Lifestyle hotels with boutique, experiential offerings are driving the hospitality comeback as worldwide occupancy rates approached pre–COVID levels in the first quarter of 2023, according to the latest FCM Consulting Global Trends Report.
FCM Consulting General Manager Felicity Burke said lifestyle hotels with unique experiences have taken off with corporate travellers looking for a different offering.
FCM Travel insights showed Q1 2023 global hotel occupancy was 60.46 per cent – just four per cent below 2019 levels.
“Hotels that have lobbies to encourage interaction, offer green initiatives, have slick technology and wellbeing choices are some ingredients of a lifestyle hotel,” Ms Burke said.
“Newer hotel offerings such as Lyf Collingwood in Melbourne or a Hoxton in New York are challenging the legacy hotels.”
Regions on the rise
Asia was one of the regions with the fastest bounceback at 26 per cent above Q4 2022 rates followed by the Middle East (22%), Europe (19%), Latin America (12%), Australasia (12%) and North America (4%).
“Interestingly, this is actually a strong uptick on the Q4-2022 quarter, where only North America and Australia/New Zealand were the only two regions to have surpassed 2019 levels,” Ms Burke said.
“The biggest rises came in Auckland and Wellington with increases of 27 per cent and 25 per cent respectively – with Melbourne (up 17 per cent) and Sydney (up 16 per cent) not too far behind.”
Ms Burke said the findings demonstrate business travellers will increasingly book based on price and the service offering, opening up the potential for a shakeup of corporate travel program suppliers.
“This shows that the demand for true value in flights and accommodation remains and the corporate traveller is willing to shop differently,” she said.
To read the full report, head here.
