Group, Corporate Travel ‘Reawakening’ Evident in Monthly US Hotel Performance
February 28, 2022 | Robert McCune | CoStar
January performance data points to a pickup in hotel demand from groups and corporate travelers, which is expected to continue through the first quarter, according to Jan Freitag, national director for hospitality analytics for the CoStar Group.
Groups booked 3.5 million hotel room nights in January, data from CoStar hospitality analytics firm STR shows.
“This is still only half of the group demand it was in January of 2019 but nonetheless a sign in the right direction,” Freitag said. “We see this as another indicator that corporate demand is reawakening. The expectation is that group demand will continue to grow through the first quarter.”
Weddings are making up a portion of that group demand for hotel rooms on weekends, and that is driving high average daily rate, which is also expected to be strong this summer, he said.