Opinion Articles

The 2024 Group Business Forecast: Trends to Help Hotels Capitalize on the Back-to-In-Person Boom

Group business is back in a big way. In-person events are returning to their pre-COVID normal pace. In 2024, 81 percent of meetings will have an in-person component in them. A recent study by Deloitte anticipates that by 2024, business travel spending will return to its level before the pandemic. This view is echoed in Accor's data, which shows in their latest survey regarding client business travel that 57 percent of those surveyed anticipate a budget increase for travel in 2024 compared to 2023.

Boston/Cambridge Lodging Market – 2023 Year End Review

The Boston/Cambridge lodging market ended 2023 at 76.4% occupancy, a 6.8% variance over 2022’s 69.6%. This 6-point increase in occupancy is a result of the market accommodating 8.6% more rooms in 2023 compared to the prior year; 0.6% more rooms occupied as compared to 2019. Seasonality appears to be in sync with what we typically expect for the Boston market. Peak season, May through October, monthly occupancies ranged between 84% and 89%, averaging 86%.

Brooklyn Continues to Blossom in the Post-Pandemic Period

The Brooklyn hotel industry has been experiencing post-pandemic recovery due in part to strong leisure demand, an increase in meeting and group business, and the gradual return of commercial demand. Additionally, the New York City Department of Homeless Services and related entities have been utilizing many hotels as temporary shelters for homeless residents and migrants/asylum seekers.

Brands and Brand Families Matter: A look back 2013–2022

To help hotel developers and investors with their due-diligence process, CBRE Hotels Research collected more than 20 years, and analyzed ten years, worth of hotel key performance indicators (KPIs) disclosed in the SEC filings of six large public companies: Choice, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott and Wyndham. Combined, these companies had more than three million rooms or approximately 60% of total U.S. hotel supply at year-end 2022. Underlying data used to conduct this analysis is available for purchase here.

Hotel Spas Fill In Revenue Void During Recession

As of year-end 2022, the average hotel in CBRE’s Trends® in the Hotel Industry survey sample had surpassed its 2018 total revenue figure by 1.5%. This was achieved even though the average hotel had rented 8.2% fewer room nights in 2022 than it did in 2018. The improvement was largely due to continued improvement in average daily rate and revenue from other sources. The strategy to drive revenue from other sources was in direct response to the reduced number of occupied rooms and the increased cost of conducting business. One of these ancillary revenue sources was spa services.

Sacramento Growth Continues

Over the past decade, Sacramento has seen strong economic growth, driven by investment in the Downtown and Natomas submarkets. Fueled by rising costs in the San Francisco Bay Area, businesses and individuals have migrated inland toward the more cost-efficient Sacramento Valley. With several major commercial developments in the works, Sacramento should experience sustained growth in the near term.

Charleston, SC: Making & Preserving History

Europeans first settled in the city that would become Charleston over 350 years ago. Charleston’s rich history is one of the drivers of its thriving tourism sector, which tallied 7.68 million visitors in 2022. In the hospitality industry, Charleston continues to make history, while local initiatives are also making strides to preserve it.