Survey after survey reveals that business travelers like hotels and pretty much despise airlines. Their decisions usually come down to one word: choice.

Airlines don't give you any, but hotel chains are all about choice. Just need a good bed, free WiFi, and a fast breakfast? There's Hampton Inn from Hilton or Holiday Inn Express from InterContinental. Looking for a business traveler's pit stop with all you need to work on the road? That's the forte of Courtyard by Marriott or Hyatt Place. Need suite accommodations at the right price? Hilton's Embassy Suites at your service. Want apartment-like living for longer stays? Say hello to Homewood (Hilton), Residence Inn (Marriott), or Candlewood (InterContinental). Boutique flash? Try W Hotels from Starwood or Hotel Indigo from InterContinental. Deluxe digs with hot-and-cold running luxury? Waldorf-Astoria from Hilton, Park Hyatt, Ritz-Carlton from Marriott, or St. Regis from Starwood will do nicely.

But all that "segmentation"—lodging industry jargon for creating specific hotel brands for targeted markets at a variety of price points—has come at a high cost. The middle ground of the hotel business has turned murky, and some big hotel chains are struggling to redefine their once-iconic full-service lodging brands.

Some of the lodging industry's greatest names—Hilton, Sheraton, Holiday Inn—are searching for new niches and images. After all, if business travelers can have exactly what they want at exactly the price they want to pay, why bother checking in at the old-line brands whose claim to fame has been offering a little bit of everything to everybody?

The level to which full-service hotels have fallen is starkly illustrated by the most recent Business Journals survey of the nation's leading brands for small-to-midsize businesses. Only two hotel chains cracked the Top 20 to lodge in a pantheon that includes Apple, Staples, and UPS. At No. 19 was Courtyard, the business-travel-specific division of Marriott International. At No. 4 was Holiday Inn Express, the "focused-service" spinoff of Holiday Inn, one of seven lodging brands in the portfolio of London-based InterContinental Hotels Group.

The success of Holiday Inn Express, which has opened more than 2,000 properties worldwide since 1991, is in contrast to the floundering fortunes of Holiday Inn itself. Founded in 1952 and named after the 1942 Crosby-Astaire movie that also introduced "White Christmas" to America, Holiday Inn was intertwined with the development of the nation's Interstate highways. Holiday Inn once fancied itself "the nation's innkeeper," but faltered as the brand passed from owner to owner and travelers started demanding more from their roadside lodgings.

"Holiday Inn customers were asking 'What are you? What do you stand for?'" admits Gina LaBarre, vice president Americas brand management at InterContinental. "We heard that loud and clear. We were so inconsistent that we had to fix it."

A billion-dollar overhaul completed last year hopes to reestablish Holiday Inn's business-travel bona fides. More than 1,200 franchisees were purged from the system during the last five years, and the remaining properties spent an average of $250,000 on improvements to bathrooms, bedding, and staff procedures. Even the iconic star-topped, neon-arrowed Holiday Inn sign has been scrapped. And later this year, the chain's "social hub" will begin replacing much of the existing public space at Holiday Inn hotels. The company claims the concept—an integrated lobby, bar, casual restaurant, and business center—will attract the "everyday business hero" that the chain hopes to woo.

"The middle still has a very compelling story and a lot to offer to travelers looking for value from their stays," LaBarre insists.

You'll also hear that mantra from John Greenleaf, vice president of global brand marketing for DoubleTree, one of the full-service chains owned by Hilton Worldwide. In the lodging business, DoubleTree has been considered a "conversion brand," which means most of its hotels were once part of other chains. If business travelers thought of DoubleTree at all, it's because of the warm chocolate-chip cookies they ritualistically receive at check-in.

But five years into a $3 billion overhaul and expansion, Greenleaf says the chain's "cookie culture" also has been augmented by a "care culture" that focuses on finding ways to give better guest service. Although 70 hotels were dumped from the chain, it has grown to 250 properties in 17 countries. And the fact that DoubleTrees aren't similar from location to location—properties range from the stylish, 256-room Wit Hotel in Chicago to a 1,000-room behemoth in Orlando—is being used to stress the chain's quirky nature.

"Our discussion has to be about the guest experience," Greenleaf says. "We're not amenity-driven like the focused-service brands. We don't have a standard guest room. Our [customers] look to us because our hotels are unique. Our research shows that's what they like best about us," he claims.

But unique has its limits in a business where business travelers have been taught to value the familiar and predictable. Much of DoubleTree's $3 billion investment has gone into making sure each property offers a "consistent sleep experience"—that's industry lingo for a branded bed, in this case the Sweet Dreams custom mattress, linens, and pillows—consistent in-house fitness facilities, and food and beverage outlets that reflect local dining preferences.

DoubleTree is even adding the phrase "by Hilton" to its name in an attempt to broaden its appeal as it expands globally. But the Hilton brand has its own problem. Its focused-service concept, Hilton Garden Inn, is growing much faster, and Hilton chains such as Hampton, Embassy, and Homewood Suites are far more consistent in product, amenities, and service delivery.