Much like the 2021 hotel request-for-proposals cycle, this year's negotiation season differs greatly from pre-pandemic ones. Many hotel companies have offered to roll over 2020 rates for a second year, and some buyers—though seemingly not as many as last year—are taking them up on it, with 2021 volume only nominally higher than 2020, and recovery still nascent.
Still, for those buyers conducting an RFP this year, the average 2022 U.S. corporate negotiated rate could increase 10 percent to 15 percent year over year, predicted industry expert Bjorn Hanson, adjunct professor at the New York University School of Professional Studies' Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality, in his annual analysis. Reasons for the projected increase include restored hotel services, sellers more aggressively addressing financial challenges, and business and group demand recovery—mostly for small and midsize meetings of between 150 to 400 attendees.
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