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Why corporate travel will OUTPERFORM
When the COVID crisis passes , business travel will be massively different — but better , and stronger , than before . Here ’ s why , according to two executives of Netherlands-based CitizenM : Ernest Lee , head of development and investments in North America , and Lennert De Jong , chief commercial officer . Competition : The most effective salespeople have social intelligence and ego drive . Imagine Omnicom losing an account to Publicis because they pitched over video . How quickly will Omnicom ' s CEO require every client meeting to be in person ?
Operations : The pandemic and public policy has accelerated the “ hub and spoke ” office model , China-plus-one ( U . S .) supply chains and foreign outposts due to H-1B restrictions . Decentralized facilities need HR , finance , IT , legal — all of which create travel needs .
Workforces : When you can work from anywhere , you will want to live anywhere . However , these employees will still crave socialization , collaboration and face time , and will need to visit HQ periodically , staying in hotels during their trip . Remote-flexible offices : Uber , Airbnb , Square were founded under the old mindset — build an incredible office and talent will work longer and harder . Future founders will adapt to a remote-flexible mindset : If they bring the workplace to the talent , they will be even more productive . That said , building corporate culture is still far superior in person .
Bleisure : Now that parents are spending more time at home , dropping the kids off at grandma ’ s house will be a little less upsetting . Adding a few days to that Miami business trip will occur more often .
Group travel : Instead of one giant confab in Las Vegas , imagine 10 mid-sized conferences — all happening at the same time in different cities with a virtual bridge . Hotel bookings will become less concentrated but more accessible , possibly attracting more people .
Mini-conferences : Smaller and more frequent events of under 500 people were already the fastest-growing segment in meetings and events . Now one of its most important attributes — networking — will have far greater value . Picture the D . C . lawyer who moved to the Delaware beaches . Rather than driving hours for one-off meetings , he ’ ll now plan three-day trips and catch up with many more people at once . Supply and demand : Expect many hotels converting to other uses . Some cities will convert hotels into shelters , others will make them into dorms , while others create residences and private clubs . This will take out , mainly , peripherally located properties and shift demand toward undersupplied areas .
Future supply : The pandemic will deepen the socioeconomic divide in many cities , which means anti-development and anti-tech sentiment will only grow . This will make new projects more difficult to develop and short-term rental supply more regulated .
New uses : The pandemic has given rise to many new corporate travel reasons . Doctors will use hotels to mix telemedicine and office visits . Education startups will take over hotels for new schooling formats . E-retailers will take over ballrooms for a pop-up department store .
14 hotelsmag . com November / December 2020