The negotiated rate corporate travel segment is a “high value target” for the hotel industry, according to an inaugural report called The Value of Corporate Travel 2025 from the NYU School of Professional Studies Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality, developed in partnership with HEDNA (Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association). 

The corporate segment, according to the report, is generating higher revenue per stay, driven by significant net average daily rate (ADR) growth. This marks a shift from a volume-based to a value-based model, said the report, and calls for hotels to evaluate the place for corporate, negotiated travel in their broader commercial strategy.

The report’s other findings included:

• Corporate travelers, including the most valuable loyalty members, appear to be migrating from direct booking channels, or bookings captured by properties through phone and walk-ins, to the GDS. While direct channels held a leading position in 2023, GDS taking over as the top channel for booked room nights signals that hotels are reallocating marketing and distribution budgets toward specific corporate and consortia programs where potentially the highest-paying, business travelers are booking. Meanwhile, Brand.com’s share remains relatively constant.
• Travelers booking through the GDS rarely book same day; the majority book eight to 30 days in advance, allowing hotels to employ more sophisticated yield management for the last-minute inventory often booked via direct or other channels. Blended travel is another notable trend that boosts the average length of stay and ancillary revenue.
• There is a need for improved tracking of unmanaged travel: The findings capture the behavior of the managed travel market, defined as corporate, consortia, group (partially) and government market but are indiscernible for the unmanaged share of travelers, including out-of-policy booked trips and small- to medium- sized-business travelers who book non-negotiated rates.
• Hotels are adopting nimble, omnichannel approaches to reach the managed segment, utilizing OTAs for efficient promotions and incentivizing direct bookings with specialized programs and loyalty benefits, while maintaining presence on GDS as the core channel for corporate travel. This flexibility is mirrored by TMCs, which are transforming into essential rate aggregators that integrate direct, negotiated and OTA rates, while also adapting to track direct bookings to fulfill duty of care obligations. While geopolitical instability is the likely reason behind the rise in cancellations, said the report, so is the lack of a “modify reservation” option in corporate booking tools.