publish nothing on this dimension. |
| Connectivity | Crowne Plaza: 2 of 3. Every brand publishes something here. |
| Work surface | Crowne Plaza: 3 of 3, the only one at full marks. 2 of 50 publish nothing on this dimension. |
| Hosting | Crowne Plaza: 3 of 3, one of 19 at full marks. Every brand publishes something here. |
| Admin | Crowne Plaza: 3 of 3, one of 40 at full marks. 5 of 50 publish nothing on this dimension. |
Strongest means highest-scoring on published commitments as of 2026-07. It is not a recommendation, and not a judgement about how a brand actually treats you. It is what the brand has put in writing, which is the only thing this desk will score. Counted from the index data at build time, so it moves when a score moves.
The ranking
| # | Brand | Score /100 | Q·C·W·H·A (of 3) | What the public record says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crowne Plaza IHG | 80 | 1·2·3·3·3 | WorkLife room standard (desk + task lighting + outlets) and the Sleep Advantage program, the only brand scoring on both work and rest commitments. |
| 2 | Westin Marriott | 73 | 2·2·1·3·3 | Heavenly Bed sleep program is a genuine rest commitment; work commitments stop at the standard desk. |
| 3 | Courtyard by Marriott Marriott | 67 | 1·2·1·3·3 | Built for business transient: desk standard, lobby work zones, meeting space brand-standard, elite late-checkout guarantee published. |
| 4 | Delta Hotels Marriott | 67 | 1·2·1·3·3 | Positioned as seamless business travel; the published commitments match Courtyard's, no more. |
| 5 | Hyatt Regency Hyatt | 67 | 1·2·1·3·3 | Convention-grade meeting space standard and the Globalist guarantee; quiet and connectivity uncommitted. |
| 6 | Marriott Hotels Marriott | 67 | 1·2·1·3·3 | The full-service template: desk, meeting space, lobby, elite 4pm guarantee. Nothing published above the template. |
| 7 | Renaissance Marriott | 67 | 1·2·1·3·3 | Lifestyle skin on the full-service skeleton, the business commitments are the parent's, not the brand's. |
| 8 | Sheraton Marriott | 67 | 1·2·1·3·3 | The Community/Studios workspace redesign is a rare public commitment to lobby-as-workplace; elite 4pm guarantee published. |
| 9 | AC Hotels Marriott | 60 | 1·2·0·3·3 | Design-led lounge hosts a conversation well, but the brand famously minimized in-room desks, and it costs three points here. |
| 10 | Aloft Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Tactic meeting rooms are a real bookable-space commitment, undercut by no desk standard and a lobby designed to be loud. |
| 11 | Cambria Choice | 60 | 0·2·2·3·2 | Marketed squarely at business travelers: desk, outlets-as-feature, meeting space standard. Choice's app trails the majors on early check-in. |
| 12 | DoubleTree Hilton | 60 | 0·2·1·3·3 | Full-service basics committed, desk, meeting space, app admin, nothing published for quiet or demo-grade connectivity. |
| 13 | EVEN Hotels IHG | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Wellness rooms include a committed rest angle; work commitments are standard-issue. |
| 14 | Element Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Wellness positioning stops short of a sleep guarantee; work commitments are the extended-stay basics. |
| 15 | Embassy Suites Hilton | 60 | 0·2·1·3·3 | Two-room suites are a published hosting advantage, a semi-private meeting in your own room, plus meeting space standard. |
| 16 | Fairfield Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | The reliable floor: desk, early breakfast, app checkout, elite guarantee. Floor, not ceiling. |
| 17 | Four Points Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Honest business basics: desk, breakfast hours, app admin. Nothing published above the floor. |
| 18 | Hilton Garden Inn Hilton | 60 | 0·2·1·3·3 | Desk standard, meeting rooms brand-standard, and Hilton's app (checkout, folio, room selection) carries the admin dimension. |
| 19 | Hilton Hotels & Resorts Hilton | 60 | 0·2·1·3·3 | The flagship commits to everything except the two things sellers ask about first: quiet and a working connection. |
| 20 | Holiday Inn IHG | 60 | 0·2·1·3·3 | The mid-market workhorse: desk, meeting rooms, early breakfast, full app admin. The floor most brands should envy. |
| 21 | Hyatt House Hyatt | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Extended-stay suites work well; the brand publishes nothing on hosting space or connectivity beyond standard Wi-Fi. |
| 22 | Hyatt Place Hyatt | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Cozy Corner + desk standard and Globalist 4pm guarantee; bookable meeting space varies by property, so it scores No. |
| 23 | InterContinental IHG | 60 | 0·2·1·3·3 | Luxury-business positioning, standard-issue commitments. Club lounges exist; none are promised. |
| 24 | Residence Inn Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Suites with real work surfaces and elite late-checkout; no committed meeting space or sound program. |
| 25 | SpringHill Suites Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Suite layouts give room to work; brand publishes nothing on sound, lighting, or bookable space. |
| 26 | TownePlace Suites Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Home-office-style suites give it the work points; nothing committed for client-facing needs. |
| 27 | Canopy by Hilton Hilton | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | A desk survives the lifestyle treatment; meeting space and quiet don't make the brand book. |
| 28 | Hampton by Hilton Hilton | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | Desk standard and the strongest budget-tier app admin; no quiet, hosting, or connectivity commitments. |
| 29 | Home2 Suites Hilton | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | The Working Wall is a real published work-surface commitment; hosting and quiet aren't. |
| 30 | Homewood Suites Hilton | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | Extended-stay desk standard and Hilton app admin; quiet, hosting, and connectivity uncommitted. |
| 31 | Kimpton IHG | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | Design-forward with real desks, but boutique variance means bookable meeting space can't be promised brand-wide. |
| 32 | Motto by Hilton Hilton | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | Micro-rooms trade the desk for square footage; the co-working common area is the stated answer. On the road, it isn't. |
| 33 | Moxy Marriott | 53 | 1·2·1·1·3 | Outlets everywhere and 24/7 grab-and-go, and a brand book that removed the desk and turned the lobby into a bar. Built for fun, scored for work. |
| 34 | Tempo by Hilton Hilton | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | Markets a smartly designed room and delivers the desk; everything else is the Hilton baseline. |
| 35 | citizenM citizenM | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | Kiosk check-in/out is genuinely fast and societyM spaces exist at some properties, but the room's work surface is a ledge, by design. |
| 36 | Holiday Inn Express IHG | 47 | 0·1·1·2·3 | Desk and early breakfast committed; single-tier Wi-Fi with no published faster option costs the fallback point. |
| 37 | Hotel Indigo IHG | 47 | 0·2·0·2·3 | Neighborhood-story rooms make no work-surface promise. Charm is not a commitment. |
| 38 | Staybridge Suites IHG | 47 | 0·1·1·2·3 | Extended-stay suites with real work surfaces; single-tier Wi-Fi costs the fallback point. |
| 39 | Tru by Hilton Hilton | 47 | 0·1·1·2·3 | Outlets are a marketed feature; the mobile chair-and-surface concept is not a desk, and it shows in the score. |
| 40 | Wingate by Wyndham Wyndham | 47 | 0·1·1·3·2 | The rare midscale brand with meeting space as a stated pillar, a business identity it actually commits to. |
| 41 | avid hotels IHG | 47 | 0·1·1·2·3 | Publishes a sleep-quality pitch and bedside outlets; makes no desk promise. Honest economy, scored honestly. |
| 42 | Candlewood Suites IHG | 40 | 0·1·1·1·3 | A workspace in every suite and a lobby that barely exists, built for solo work, not hosting. |
| 43 | Comfort Inn & Suites Choice | 40 | 0·1·1·2·2 | Choice's app carries checkout and receipts down-market; the room promises stop at the desk. |
| 44 | Country Inn & Suites Choice | 40 | 0·1·1·2·2 | Residential-friendly and desk-committed; nothing published for hosting, quiet, or connectivity. |
| 45 | La Quinta Wyndham | 40 | 0·1·1·2·2 | Desk and breakfast committed; single-tier Wi-Fi and a thinner app hold the score down. |
| 46 | Omni Omni | 40 | 0·2·1·3·0 | Meeting-heavy full service undercut by a thin published app stack, the admin dimension goes uncommitted. |
| 47 | Drury Hotels Drury | 33 | 0·1·1·3·0 | Famous free hot food and real meeting rooms, beloved in practice, thin in published digital commitments. |
| 48 | Best Western Plus BWH | 27 | 0·1·1·2·0 | Desk and breakfast committed; the app stack publishes no checkout, folio, or receipt promises. |
| 49 | Sonesta Select Sonesta | 27 | 0·1·1·2·0 | Courtyard's floor plan without Courtyard's app stack, the admin dimension is entirely unpublished. |
| 50 | Extended Stay America ESA | 20 | 0·1·1·1·0 | A desk and a kitchen, and almost nothing else in writing. Price is the product; the Index scores promises. |
The evidence behind these scores
Every score here is made against a document the company published. Below is the document, and a snapshot of it as it stood on the day it was archived — because a brand can edit its own standard at any time, without notice, and a live link alone would quietly stop proving anything. Open either and check our reading against it.
- brand standard page · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- blocked · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- company news release · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- company news release · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- brand standard page · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- published terms · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- blocked · archived 2025-11-10 · read 2026-07-30
- company news release · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- company news release · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- company news release · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- product-doc · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- product-doc · archived 2026-05-18 · read 2026-07-30
- company news release · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- company news release · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- product-doc · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- company news release · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- blocked · archived 2025-09-18 · read 2026-07-30
- company news release · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- blocked · archived 2026-08-05 · read 2026-07-30
- company news release · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- company news release · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- brand standard page · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- brand standard page · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
- product-doc · archived 2026-08-10 · read 2026-07-30
Coverage, stated plainly: 16 of 50 scored entries on this page carry a recorded source. The other 34 do not, and this section does not cover them — their scores were made against documents that were read but never written down, which is a gap this desk is closing rather than one it will paper over. If you re-run any row and reach a different conclusion, tell us — corrections publish on a seven-day clock.
Source access, checked 2026-08-31. Of 17 entries carrying a recorded source, 16 have at least one document an independent automated reader can retrieve, and 1 has none. 17 sources were refused a fetch — 11 of them by hosts whose own robots.txt permits crawling. A refused page is recorded as unverified, never as an absence of commitment, and no score is affected by it. How we record unreadable sources.
Dimensions: Quiet & Rest · Connectivity · Work Surface · Hosting · Admin Speed. Scored 50 brands · July 2026 · v1.1 (expanded from the original 25 to the US50; v1.0 scores unchanged). Soft/collection brands (Autograph, Curio, Tribute, Unbound) are excluded by rule: “varies by property” is their entire model, and the No-rule would zero them unfairly.
The ranking
| # | Brand | Score /100 | Q·C·W·H·A (of 3) | What the public record says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Crowne Plaza IHG | 80 | 1·2·3·3·3 | WorkLife room standard (desk + task lighting + outlets) and the Sleep Advantage program, the only brand scoring on both work and rest commitments. |
| 2 | Westin Marriott | 73 | 2·2·1·3·3 | Heavenly Bed sleep program is a genuine rest commitment; work commitments stop at the standard desk. |
| 3 | Courtyard by Marriott Marriott | 67 | 1·2·1·3·3 | Built for business transient: desk standard, lobby work zones, meeting space brand-standard, elite late-checkout guarantee published. |
| 4 | Delta Hotels Marriott | 67 | 1·2·1·3·3 | Positioned as seamless business travel; the published commitments match Courtyard's, no more. |
| 5 | Hyatt Regency Hyatt | 67 | 1·2·1·3·3 | Convention-grade meeting space standard and the Globalist guarantee; quiet and connectivity uncommitted. |
| 6 | Marriott Hotels Marriott | 67 | 1·2·1·3·3 | The full-service template: desk, meeting space, lobby, elite 4pm guarantee. Nothing published above the template. |
| 7 | Renaissance Marriott | 67 | 1·2·1·3·3 | Lifestyle skin on the full-service skeleton, the business commitments are the parent's, not the brand's. |
| 8 | Sheraton Marriott | 67 | 1·2·1·3·3 | The Community/Studios workspace redesign is a rare public commitment to lobby-as-workplace; elite 4pm guarantee published. |
| 9 | AC Hotels Marriott | 60 | 1·2·0·3·3 | Design-led lounge hosts a conversation well, but the brand famously minimized in-room desks, and it costs three points here. |
| 10 | Aloft Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Tactic meeting rooms are a real bookable-space commitment, undercut by no desk standard and a lobby designed to be loud. |
| 11 | Cambria Choice | 60 | 0·2·2·3·2 | Marketed squarely at business travelers: desk, outlets-as-feature, meeting space standard. Choice's app trails the majors on early check-in. |
| 12 | DoubleTree Hilton | 60 | 0·2·1·3·3 | Full-service basics committed, desk, meeting space, app admin, nothing published for quiet or demo-grade connectivity. |
| 13 | EVEN Hotels IHG | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Wellness rooms include a committed rest angle; work commitments are standard-issue. |
| 14 | Element Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Wellness positioning stops short of a sleep guarantee; work commitments are the extended-stay basics. |
| 15 | Embassy Suites Hilton | 60 | 0·2·1·3·3 | Two-room suites are a published hosting advantage, a semi-private meeting in your own room, plus meeting space standard. |
| 16 | Fairfield Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | The reliable floor: desk, early breakfast, app checkout, elite guarantee. Floor, not ceiling. |
| 17 | Four Points Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Honest business basics: desk, breakfast hours, app admin. Nothing published above the floor. |
| 18 | Hilton Garden Inn Hilton | 60 | 0·2·1·3·3 | Desk standard, meeting rooms brand-standard, and Hilton's app (checkout, folio, room selection) carries the admin dimension. |
| 19 | Hilton Hotels & Resorts Hilton | 60 | 0·2·1·3·3 | The flagship commits to everything except the two things sellers ask about first: quiet and a working connection. |
| 20 | Holiday Inn IHG | 60 | 0·2·1·3·3 | The mid-market workhorse: desk, meeting rooms, early breakfast, full app admin. The floor most brands should envy. |
| 21 | Hyatt House Hyatt | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Extended-stay suites work well; the brand publishes nothing on hosting space or connectivity beyond standard Wi-Fi. |
| 22 | Hyatt Place Hyatt | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Cozy Corner + desk standard and Globalist 4pm guarantee; bookable meeting space varies by property, so it scores No. |
| 23 | InterContinental IHG | 60 | 0·2·1·3·3 | Luxury-business positioning, standard-issue commitments. Club lounges exist; none are promised. |
| 24 | Residence Inn Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Suites with real work surfaces and elite late-checkout; no committed meeting space or sound program. |
| 25 | SpringHill Suites Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Suite layouts give room to work; brand publishes nothing on sound, lighting, or bookable space. |
| 26 | TownePlace Suites Marriott | 60 | 1·2·1·2·3 | Home-office-style suites give it the work points; nothing committed for client-facing needs. |
| 27 | Canopy by Hilton Hilton | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | A desk survives the lifestyle treatment; meeting space and quiet don't make the brand book. |
| 28 | Hampton by Hilton Hilton | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | Desk standard and the strongest budget-tier app admin; no quiet, hosting, or connectivity commitments. |
| 29 | Home2 Suites Hilton | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | The Working Wall is a real published work-surface commitment; hosting and quiet aren't. |
| 30 | Homewood Suites Hilton | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | Extended-stay desk standard and Hilton app admin; quiet, hosting, and connectivity uncommitted. |
| 31 | Kimpton IHG | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | Design-forward with real desks, but boutique variance means bookable meeting space can't be promised brand-wide. |
| 32 | Motto by Hilton Hilton | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | Micro-rooms trade the desk for square footage; the co-working common area is the stated answer. On the road, it isn't. |
| 33 | Moxy Marriott | 53 | 1·2·1·1·3 | Outlets everywhere and 24/7 grab-and-go, and a brand book that removed the desk and turned the lobby into a bar. Built for fun, scored for work. |
| 34 | Tempo by Hilton Hilton | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | Markets a smartly designed room and delivers the desk; everything else is the Hilton baseline. |
| 35 | citizenM citizenM | 53 | 0·2·1·2·3 | Kiosk check-in/out is genuinely fast and societyM spaces exist at some properties, but the room's work surface is a ledge, by design. |
| 36 | Holiday Inn Express IHG | 47 | 0·1·1·2·3 | Desk and early breakfast committed; single-tier Wi-Fi with no published faster option costs the fallback point. |
| 37 | Hotel Indigo IHG | 47 | 0·2·0·2·3 | Neighborhood-story rooms make no work-surface promise. Charm is not a commitment. |
| 38 | Staybridge Suites IHG | 47 | 0·1·1·2·3 | Extended-stay suites with real work surfaces; single-tier Wi-Fi costs the fallback point. |
| 39 | Tru by Hilton Hilton | 47 | 0·1·1·2·3 | Outlets are a marketed feature; the mobile chair-and-surface concept is not a desk, and it shows in the score. |
| 40 | Wingate by Wyndham Wyndham | 47 | 0·1·1·3·2 | The rare midscale brand with meeting space as a stated pillar, a business identity it actually commits to. |
| 41 | avid hotels IHG | 47 | 0·1·1·2·3 | Publishes a sleep-quality pitch and bedside outlets; makes no desk promise. Honest economy, scored honestly. |
| 42 | Candlewood Suites IHG | 40 | 0·1·1·1·3 | A workspace in every suite and a lobby that barely exists, built for solo work, not hosting. |
| 43 | Comfort Inn & Suites Choice | 40 | 0·1·1·2·2 | Choice's app carries checkout and receipts down-market; the room promises stop at the desk. |
| 44 | Country Inn & Suites Choice | 40 | 0·1·1·2·2 | Residential-friendly and desk-committed; nothing published for hosting, quiet, or connectivity. |
| 45 | La Quinta Wyndham | 40 | 0·1·1·2·2 | Desk and breakfast committed; single-tier Wi-Fi and a thinner app hold the score down. |
| 46 | Omni Omni | 40 | 0·2·1·3·0 | Meeting-heavy full service undercut by a thin published app stack, the admin dimension goes uncommitted. |
| 47 | Drury Hotels Drury | 33 | 0·1·1·3·0 | Famous free hot food and real meeting rooms, beloved in practice, thin in published digital commitments. |
| 48 | Best Western Plus BWH | 27 | 0·1·1·2·0 | Desk and breakfast committed; the app stack publishes no checkout, folio, or receipt promises. |
| 49 | Sonesta Select Sonesta | 27 | 0·1·1·2·0 | Courtyard's floor plan without Courtyard's app stack, the admin dimension is entirely unpublished. |
| 50 | Extended Stay America ESA | 20 | 0·1·1·1·0 | A desk and a kitchen, and almost nothing else in writing. Price is the product; the Index scores promises. |
Dimensions: Quiet & Rest · Connectivity · Work Surface · Client Hosting · Admin Speed. Scored 50 brands · July 2026 · v1.1 (expanded from the original 25 to the US50; v1.0 scores unchanged). Soft/collection brands (Autograph, Curio, Tribute, Unbound) are excluded by rule: “varies by property” is their entire model, and the No-rule would zero them unfairly.
What the Index found
Even the winner fails on quiet. The top-scoring brand misses certification not on points but on the dimension rule, which is the rule working as designed. Not one of 50 brands publishes a bookable quiet-room program. Only four (Crowne Plaza, Westin, EVEN, avid) commit to sleep or sound in any form. The single input that most decides meeting-day performance is the one the industry refuses to promise.
Nobody commits to a demo-grade connection. Every brand includes Wi-Fi; zero brands publish a standard a seller could plan a screen-share around. The column scored 0-for-50, the clearest open lane in hospitality marketing.
The desk divide is the ranking. The brands that kept the desk (Crowne Plaza, Courtyard, Hilton Garden Inn) own the top of the table; the brands that designed it out (Moxy, Tru, citizenM, AC) hold the bottom. The trade press called removing desks a style choice. Sellers experience it as a tax.
Admin is solved; the room isn't. App checkout, instant folios, and emailed receipts are near-universal, the majors have quietly won the last 20 minutes of the stay. The gap has moved upstream, into the room and the lobby.
Method, in full147 words
The instrument is the same published 15-check standard used for certification and the free self-assessment:
- Quiet-room program
- Sleep/sound program
- Published late-checkout guarantee
- Call-grade Wi-Fi commitment
- Premium/faster tier published
- In-room Wi-Fi standard
- Desk in every room, by standard
- Work-lighting standard
- Outlets as a brand feature
- Work-capable lobby by design
- Bookable meeting space standard
- Food/space open before 8am
- App checkout with instant folio
- Auto-emailed receipts
- Credible early check-in process
Each check scores Yes only on documented public evidence, brand-standard pages, official app feature lists, published programs, stated policies. Elite-tier guarantees count where the brand publishes them; “available at participating properties” does not. This deliberately measures the floor a brand will put its name to, which is what a traveler can rely on sight-unseen. It does not measure how any single property performs on a Tuesday, no public-record audit can, and we won't pretend otherwise. That measurement exists: it's the on-site evaluation, and its criteria, pass bar, and revocation policy are published.
To the 50 brands scored
Every score above is correctable with evidence. If your published standard commits to a check we scored No, send the documentation to rachel@thesalestraveler.com, verified corrections update the Index within 7 days and are noted in the changelog. And if your properties outperform your brand book, the path to proving it is the same one everyone gets: the evaluation. Passing changes your listing. Nothing else does.
How certification works → The airline Index Score a property yourself
THE INDEX DESK, The US50 · The Executive Tier · Deal-Day Index · The Layover Office · The Road Office · Curb-to-Client · Booking Channels · Apartment-Stay · The Roaming Index · Conference ROI · Expense Velocity · Road-Ready Sales AI · Status Yield, same method, thirteen markets: scored on published commitments only.
The Sales-Ready Index, answered
What is the Sales-Ready Index?
A ranking of 50 US business-transient hotel brands run through the 15-check Sales-Ready standard, scored entirely on public commitments: published brand standards, app capabilities, and stated programs and policies. It grades what a brand promises the business traveler, in writing.
Which hotel brand ranked highest?
Crowne Plaza reaches 80 on raw points, the top of the field, yet not one of the 50 brands clears the certification bar on its promises alone, and Crowne Plaza still fails on the published dimension. The gap between what brands market and what they commit to is the whole story.
How are the hotels scored?
On published commitments, not on reviews, star ratings, or a single stay. If a brand won't put a standard in writing, it scores No. That's the line between this Index (which measures promises) and Sales-Ready Certified™ (which measures on-site delivery).
How do I use this to book a trip?
Pull a verified shortlist for your destination with the Trip Planner, or browse the where-to-stay guides by company and city, every recommendation traces back to this scored data.
What does this Index say about the category as a whole?
Read across every brand rather than down the ranking and one number falls out: 62% of the 65 hotel brands we score publish no commitment at all on quiet or rest, while every single one publishes a commitment on hosting your meeting. That distance between what the category promises the company booking the trip and what it promises the person taking it is the Commitment Gap, the finding this Index exists to make measurable.
Where do these scores meet a real trip?
A score is only useful where someone has to choose. These brands carry their published commitments into our where-to-stay guides, next to the specific properties a business traveler is actually picking between.
- Embassy Suites — scored here, and on the ground in Where to Stay When Visiting Stripe (South San Francisco).
- Fairfield — scored here, and on the ground in Where to Stay When Visiting Stripe (South San Francisco).
- Hilton Garden Inn — scored here, and on the ground in Where to Stay When Visiting Nasdaq (New York).
- Homewood Suites — scored here, and on the ground in Where to Stay When Visiting Accenture (Chicago).
- citizenM — scored here, and on the ground in Where to Stay When Visiting Nasdaq (New York).
Also from the desk
- The Sales-Ready RFP Kit: copy, paste, require: the requirement language built from this standard, free to copy into an RFP.