Let's Talk About Business Travel
We’ve seen the recent news about occupancy rates spiking at hotels across the country. As more and more of the population gets vaccinated, people are itching to travel after being cooped up for more than a year.
You can see this the most in the popular vacation destinations, such as Florida, where bookings are up over 30% compared to June 2019. It’s reasonable to expect this trend to continue as the summer months roll on.
While leisure travel is bouncing back strongly, the focus has now turned to business travel - which is the main driver of revenue for many of the largest hotels in the United States. While still too early to know for certain, there is a lot of hope that in-person events will come roaring back in 2021. In fact, Northstar Meetings Group's latest PULSE Survey shows 80 percent of planners polled in the U.S. will hold their next in-person event this year. Another recent survey from Northstar's Britain-based counterparts, Meetings & Incentive Travel and Association Meetings International, found that meeting professionals in the U.K. and are Europe are also optimistic about the industry's recovery and 71 percent are planning in-person events for 2021.
Furthermore, the COO of Caesars mentioned:
“Looking ahead, we remain encouraged by booking trends for the second half of the year, Group and convention room nights on the books for the second half of 2021 versus 2019 are currently pacing up approximately 20%, and we're seeing good rate growth as well.”
Anthony Carano - COO at Caesars
With all this good news coming out, it is now up to hotels to figure out the best way to capitalize on this momentum and win back guests confidence. One of the tools that will be essential to this is UV Station - which keeps the most commonly used items in the hotel room - such as guests’ phones and the remote - clean and safe for use.
This is especially a big deal for business travelers, many of whom may be apprehensive about returning to life on the road. If, after a long day of travel and lots of face-to-face contact, they are greeted with an in-room device that allows them to clean their dirtiest items AND charge their phone? Well, you can imagine how that would go a long way in winning them over and making them a returning customer to your hotel.
Of course, many travelers - both leisure and business alike - will be “over it” (the pandemic) and could care less about what hotels are doing to keep them safe and clean. But it’s equally as clear that another portion of travelers will be as hyper-aware as ever, and, by not adding new technologies, hotels risk pushing these travelers to other accommodations.
Conclusion
All of us have reason to feel optimistic. Vaccines are rapidly being distributed, businesses are opening up, and in-person events are starting to come back. The most savvy hoteliers will capitalize on this momentum by adding products that make them stand out, while at the same time, ease the concerns of their most health conscious guests.
Helpful Links
https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4103794.html
https://www.northstarmeetingsgroup.com/in-person-events-happening-during-covid
https://www.yarnfieldpark.com/blog/why-face-to-face-meetings-are-still-important