Operations
revolution A business travel
The Covid-19 pandemic changed many aspects of society irrevocably and forever, but will business travel meet the same fate? Jane Pendlebury, chief executive at HOSPA, sees the post- pandemic travel landscape as the opportunity for a new approach.
I
s it safe to say we are post-pandemic? Whether or not that is actually the case, it certainly feels that we are moving that way in the UK – especially given
that all Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted. Are we all ready for the new, new normal? It will be interesting to watch how, even without restrictions, guest behaviours have changed and I suspect we will not really be able to judge that for a good many years yet. The opinions of economists are still split on when
we will match 2019 levels of business. Predictions vary from this year to as far away as 2026. Of course, there are some who will not get the chance to find out, as they were forced to close during the pandemic. But for those who survived, it is more realistic to look at different segments. It is already well documented that coastal and rural properties were overrun with demand whenever lockdowns
opportunities present themselves again. On the flip side, city hotels that, for years, had comfortably relied on international business travellers for the majority of their bedroom sales, were hit harder than most. As demand slowly returns though, the city properties seem to be successfully holding their nerve on rate. Attitudes towards international travel have shifted
over the past couple of years, however. No longer are those road warriors as happy to travel with their heads in their laptops – they are starting to look up and take in the scenery. They are wanting to extend their work trips to spend longer at their meeting destinations, and there are probably many reasons for this. I suspect the time away from the day-in-day- out travel schedules gave them the space to reconsider their priorities. It seems such a waste to visit beautiful locations and not take advantage
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