From the April issue: New York City’s hotel sector, already
struggling with lower occupancy rates and prices, has a new challenge:
corporate buyers seeking to renegotiate previously set bulk contracts.
Prices for blocks of rooms that were locked in late last year at
discounted corporate rates are now being shifted again — downward.
Hoteliers are loath to discuss the disquieting new trend, which is
taking place all over the country. In a February survey by the
Association of Corporate Travel Executives, 61 percent of
respondents said they had approached their suppliers for midcontract
rate reductions. Of that group, 81 percent focused on hotels, including
many in New York, which along with Hawaii has the most expensive rooms
and meeting facilities in the U.S. [more]