Jan Freitag, national director of hospitality analytics at CoStar, said he can see and hear the data showing clearly group demand is coming back. — Photo by Terence Baker

Group business is beginning to pick up slowly, but capturing wallets and loyalty from this potentially profitable sector comes with a few extra challenges.

The consensus among hoteliers is that the conditions around group demand pre-pandemic are not the same today.

Speaking at the Accor Global Meeting Exchange, Markus Keller, Accor's chief sales and distribution officer, said during the pandemic it was easy to forget hotel industry trends were still developing and changing.

“It was time when [Accor] could be more fundamental. Not everything was at pace. We took opportunity to look at ourselves and focused on authenticity,” he said.

Scot Hornick, partner, travel and leisure, at business advisory Oliver Wyman, said for business travelers, loyalty is becoming more important.

Read the full article at HotelNewsNow (part of CoStar)