© Felix Mizioznikov / Dreamtime / Dreamtime / TNS Hyatt Centric Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.FORT LAUDERDALE, FL - For years, Fort Lauderdale College has been known as a hotspot for vacationers, family vacationers, tourists and cruise ship passengers.
But now so-called "leisure visitors" - business travelers who extend their trips by a few days to visit local attractions - are making their presence felt as the Covid-19 pandemic wanes and the businesses stay busy. As soon as they absorb the cost of evicting city employees to businesses, city hotels, owners say. Nationally, the trend has helped the industry recover from a devastating financial hit from the coronavirus, according to a senior industry official.
Fort Lauderdale customers come from major cities in the United States, Europe and South America. The hotel has become a popular spot for tech companies, which use it for brainstorming sessions among employees who haven't seen each other since the COVID outbreak.
"We have very specific businesses and groups and you make sure they're in the Blitzer market," said Jason Alexander, sales manager for the new Courtyard Marriott hotel in Flagler Village on Federal Highway.
Technology and health care companies from San Francisco and Ireland visit the hotel, which has tailored its facilities to the work and leisure needs of guests, he said.
At the venerable Riverside Hotel on Las Olas Blvd., the oldest hotel in town, there's an easy way to find vacationers, says general manager Heiko Dobryka.
"You see people in the lobby with their laptops and they're working," he said. "But their clothes don't reflect the clothes of a businessman."
"Travel will be happy because technology has advanced to the point where we can work anywhere in the world," he said. "Most people can work from anywhere and still work."
He said bookings for the upcoming Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, scheduled for late October and a traditional event that draws business and leisure travelers, are strong.
At Hyatt Centric Las Olas West, Blitzer traffic began in early 2021, took a short break due to the year-end COVID option, and resumed last spring, said Kathryn Baeza-McLennan, director of sales and marketing.
“We had a lot of demand in March, April and June,” he said, and that continued all summer. "Our employment rate is significantly above the 2019 level."
According to him, the guests came mainly from the United States, as well as from Canada, Great Britain and Brazil.
"It's funny because you don't normally think of Brazil as a market in Fort Lauderdale, but of course we have our share," Beza-McLennan said.
The hotel welcomes workers who can use its facilities with a day pass. The Office for a Day program allows private use of a room from 07:00 to 19:00 and includes premium Wi-Fi, meal discounts and access to the gym, pool and spa. the hotel.
The ripple effect
Downtown has co-working spaces, restaurants, and Brightline rail transit
Some travelers need clean office space that hotels don't provide, says Tim Haas, founder of General Provisions in Fort Lauderdale.
"It's something that keeps growing," he said. “It's not something we paid much attention to before the pandemic.
As a result, the company is rethinking its subscription-based business model, which allows day passes for those who need to stop and use its locations for a short period of time.
"They can use it for a day or a month," says Haas. "That's the range of use."
It's also adding 25 additional private offices and additional workspace "that better accommodate these types of travelers they're looking for."
“Restaurants meet families with business people on the other side,” says Amy Guerra, founder of Miami-based Breakwater Hospitality Group, owner of The Wharf Fort Lauderdale and Rivertail Downtown.
"It shows in the way they are dressed," she says, noting that fathers are free while wives and children are dressed.
“We have definitely seen an increase in all areas. Guests come from out of town. And it was fantastic."
Brightline, the intercity railroad that serves downtown Fort Lauderdale, Miami and West Palm Beach, has “seen a significant increase in business travel” since resuming service late last year after a long shutdown due to Covid. said a spokesperson.
Local transportation to and from its stations helps passengers reach the tourist destinations of Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, the Brickell Avenue area of Miami, and the plaza of West Palm Beach.
Existing concepts help the industry
The concept of vacation tourism has been around for more than a decade, says Peter Ricci, professor and director of the hospitality and tourism management program at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton.
"Covid has increased the use of leisure travel because people often work remotely, so they only travel with friends, family, relatives or alone and combine their travel with a job and a life of quality," he said. Email “If they attend a business meeting, they will come a day or two earlier or stay a day or two longer.
“Hotels, restaurants and destinations can significantly benefit from the sushi phenomenon by increasing the length of stay for their typical travelers,” he added. “If the typical duration of a stay in a destination is 2.3 days, I expect this big event to only extend beyond 3 days as an example. Adding dwell time means more revenue for the destination, more dollars for our local workers, and more taxes for our communities. ."
Ritchie argues that the hospitality industry "could benefit more from this sector by openly and transparently promoting leisure or 'work away from the beach' types of advertising and marketing."
“There was an election campaign,” he said, but not enough to position a hotel as an industry leader.
The American Hotel and Lodging Association Trade Group in Washington, DC, helps travelers restore their hotels.
“The increase in the trend towards remote working during the pandemic has fueled the emergence of new types of hotel guests, including backpackers and digital nomads,” said Chip Rogers, President and CEO of the association, in a press release sent by e-mail. . "Blitzer travelers combine business and leisure travel, while digital nomads travel while working and stay in different destinations for as long as they want."
A survey conducted by the association in May showed that 82% of business travelers are willing to extend their trip by a day or two for pleasure.
"So it's a trend that started during the pandemic and we hope it will continue," Rogers said.
lift test
There are no promotions to attract travelers to Fort Lauderdale. But Broward County tourism advertising agency Visit Lauderdale has designed its marketing to go beyond traditional beach-centric appeals to "emphasize community diversity and the downtown experience," said said Jenny Morzon, CEO of Downtown. Development Authority, said.
"It's about emphasizing a trend or an interesting story," he said. “As companies hire their employees for conferences and meetings, we believe hotels are so successful in the leisure space that they also want to make it a destination for business travel.
Bleisure travelers, guests who combine sightseeing and business, are helping to lift some hotels in downtown Fort Lauderdale, as many extend their stay to explore local attractions. (Courtesy of Fort Lauderdale DDA and Sublime Imagery)
Some hotels are actively cultivating specific industry groups to visit.
Tech crews didn't find the Courtyard Marriott in Flagler Village by accident, Alexander said. The hotel, which opened last year, reached out to niche travel planners in California and Europe through online digital marketing.
Some visitors work for Broward County businesses. Others are companies based in the San Francisco area, "but they have half the team here."
He said guest workers were eager to explore the community, take a water taxi to other parts of town and even help clean up beaches.
"I find it interesting to see how a group of colleagues relax together," he said. "It's beneficial for us because they stay longer. I think our destination is important. In the past, it wasn't that important."
to go to the beach
Tourists also end up in beach hotels, which generally depend only on vacationers for their activities.
"We've seen our business travelers take extra days to have fun in the sun and take advantage of all the amenities we have to offer," says Trish Penderson, Director of Sales and Marketing at AC Hotel Fort Lauderdale Beach. .
"Tourist travelers are a real trend these days and we're seeing that not only among business travelers, but also among vacationers who need to check in to work while on vacation," he said. "The ability to work remotely has only increased the popularity of this movement that we're seeing."
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