Hillsborough County Hotel & Lodging Association
How the Hillsborough County Hotel & Lodging Association turned a strong market position into a three-year strategy with accountability built in.
HCP designs public opinion, stakeholder, customer, employee and market studies that replace assumption with evidence and give leaders a clearer path forward.
Since 1986, HCP research has informed decisions for cities, counties, airports, transit authorities, credit unions, health systems, schools, destinations and private companies.
A study is useful only when it is designed around the decision it needs to inform. HCP begins by defining that decision, identifying who is affected and determining what evidence is still missing.
Only then do we determine the sample, methodology, questions and reporting structure. Research should lead somewhere.
Research begins when an important decision is being shaped by incomplete information, conflicting opinions or an assumption no one has tested.
Citizen surveys, public opinion polling, community sentiment and transit research.
Brand awareness, advertising recall, perception and customer research.
Confidential employee studies, stakeholder interviews, focus groups and member research.
Market studies, feasibility research, opportunity sizing and economic impact analysis.
Longitudinal research, repeated studies and year-over-year tracking.
Segmentation, cross-tabulation, findings, recommendations and executive presentation.
Each engagement uses the combination of quantitative, qualitative and analytical methods required by the decision. We don’t force every question into the same methodology.
Public opinion polling and statistically valid studies of residents, riders, visitors and voters, built to represent the full population rather than only its most vocal participants.
On-site passenger, rider and visitor research that captures feedback within the experience being evaluated.
Studies repeated using a consistent instrument so leadership can measure how opinion, awareness or behavior changes over time.
Moderated focus groups, in-depth interviews and stakeholder research that explain the reasoning behind quantitative results.
Confidential internal studies that give leadership a clearer view of organizational belief, trust and alignment.
Satisfaction, loyalty, expectation and experience research for financial institutions, health systems, schools, destinations and consumer organizations.
Advertising recall, recognition, preference and perception studies that test whether market investment is changing awareness.
Market-entry evaluation, opportunity sizing, feasibility and economic impact research for organizations considering a significant investment.
Telephone, online and mixed-method surveys using appropriate sampling frames, weighting and clearly reported margins of error.
Questionnaire development, sampling plans and methodology review for HCP engagements and for consulting firms that require an independent research discipline.
Cross-tabulation, segmentation and written analysis that separate significant findings from noise.
Findings presented in clear language that executives, boards, commissions, councils, stakeholders and public audiences can understand and use.
We begin with the choice leadership must make, the people affected and the evidence that could materially change the decision.
Question wording, response scales, sampling, methodology and reporting are designed together and reviewed before fieldwork begins.
Telephone, online, intercept, focus group, interview or mixed method, conducted using the approach appropriate to the population and decision.
HCP delivers findings rather than a data dump: clear analysis, defensible conclusions, board-ready presentation and a baseline that can be measured again.
HCP research is often reviewed by boards, commissions, councils, executive teams, auditors, reporters and the public. The methodology therefore has to be understandable, documented and appropriate to the population being studied.
The sample must reflect the population the organization is accountable to.
Question wording, field method, weighting and limitations must be explainable.
HCP distinguishes statistically or strategically meaningful results from noise.
Reports and presentations explain what leadership can reasonably conclude and what the evidence does not establish.
When tracking is required, the instrument creates a consistent baseline for future comparison.
For four decades, HCP has conducted research for public agencies, financial institutions, health organizations, destinations, schools and private companies.
The Citizen Opinion Survey reached its 34th consecutive year in 2025. HCP has partnered on the study since 2018, presenting findings to the Board of County Commissioners.
Nine iterations of Tampa’s Downtown Resident and Worker Study, conducted every two years to track how resident and worker perception changes.
Five annual Community Values Surveys since the 2020 baseline, most recently completed in 2024, built to reflect Tampa’s diverse demographics and communities.
How do residents rate quality of life, County services and confidence in local government?
Countywide citizen survey by telephone and online, a rapid COVID-19 sentiment study, and a mixed-method Sustainable Growth study with the City-County Planning Commission.
What does representative citizen sentiment say, beyond the loudest voices?
Quantitative telephone survey of residents, a confidential Employee Voice Survey, and the biennial Commercial Recycling Survey for the Department of Solid Waste.
How does the community at large, not only riders, perceive the transit authority?
Community sentiment baseline repeated in 2019 and 2023, presented to the Board of Directors.
What do passengers want from concessions as Tampa International Airport expands?
Comprehensive passenger intercept survey, conducted as research partner to the principal consultant.
How do residents and workers experience the district, and what should come next?
Biennial Westshore Resident and Worker Study, with findings carried into the Alliance’s strategic plan.
Is marketing investment changing awareness, market by market?
Brand and advertising awareness study built as a repeatable online instrument.
How do Florida residents perceive credit unions?
Online survey of 1,501 Florida residents aged 25 to 54, designed for granular results.
What would it take to renew the visitor base ahead of the 60th anniversary?
Mixed-medium study across employees, volunteers, guests, donors, members, lapsed members, the board and the public.
Is the Orlando visitor market worth the marketing investment?
Online panel of recent Orlando visitors and an audit of two years of media spend.
What drives Florida homeowners’ insurance choices?
Statewide consumer market study testing brand awareness for the Florida insurer.
Is national advertising building brand equity?
National telephone, electronic and direct mail studies, from awareness questionnaires to advertising pre- and post-tests.
How the Hillsborough County Hotel & Lodging Association turned a strong market position into a three-year strategy with accountability built in.
How Visit St. Pete/Clearwater used research and stakeholder engagement to build a five-year tourism plan that added destination stewardship to destination marketing.
Each discipline builds on the one before it. Research establishes what is true. Strategy determines what to do. Marketing puts that thinking to work.
Establish what is true.
Determine what to do.
Put the thinking to work.
Tell HCP what your organization needs to understand. We’ll help determine whether research can answer it, which method is appropriate and what the engagement would require.
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