Latest Hotel Forecast: Leisure Surpasses 2019; Business and Group Have 'a Long Way To Go'
Leisure Travel Demand Slated To End 2021 17% Higher Than 2019
There is a lot of good news to pull out from STR's latest full-year 2021 forecast for the hotel industry — leisure demand surpassing pre-pandemic levels and hoteliers holding rate through the downturn — but a hazy outlook for corporate spending is keeping growth projections for the remainder of the year somewhat muted.
There is a lot of good news to pull out from STR's latest full-year 2021 forecast for the hotel industry — leisure demand surpassing pre-pandemic levels and hoteliers holding rate through the downturn — but a hazy outlook for corporate spending is keeping growth projections for the remainder of the year somewhat muted.
STR is CoStar's hospitality analytics firm.
Speaking during the "Prognosticating Post-Pandemic: The U.S. Hotel Forecast" panel during the 2021 Hotel Data Conference, STR President Amanda Hite said business transient travel will end the year at 70% of what was seen in 2019, compared to leisure transient ending the year 17% higher than that year.
"So we still have a long way to go to get back to prior 2019 numbers, and we don't expect a lot of group demand," she said.