New York City – Group
demand at U.S. hotels continues to grow, and corporate travel buyers should
expect significant rate hikes in this year’s request-for-proposals season as a
result, top hotel executives said Monday at the New York University
International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference.
Hilton Worldwide president and CEO Chris Nassetta put it
frankly when asked what buyers should expect in negotiations: “To pay more.”
“If we were mid-single digits last year,” he said, ”it
should be high single digits next year. We have a better group base, so there's
more leverage.”
Wyndham Hotel Group president and CEO Geoff Ballotti said
increases in both group and leisure demand bode well for hoteliers as
negotiations near. “Everyone from our side is looking to make sure that our
revenue management teams are doing everything they possibly can to raise
rates.”
According to the most recent May data from TravelClick’s
North American Hospitality Review, reserved group occupancy for 2015 is up 2.3
percent from 2014. The pace for overall committed occupancy as of May is up 2.8
percent from the 2014 committed pace as of May of that year.
“A lot of people were waiting around for group business to
recover,” Hyatt Hotels Corp. president and CEO Mark Hoplamazian said during a
panel discussion. “In case you missed it, everyone, it's back, and
going well.”
The suppliers' confident statements at this week's NYU
conference came almost a year after buyers at a BTN conference stated that increasing group demand had created a frustrating
negotiating climate.