Business travel is bouncing back, but hotels in the Providence market and elsewhere are learning that those guests’ expectations have changed in the wake of the recession.
Convenient location, location, location continues to be the No. 1 way to attract the all-important business bookings. Lodging-industry officials, however, say corporate travelers are looking for more, as some grew accustomed to being wooed with perks by hotels desperate to fill rooms.
Free wireless Internet connections, rewards programs, free breakfasts, even more desk space and complementary tea and coffee delivered to the room are among the offerings that are becoming more common.
“It’s all become the norm now,” said Dale Venturini, president of the Rhode Island Hospitality Association. “Expectations are much higher.”
And what business travelers and the corporations that foot their bills want is vitally important to hoteliers in Rhode Island.
In the Providence market, corporate-related room rentals make up about 70 percent of the hotels’ business, according to Martha Sheridan, president and CEO at Providence Warwick Convention and Visitors Bureau.
Even in tourism-centric Newport, business travel represents about 40 percent of the lodging revenue.
That’s why hotel executives aggressively reach out to companies in the local area, making sales calls, offering tours of the facilities and discounts in the hopes of booking rooms, hospitality officials say.
Things certainly appear to have turned around since gloomy 2009, when the sputtering economy kept both the business and leisure traveler at home.
For 2010, Providence’s average occupancy rate was 63.6 percent, up 7.1 percentage points from the year before, according to reports from Smith Travel Research, an industry tracker.
And while the city’s average daily room rate slipped about 3 percent to $127.04 in 2010, revenue per available room – a key measurement otherwise known as RevPAR – rebounded 9.2 percent to $80.74 from a dismal 2009.
A good chunk of that improvement can be attributed to an increase in business travelers, local industry officials said.
The National Business Travel Association says business-travel spending in 2010 increased an estimated 2.3 percent – compared with a 14.1 percent drop the year before. And the association expects the numbers to grow this year, with spending estimated to increase another 5 percent in 2011.
“Companies are once again recognizing the value of face-to-face meetings with customers, prospects, partners and colleagues to build relationships and set the stage for top-line growth,” said Michael W. McCormick, NBTA executive director and chief operating officer.
And hotels such as the Hilton Garden Inn in Warwick – where as much as 80 percent of room rentals are business-related – are looking to capitalize.
The hotel’s sales director, Lindsey Nickerson, said her team has been making calls on the companies that populate the office parks in Warwick and beyond, including nearby Metro Center Boulevard, enticing those with a need for lodging to book rooms at the Garden Inn.
Corporate travelers are coming back looking for specific amenities and offerings, according a survey of travel agents conducted by Travel Leaders Group, a national travel company.
Nearly 83 percent of the agents said their business clients find location near the business meeting to be one of the most important factors in selecting a hotel, while rewards programs and free Wi-Fi ranked second and third (54 percent and 31 percent, respectively). Location near the airport (18 percent) and free breakfast (13.2 percent) rounded out the top five.
While free Wi-Fi at area hotels is becoming more common, some locations are still reluctant to provide wireless Internet connections without a charge, according to Sheridan. •
