August Pace Navigator

August 28, 2019

The monthly Pace Navigator gives you the Knowland Advantage! Through its TAP solutions, Knowland aggregates, analyzes, and reports on past and future event booking data as reported by participating CVBs to deliver actionable trending insights needed to make better strategic decisions.

The most noticeable change this month’s edition is in Booking Velocity for 2021, which has dipped and now sits 1.7% behind in pace. The outlook remains bright for all other future years which are still ahead of pace. For hotels, working with your CVBs to drive more group business for 2021 could help hedge the risk of any slowdown in the economic growth cycle.

Check out the results in this month’s Pace Navigator!

On the Books (OTB) Pace:
+4.2%

This metric measures the change in definite future room nights on the books, as of May 31, 2019, compared to what was on the books at the same time last year (STLY), or May 31, 2018.

Our data shows that we have 4.2% more room nights on the books compared to this time in 2018. The graph above shows the OTB Pace change versus the same time last year, for each year in the future booking horizon.

New Bookings Velocity:
+2.1%

This metric measures the change in room nights from newly signed bookings over the last three months, in this case, March – May 2019, compared to room nights booked over the same time last year (STLY). Across all future dates, the new bookings velocity is up 2.1% compared to the same 3-month window in 2018. The graph above shows the new bookings velocity change versus the same time last year, for each year in the future booking horizon. For example, the +10.2% new bookings velocity for 2020 compares the total room nights added to the books between March 2019 and May 2019 for 2 years into the future to the total room nights added to the books between March 2018 and May 2018 for 2 years into the future.

Our Take on This Month’s Data:

At the end of May, we find the pace for CVB-sourced group business sitting ahead by 4.2% as compared to STLY. We continue to see positive pacing for 2021, which has been a year that has continually shown a deceleration. The biggest swing this month comes in 2023, now at 1.4% behind in pace, a 4.5% downswing from last month.

The booking velocity for North America is now 2.1% ahead of STLY, up 2.4% from last month. With sustained growth in velocity, we should be able to recover our positioning for 2023 and continue to push our overall pace upwards.

About the Pace Navigator:

Each month, Knowland collects a significant amount of data on forward-looking group demand across 60+ major North American markets. This data is provided by Convention and Visitor Bureaus (CVBs) that participate in Knowland’s TAP Report. It is unique in providing group room nights booking pace information across the entire multi-year future booking window. This data represents over 30 million annual room nights and represents nearly 50% of the group business conducted by hotels across these markets.