Fortune Survey Picks the Four Happiest Travel Companies

After 20 years working in the travel industry, and 15 years writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.

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Although I can’t prove it, I’ve always believed that there’s a strong correlation between employee satisfaction and customer-service levels, especially in service-intensive industries. Happy workers deliver better service. And conversely, an unhappy, unmotivated workforce provides dependably sub-par service.

That’s the theory, anyway. And I’m always on the lookout for studies of worker satisfaction to reality check the notion.

Helpfully, Fortune magazine has been publishing its “100 Best Companies to Work For” since 1998, and the results of its latest survey were released this month.

Not a single airline made the list. That’s certainly consistent with the low regard in which travelers hold airlines. And only four hotel companies were included: Kimpton Hotels at 21, Marriott at 57, Four Seasons Hotels at 91, and Hyatt Hotels at 95.

Although hardly definitive, those results are at least broadly consistent with my own experience, and what I hear of others’ experience of those hotels’ service levels.

Fortune’s study was based on input from 252,000 employees at 257 companies. Only companies at least five years old with more than 1,000 employees were eligible for inclusion.

Reader Reality Check

Do you get superior service from the four “happiest” hotel companies?

This article originally appeared on FrequentFlier.com.

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