Group business has been a major boon for hoteliers in 2014, and represents a continued opportunity in 2015, according to hotel consultancy TravelClick, which today published data from its November 2014 TravelClick North American Hospitality Review, showing a 10.5 percent increase in new group reservations over the past month alone.
"As the holiday season rapidly approaches, the outlook is prosperous for hoteliers as most segments are experiencing upticks in performance," John Hach, senior vice president of global product management at TravelClick, said in a statement. "Group business is proving to be a strong and robust channel. This segment encountered the most highs and lows in 2014. We are very encouraged by the pace of group bookings and believe that hotels have a real opportunity to grow this channel throughout 2015."
In the fourth quarter, the group segment experienced increases in average daily rate (ADR), reserved occupancy, and revenue per available room (RevPAR) of 1.8 percent, 4.7 percent, and 6.6 percent, respectively. For the first quarter of 2015, meanwhile, it has experienced increases in ADR and committed occupancy of 2.6 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively.
The transient business segment also has performed well, according to TravelClick, which reported fourth-quarter-2014 increases of 4.8 percent, 4.5 percent, and 9.5 percent in ADR, reserved occupancy, and RevPAR, respectively, and first-quarter-2015 increases of 5.1 percent and 6.3 percent in ADR and committed occupancy, respectively. This, despite the ongoing Ebola crisis.
"Despite global travel concerns over Ebola, the hotel sector continues to grow and we expect this trend to continue through the rest of 2014 and into 2015," Hach said. "Looking forward, TravelClick sees a real opportunity for capturing shorter-term group business, which should help bolster overall average daily rate (ADR) performance throughout 2015."
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