20 Stats Every Hotel Group Sales Team Should Know to Prepare for 2027

The latest group and event data reveals where demand is growing, how planners are buying and what hotel sales teams need to do differently. 

Group and event business is entering 2027 with stronger demand, shorter booking windows and a more complicated sales process.

Planners are looking at more destinations and venues. Costs are changing how meetings are sourced. Smaller programs are becoming more important, and buyers increasingly expect hotel and venue information to be easy to find, compare and act on.

For hotel sales, catering, convention services and venue teams, these are 20 numbers worth watching.

Hotel Group Demand Is Growing Again

1. U.S. hotel group demand grew 2.4% year over year through June 2026, reaching 129 million room nights.
   [Source: CoStar, Hotel Data Conference 2026]

After a weaker 2025, group business moved back into growth during the first half of 2026. The recovery is not uniform, which makes market-level demand, pace and segment data increasingly important.

2. Between February and April 2026, U.S. group demand increased 2.7%, with particularly strong gains in secondary markets serving small and midsized events.
   [Source: CoStar/STR, Q2 2026 U.S. Hotel Forecast]

That creates more opportunity for regional hotels, resorts and venues that can compete for programs that do not require a major convention market.

3. Traditional 60-, 45- and 30-day group booking windows have, in some cases, shortened to just two or three weeks.
   [Source: CoStar/STR, Q3 2026 U.S. Hotel Forecast]

Shorter lead times change the economics of group sales. Teams have less time to qualify the opportunity, check space, build a proposal, negotiate and contract the business.

A lead sitting untouched for several days can consume a meaningful portion of the entire buying window.

4. Global hotel group room nights averaged 92% of 2019 levels in Q1 2026.
   [Source: Events Industry Council/Oxford Economics, Q1 2026 Global Business Events Barometer]

The recovery still has room to run. Hotels should not assume that today’s group mix represents the ceiling for future demand.

5. Global RFP activity for future events reached 101% of 2019 levels, while RFP activity for meetings more than 12 months out reached 122%.
   [Source: Events Industry Council/Oxford Economics, Q1 2026 Global Business Events Barometer]

The long-term pipeline is particularly interesting. Buyers are still booking close-in business, but organizations are also putting future meetings into market well ahead of arrival.

Hotels need visibility into both.

Meetings and Events Remain Big Business

6. Meetings and business events generated $126 billion in U.S. travel spending in 2024.
   [Source: U.S. Travel Association/Tourism Economics]

That includes conventions, corporate meetings, trade shows and incentive travel, all of which drive hotel rooms, meeting space, catering and related spending.

7. Globally, business events generated $1.3 trillion in direct spending in 2025, 12.2% above 2019 levels.
   [Source: Events Industry Council/Oxford Economics, 2026 Global Economic Significance Study]

The same study counted 1.65 billion participants worldwide. Group and event business is a substantial commercial market, and hotels are competing for only one part of that spend.

Planners Expect More Meetings, Attendance and Budget

8. 38% of meeting planners expect budgets to increase, 43% anticipate higher attendance and 28% plan to book more meetings.
   [Source: Cendyn & ConferenceDirect, 2026 State of the Meetings Industry Survey]

For hotels and venues, those numbers support continued group demand without suggesting that every market or meeting type will grow at the same pace.

9. 38% of meeting professionals expect the number of small or simple meetings they host to increase, while another 50% expect volume to remain steady.
   [Source: Amex GBT, 2026 Global Meetings & Events Forecast]

That makes small meetings a particularly important sales opportunity.

Smaller meetings may generate less revenue individually, but they can be frequent, repeatable and valuable on need dates. The challenge is selling them without creating disproportionate administrative work.

Secondary Destinations Are Getting More Attention

10. More than half of meeting planners surveyed said interest in second- and third-tier destinations is being driven by new experiences, perceived safety and better rates.
    [Source: Future Partners/Miles Partnership/Informa Connect, 2026 Future of the Meetings Industry]

That aligns with CoStar’s finding that secondary markets are already seeing stronger group-demand growth.

For hotels in those markets, the opportunity is bigger than simply being less expensive. Properties need to make the case for accessibility, experience, meeting capabilities and overall value.

11. Nearly 70% of planners now use AI tools such as ChatGPT when sourcing meeting destinations.
    [Source: Future Partners/Miles Partnership/Informa Connect, 2026 Future of the Meetings Industry]

Venue discovery is changing before the RFP ever arrives.

Hotel meeting-space information, capacities, location details, photography and other group-sales content increasingly need to be understandable to search engines and AI systems as well as planners.

RFP Processes Are Becoming More Structured

12. 61% of companies that negotiate directly with meeting venues use an RFP process. Yet 34% of companies still have no defined sourcing process for meeting or venue space.
    [Source: GBTA, Hotel and Meeting Sourcing: The Current Landscape and the Future]

That creates two very different buyers.

Some arrive with formal comparison criteria, while others may be moving quickly through a much less structured process. Hotel sales teams need to accommodate both without losing control of their own sales process.

13. Companies with a defined meeting-sourcing process report average savings of 22%, but only 32% of corporate buyers say their company has a well-developed managed meetings program.
    [Source: GBTA, Hotel and Meeting Sourcing: The Current Landscape and the Future]

As more organizations bring discipline to meeting sourcing, hotels should expect more structured comparisons of rates, concessions, contract terms and total value.

Finding the Right Space Is Still Difficult

14. 33% of planners say finding the space and dates they want is difficult.
    [Source: Northstar Meetings Group & Cvent PULSE, December 2025]

Availability itself remains a sales issue.

When the right space is available, the hotel has a limited window to turn that fit into a proposal and eventually a contract.

15. 50% of planners say achieving sufficiently flexible contract terms with hotels and venues is difficult.
    [Source: Northstar Meetings Group & Cvent PULSE, December 2025]

Contract flexibility has become part of the venue decision.

Sales teams need clear guidelines around where they can negotiate and where they cannot. Waiting for multiple layers of internal approval can become its own competitive disadvantage.

16. 69% of planners say food and beverage costs are higher than expected, while 63% cite accommodation rates as an issue during sourcing.
    [Source: Northstar Meetings Group & Cvent PULSE, December 2025]

That puts more pressure on the complete group proposal.

Room rate matters, but so do F&B minimums, meeting-room rental, AV, service charges, concessions and other costs. Hotels that make the total value easy to understand give salespeople a stronger conversation than simply negotiating rate.

Hotel and Venue Content Can Determine Whether You Get the RFP

17. 50% of planners say meeting-room specifications influence whether they submit an RFP. Images and video influence 48%, while floor plans and diagrams influence 46%.
    [Source: Cvent, 2026 Planner Sourcing Report]

A hotel can lose group business before its sales team ever sees the opportunity.

Capacities, configurations, dimensions, photography and floor plans are not simply website content. They are group-sales assets.

Response Time Still Matters

18. 80% of planners say the ideal hotel or venue RFP response time is less than four days. For meetings of 50 attendees or fewer, 39% will eliminate a venue that has not responded within two days.
    [Source: Cvent Planner Sourcing Reports, 2025 and 2026]

Smaller meetings can have the least tolerance for a slow sales process.

If creating every proposal requires searching for information, manually rebuilding documents and waiting for routine approvals, valuable selling time disappears.

Simple Meetings Need a Simpler Buying Process

19. 86% of planners say they are more likely to choose a venue for a simple meeting when online booking is available.
    [Source: Cvent, 2026 Planner Sourcing Report]

That is a significant signal for hotel group sales.

A ten-person board meeting or repeat training program does not necessarily need the same sales process as a multiday conference. Hotels can make smaller programs easier to buy while keeping salespeople focused on opportunities where qualification, negotiation and relationship-building matter more.

Planners Are Working With Lean Teams Too

20. 50% of event teams consist of only one to five people, and 71% expect team size to remain unchanged.
    [Source: ICE Benchmarking Report 2025]

Buyers are being asked to manage increasingly complicated events without proportionately larger teams.

That makes ease of doing business valuable. A hotel that provides clear information, a complete proposal and reliable follow-up saves the planner work.

What These Numbers Mean for Hotel Group Sales in 2027

The group and event opportunity is substantial, but the way that business moves through the market is changing.

Hotel group demand is growing again. RFP activity has passed 2019 levels. Longer-term RFP activity is even stronger, while close-in group booking windows have compressed to just a few weeks in some markets.

Smaller meetings are important. Secondary markets are gaining attention. Planners are dealing with higher costs and lean teams while becoming more systematic about sourcing and negotiation.

They are also doing more of their research before speaking with hotel sales.

For hotel and venue teams, that puts more value on a few fundamentals: knowing what business is in the pipeline, understanding what dates and spaces are available, responding while the opportunity is still active, creating proposals planners can quickly evaluate and seeing why business is won or lost.

There is no shortage of group and event demand to pursue in 2027.

The bigger opportunity is converting more of the demand already in the market into profitable, booked business.

Twenty Stats. One Clear Takeaway

Group and event sales teams have more opportunity, more competition and less room for friction.

If your sales process still depends on disconnected follow-up, slow proposal creation or limited visibility into what is driving revenue, 2027 will make those gaps harder to ignore.

SalesAndCatering.com helps hotel and venue teams manage opportunities, create better proposals and turn more group business into booked revenue.

See what your group sales process could be doing better.  Schedule your demo today.

About Mike Pavicich

Mike Pavicich is the Global Sales Vice President at SalesAndCatering.com, where he leverages over 20 years of rich experience in the hospitality industry. His professional trajectory is marked by a series of leadership roles across prestigious hotel brands, demonstrating a consistent ability to drive sales performance and revenue enhancement. Mike’s roots in the industry trace back to fundamental roles in sales and operations at distinguished establishments such as Hyatt Hotels, Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, and Station Casinos.

Mike’s career trajectory shifted when he began exploring the synergistic blend of technology and hospitality. His contributions have been pivotal in advancing growth-driven solutions at leading technology firms, including Orbitz (now part of Expedia), Rainmaker (later acquired by Cendyn), and Sabre. In a recent role, he played a key part in managing the gaming markets for Priceline-Agoda. As a graduate of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, class of 1999, Mike combines a profound understanding of the hospitality sector with a keen insight into technological innovations.

Outside the professional sphere, this industry veteran is a dedicated family man residing in Las Vegas. When not working, he relishes quality time with his wife and two teenage sons, passionately supports the UNLV Running Rebels basketball team, and contributes to the community as a volunteer youth lacrosse coach.

Connect with Mike on Linkedin

About SalesAndCatering.com

SalesAndCatering.com provides the most affordable full-featured Sales and Catering systems for hospitality.  Its STS Cloud Sales and Catering system is widely installed and engineered to give property sales teams the sales tools that help them achieve their goals. SalesAndCatering.com’s  systems are developed and supported by the company’s US-based offices. It is a trusted full-service sales and catering partner that delivers solutions via a software-as-a-service model that ensures greater client communication to streamline the sales process and maximize staff productivity. SalesAndCatering.com’s systems help hotel companies meet revenue goals through anytime-anywhere data access and integration with multiple PMS systems.  STS Cloud delivers unparalleled performance to help you thrive in today’s competitive sales environment. 

For more information, please visit salesandcatering.com.