Fall Group Business: Relationships Are What Fill Rooms Long After Summer Ends

For hotels, fall has always brought its share of predictable business. Students return to campus. Parents arrive for move-in and Family Weekend. Alumni come back for Homecoming. Football stadiums are filled. Fall foliage brings leisure travelers to the Northeast.

But the fall opportunity is much bigger than a handful of high-demand weekends. In university markets, the real opportunity is building relationships that generate business throughout the academic year, not simply during the weekends when every hotel is already busy.

In Meyer Jabara Hotels’ Rhode Island market, what was once viewed as a relatively short fall season now stretches well into late October. The sources of demand are also becoming more diverse. Universities host seminars and guest speakers. Regional associations look for accessible destinations for smaller meetings. Companies plan retreats within driving distance. Amateur sports generate weekend room nights, while fall foliage attracts leisure and tour business.

For hotel sales teams, the opportunity lies in identifying that demand early and converting it into repeat business. Increasingly, that comes down to relationships.

Universities Are Much More Than Just Homecoming

Education has long been one of our most reliable sources of fall business. Universities operate on established academic calendars and typically work within defined fiscal-year budgets, often running from July through June. That creates recurring opportunities and a level of predictability that can be less dependent on discretionary travel. But a university is not one account. It is a community of individual business generators.

Athletic departments bring in teams, coaches and officials. Academic departments host speakers, seminars, and conferences. Admissions offices bring prospective students and families to campus. Alumni and development offices plan events and reunions. Individual schools and departments recruit faculty, entertain guests, and conduct meetings. Universities also generate demand from trustees, vendors, recruiters, and other partners. That is why hotel sales teams need to go deeper into the university and treat each department as an individual business generator, rather than treating the school as a single account. The person booking athletic travel may have little connection to the person arranging hotel accommodations for an academic conference.

If your hotel has one university contact, you probably do not have enough.

Timing also matters. Large associations can book a year or two in advance, while regional associations may work within a three- to six-month window. For education, we find that approximately six months can be particularly productive, although our goal is increasingly to work a year ahead. Corporate and government business can be far more fluid, materializing anywhere from a few months to a few weeks before arrival.

The strategy is to layer business. Secure annual groups and recurring events first, then prospect around them based on segment, booking window and need dates. And evaluate those opportunities on total account value, not room rate alone. Guestrooms, meeting space, food and beverage, repeat stays and the potential for future business matter. As fall approaches, target opportunities that can fill remaining gaps, particularly smaller midweek groups.

Hoteliers should already be looking at September and October 2027. The goal is not simply to replace this year's business. It is to identify higher-value and recurring accounts that can strengthen overall performance.

Think Beyond the Traditional Group

Fall sales should extend well beyond education and finding that business often requires old-fashioned sales to work. Sports are a good example. Identify organizations that run tournaments. Talk to coaches and local schools. Ask employees about leagues and sports organizations their families participate in. Ask existing customers for introductions. Word of mouth still matters.

Social groups also present opportunities. Military reunions can be attractive because they often meet midweek and typically have an established organizer. Regional associations and corporate retreats are another important target as organizations look for destinations that feel like a getaway without requiring extensive travel.

For Rhode Island, the drive-market advantage matters. Providence offers a distinct experience and strong value compared with nearby Boston, without requiring attendees to get on an airplane.

Hotels also should not prospect in isolation. Convention and Visitors Bureaus, chambers of commerce, local companies and attractions can all help uncover opportunities. Work closely with your CVB to attract smaller meetings, particularly those combining midweek sleeping rooms and meeting space.

Sometimes the destination itself becomes part of the sales pitch. A company may not want to hold another meeting down the street from headquarters, but it may be very receptive to driving a few hours somewhere that feels different while remaining convenient and affordable.

One advantage of being part of a larger management company is the ability to follow customers when their travel takes them elsewhere. At Meyer Jabara Hotels, when we establish a strong relationship and learn that an account needs accommodation in another market, we can connect that customer directly with a sales colleague at another property.

But a hot lead should not simply become an email.

Pick up the phone. Call the other director of sales. Explain the account, the opportunity, and what you know about the customer. Make a personal introduction. A university, association, corporation, or sports organization may have travel needs in multiple markets, so one successful relationship can potentially open doors throughout a portfolio.

That same personal approach applies when responding to new business. Answer the phone. Responding to the email. Return the message quickly. Groups often contact multiple hotels, especially when booking windows are short. Speed to market matters.

Digital marketing and social media can also help hotels remain visible and reach targeted audiences, but they should complement relationship selling, not replace it.

The Fall 2027 Sales Strategy Starts Now

Looking ahead, I believe education remains one of the greatest opportunities for hotels in university markets to uncover additional business within relationships they may already have. The key is getting more granular. Instead of approaching a university solely through procurement, travel, or another centralized contact, identify individual departments. Understand what they do, whom they bring to campus, when they hold events, and how they spend their budgets.

Then ask one of the most valuable questions about sales: Who else should I be talking to? One contact should lead to another.

The same philosophy applies to corporations, associations, sports organizations, and destination partners. Learn about their business, stay in touch, and nurture those relationships even when you do not immediately need rooms to fill.

That also means learning the details that matter to each group. Knowing an athletic team's schedules and meal requirements, understanding the traditions surrounding an alumni weekend, or anticipating an association's meeting needs creates value beyond price. The better we know an account, the easier it is for them to return.

Winning the first group is only the beginning. After the event, sales teams should follow up, ask what worked and what could be improved, and begin discussing next year's dates while the experience is still fresh. For an annual event, the goal should be to move from competing for the business every year to becoming the group's expected hotel partner.

Fall group business is not won in September when a hotel suddenly realizes it has holes in the forecast. It is built over time through smart prospecting, responsiveness, and relationships.

The leaves may be seasonal. Relationships should not be.