SPECIAL REPORT
Going
Live
LIVE TOURISM IS THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE. IT’ S A CASH COW FOR HOTELS, TOO.
By HARVEY CHIPKIN
Hotels are capitalizing on live tourism: concerts, sporting events, festivals and other in-the-flesh events that draw significant numbers of people to a destination. And they are using a variety of methods to maximize the potential of these occasions, including dynamic pricing, forecast analysis, targeted marketing, packages and experiences.
Pricing as always is a key factor when it comes to major happenings, according to Jan Freitag, national director, hospitality analytics, CoStar Group. He said that for many attendees, these are“ once-in-alifetime events,” so they might be less price sensitive than for typical stays. In addition, he said, the buzz surrounding the event and the likely high occupancy on those nights allow hoteliers to exert pricing power.
Hoteliers were among the biggest winners during Taylor Swift’ s Eras Tour, enjoying outsized growth in occupancy and rate, according to CoStar. Cities such as Indianapolis, New Orleans, Toronto and Warsaw, Poland, saw rates increase more than 100 % year over year when her show came to town.
Many point to Swift as having a dramatic impact on local economies, including hotels, but live tourism goes well beyond one pop star. For instance, while sports have always drawn fans to a destination, that trend seems to have accelerated. According to CoStar, New Orleans, host of Super Bowl LIX, saw a year-over-year increase in ADR of 42.8 % to $ 314.37, and RevPAR, up 33.5 % to $ 222.66.
WE LEAN INTO CULTURAL HAPPENINGS BY MAKING SURE OUR PRICING REFLECTS THE VALUE OF STAYING IN A CENTRALLY LOCATED HOTEL
– ANNAJANE GÜZEL, GLOBAL DIRECTOR OF BRAND MARKETING, GENERATOR AND FREEHAND HOTELS
Annajane Güzel, global director of brand marketing for Generator and Freehand Hotels, said that when a mega-event hits one of the group’ s cities,“ It’ s like a magnet for demand, and pricing naturally responds to that.” At Freehand, she said,“ We lean into cultural happenings by making sure our pricing reflects the value of staying in a centrally located, design-forward hotel that’ s part of the action.”
As far as pricing, Lindsey Johnson, SVP,
8 hotelsmag. com Sept / Oct 2025