Hotel industry leaders at the NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference expressed confidence that business travel will recover but may look very different from the way it did before the pandemic. Addressing the opening session, Jonathan Tisch, CEO of Loews Hotels and conference chair, said he is optimistic business travel will recover “as business leaders realize there are just too many things you can’t do on Zoom, putting people back on the road to build relationships, make connections and close deals.” However, said Tisch, “what if less business travel is the new normal? What kinds of ripple effects will that create? And what will a sustainable business model look like? For example, he said, how will a decline in business travel impact leisure travel? How much would leisure airfares need to increase to compensate for the reduced revenue from business travel? “

There are opportunities, too, said Tisch. During Covid, he said, millions of people learned they can work from anywhere. If workers don’t need to be in the office, he said, how can the industry encourage them to stretch out vacations — working away from home while spending time with family — and enable them to be just as productive? Supporting this trend — which is already emerging — will benefit leisure destinations as well as airlines, restaurants, hotels, Airbnb and others, said Tisch.

Also at the conference, Amanda Hite, CEO of STR, said the hospitality data company expects group and business travel to recover significantly in 2022, but it will be 2025 before the industry returns to 2019 levels of inflation-adjusted revenue per available room (RevPAR) and average daily rate (ADR).

Paul Sacco, chief development officer for Mint House, a residential hospitality provider, told BTE he expects to see business travel patterns change, with longer trips becoming more common as travelers meet with more clients on a single trip — and extend their trips, with a spouse or partner joining them. Another business driver, he said, will be digital nomads who will live and work in different cities. He said residential properties like his will be “a backdrop for that lifestyle.”

And Jay Stein, CEO of Dream Hotel Group, told BTE that conference business will come back quickly, already evidenced by attendance at major hospitality conferences like NYU. He said that while corporate travel will be last to return, “there is huge pent-up demand because your industry friends are as important as your personal friends.” He said the delay in offices reopening had dampened the recovery, but signs are positive. When the company reopened its Chatwal Hotel in New York recently, the property sold out twice in the first week.