27 May 2008

Mid-price hotels are drawing business and meeting-goers

New amenities and inclusive pricing are becoming big draws for mid-price hotels, according to Business Travel News research.

The mid-price tier is increasingly attractive to price-conscious planners.

"Probably about 50 or more percent are what we'd qualify as moderate or mid-scale properties," said Tracey Wilt, manager of global travel meetings and conference solutions for the Xerox Corp. "It's been pretty consistent. Our strategy still is to look for moderately priced hotels in our key markets."

PriceWaterhouseCoopers' 2007 US Lodging Industry Report and Forecast indicated that demand growth this year would be highest in the mid-price without food and beverage. That growth was estimated to be 3.6%, pr more than double the 1.5% growth rate estimated for the overall US lodging industry.
A recent National Business Travel Association/Best Western survey of 104 travel buyers reported that more than two-thirds had employed a trading-down strategy to cut costs.

Runzheimer International's 2007 Hotel Negotiation Survey reported that although upper-tier properties still were most frequently used, use of lower-tier properties had increased almost one third during the past four years.

by David Wilkening