In addition to paying more for airfare, a new study from American Express shows that hotel rates worldwide are up year-on-year for business travellers, this is just as most international hotel brands in Nigeria have commenced plans to reposition their hospitality establishments to tap into the market.
The Sheraton hotel in Lagos has unveiled plans for the effective redesigning and restructuring of the hotel to accommodate needs of the business traveller and the lucrative business hotel market considering its location close to the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, in Ikeja.
Also, facilities at the newly opened duo of Radisson Blu Anchorage Hotel in Victoria Island, Lagos and the Best Western on Allen Avenue, Ikeja have been described by their various managements as tailored to meet the need of the business traveller in line with the position of Lagos as the hub of international travel in West Africa.
Also, the Golden Tulip in Festac, Lagos, has also included in its N18 billion grand design, facility development and expansion plans for business and conferencing facilities to corner this new market in Nigeria.
The newly released figures by the firm show that as demand returns for business travel, hotel companies are reacting by increasing rate. The latest research from the American Express Global Business Travel shows that average room rate average room rate internationally increased to US$258 in the second quarter of 2011, an 11 per cent increase year-on-year and an 8 per cent increase from the previous quarter.
?As hotel new development pipelines slowed with the uncertainty in the economy, hoteliers have benefited from more favourable demand to supply ratios by and large in 2011,? said Christa Degnan Manning, director at the eXpert insights research company.
?In addition, many hoteliers have renewed focus on the business traveller as this more lucrative sector of travel has picked up. As hoteliers have followed the supply trend of offering more fee-based services however, savvy sourcing professionals are getting more of these included in with the higher base rates for the business traveller, which helps businesses have more predictability in travel-related costs. With this backdrop, companies should focus their approach to negotiations with hotel suppliers for 2012 to obtain the best overall value, rather than simply the lowest base rate,? Manning said.
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