Group revenue for hotels in the second quarter this year was 102 percent of that reported in Q2 2019, according to the Hospitality Group and Business Performance Index from Knowland and Amadeus — the most significant improvement in group business since the pandemic. The index, which was launched in June, combines event data from Knowland with hotel-booking numbers from Amadeus.
This second-quarter edition of the index now includes data from the top 25 U.S. hotel markets — and reveals that 14 of those markets exceeded their 2019 figures from the same quarter. Based on how much they exceeded Q2 2019 revenue, the top three markets are in Florida, and four of the 14 markets are in Texas.
The 14 markets that exceeded prepandemic group revenue are:
- Miami – 115 percent
- Tampa, Fla. - 114 percent
- Orlando – 113 percent
- Phoenix – 112 percent
- Dallas – 108 percent
- Houston – 107 percent
- San Antonio – 105 percent
- Denver – 105 percent
- San Diego – 104 percent
- New Orleans – 103 percent
- Washington, D.C. – 101 percent
- St. Louis – 101 percent
- Los Angeles – 101 percent
- Austin, Texas – 100 percent
Group average daily rate for the quarter was 11 percent higher than Q2 2019, while the number of room nights was 8 percent less than in 2019. The increased rates were largely responsible for an uptick in performance vs. the previous quarter, continuing the improvement trend that has been in place since early 2022, according to Knowland.
Corporate meetings accounted for 62 percent of all of events in the second quarter, with the strongest volume seen in health care, technology and training/education.
