ORLANDO, Florida — The COVID-19 pandemic brought changes to how the hotel industry operates and functions, increasing operators’ and travelers’ reliance on remote working and technology.
Some of those changes have been beneficial and are here to stay moving forward, according to hotel revenue managers who participated in a roundtable discussion at HSMAI’s 2022 Revenue Optimization Conference Americas.
Remote Working
The pandemic-era surge of remote working has adjusted how some workers view traveling, taking more leisure trips and simply working from their hotel room.
Lori Kiel, chief revenue and marketing officer at Kessler Collection, said the shift in work-life balance “changed the game.”
“People don’t travel to work; they travel and then work,” she said.
The recovery of business transient demand might never get back to full strength because of this shift to bleisure travel, Kiel said, but regardless of business transient travel recovery levels, bleisure travel is here to stay.
Erica Lipscomb, senior vice president of commercial strategy at Crescent Hotels & Resorts, pointed out that newfound flexibility plus lingering regrets over not spending enough time with loved ones prior to the pandemic are leading to an increased travel demand, especially since some travelers won’t have to worry about taking time off.
