When It Comes to Hotel Groups, Everybody's Working for the Weekend
In Reversal of Pre-Pandemic Trends, Weekend Group Demand Drives Hotel Recovery
A full recovery of the U.S. hotel sector relies on the return of three sources of room demand: leisure travelers, corporate transient and large industry and private groups.
Group demand declined sharply in 2020 when travelers stayed away from large indoor gatherings, as weddings were postponed and association meetings were canceled. The sharp rise in vaccinated Americans has led to a surge in recent demand from leisure travelers, and this is clearly visible in recent data from STR, CoStar's hotel analytics firm.
There is also some positive news in an uptick in group demand. In April, the U.S. hotel industry sold over 2 million group room nights for the first time since early 2020. This total demand, however, is still less than a third of the group demand seen in 2019.
