All four metrics for requests for proposals for future meetings tracked during the third quarter by Cvent declined year over year. The average group block size dropped 0.7 percent to 222.2 rooms, average peak room nights declined 0.3 percent to 74.4 rooms, average event duration dropped 0.8 percent to 3.3 days, and the average booking window dipped 0.3 percent to 184.8 days, according to Cvent's quarterly Group Business Outlook.
The third-quarter data is "a mixed bag, but there are some positive developments across most key group booking metrics," said Cvent senior director of analytics Jeffrey Emenecker. "Booking pace for 2020 looks flat at this point, which is a bit better than it looked 90 days ago, and 2021 is looking up, albeit slightly less so that it was last quarter. That said, when we consider the outlook data together with other recent macroeconomic forecasts, we continue to expect a challenging group environment for the hospitality sector in upcoming months."
The number of group room nights awarded to U.S. hotels for the first two quarters of 2020 shows an increase year over year, but declines three quarters in a row starting in Q3 2020, and recovers in Q2 2021. However, the basis-point change in the year-over-year variance from one quarter ago shows flat or declining changes in five of the next eight quarters
Still, the number of group RFPs awarded via Cvent to U.S. hotels during the third quarter of 2019 was up 9.7 percent compared to the same quarter one year ago.
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