Meetings Recovery: Stronger Demand, Shorter Notice
Key points:
- • Shorter booking windows are making group demand more volatile and competitive.
- • New convention capacity is expanding Fort Lauderdale’s ability to attract large events.
- • Group travel remains high-value, with AI and global factors shaping future strategies.
May 2026 — Tighter booking windows and rising rates are changing how South Florida captures group demand. As meetings recovery strengthens, destinations are competing more directly for higher-value events. In Fort Lauderdale, operators are leaning harder on group business to support occupancy. They are also adapting to shorter, less predictable booking cycles that demand faster, more responsive strategies.
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“Meeting planners are planning within a shorter horizon than they used to, often inside a 12-month window,” Heiko Dobrikow, executive vice president and general manager of The Las Olas Company and Riverside Hotel, said to Invest: Greater Fort Lauderdale. “That shift makes the business feel more short-term and sometimes more volatile, because you don’t always know how group demand will materialize until later in the cycle.”
The meetings and conventions segment is showing a strong but uneven recovery. According to the Events Industry Council, business travel worldwide is making steady progress, with demand remaining resilient. Its latest Global Events Barometer for 4Q25 shows group room nights at 97% of pre-pandemic levels. Planner activity has moved ahead of prior benchmarks, with an RFP index of 102%. Global hotel room rates for business events averaged 139% of 2019 levels. Recent findings from the U.S. Key Data Index for 1Q26 show shorter booking windows and a decline in average length of stay.
New convention capacity changes the competitive picture
Fort Lauderdale’s ability to compete for larger-scale meetings has expanded significantly with a new convention center and hotel capacity now online.
“At the end of 2025, we completed the expansion of the Broward County Convention Center, and the Omni Hotel opened with 801 rooms attached to it. That has been transformative. For the first time, we are booking conferences and associations out to 2035,” Stacy Ritter, president and CEO of Visit Lauderdale, said to Invest: Greater Fort Lauderdale.
“We are now able to attract larger groups from industries like technology and pharmaceuticals that we previously could not accommodate.”
According to Ritter, there are now 2,200 rooms within one mile from the convention district. Recent convention activity provides a sense of scale. In 2025, the newly expanded Broward County Convention Center hosted 48 conventions, accounting for roughly 265,000 hotel room nights and an estimated $801 million in economic impact.
AI and external pressures
External factors are also influencing how meetings are planned. Geopolitical risk and cross-border complexity are shifting where meetings take place and how they are structured. Research from the Global Business Travel Association shows that 38% of buyers are now less likely to host multinational meetings in the U.S., adding another layer of uncertainty to group demand.
Artificial intelligence is also gaining traction within corporate travel programs, though its role remains largely operational. Roughly three-quarters of organizations report using AI in some capacity, but only a small share have embedded it into core workflows. For now, its primary role is improving productivity, reporting, and pricing analysis. Broader strategic deployment is still developing across the sector.
“We are maintaining a high level of engagement in getting educated on what that is going to do to our industry and what we can do with that to take advantage of its power,” Joshua Morris, area general manager of Hyatt Centric Las Olas, told Invest: Greater Fort Lauderdale. “There is some risk-reward there, so I am being a little conservative for now. Eventually, we are going to have to spend heavily on time and resources to really keep competitive and then just to keep current.”
Group and convention travel continues to outperform leisure in terms of economic impact. Business travelers and event attendees typically spend more per trip across lodging, dining, and local services. While business travelers represent roughly 20% of total travel volume, they account for up to 60% of lodging and air revenue. That dynamic is shaping how destinations prioritize the meetings and conventions they pursue, particularly as capacity expands and competition intensifies.
The meetings recovery is also pushing destinations to balance group business with their established leisure base. “We are still primarily a leisure destination, with about 85% of our business coming from leisure travel. Even a small increase in conference and convention business would have a significant economic impact,” Ritter said. “Data has become a critical tool in helping us understand where visitors come from and what they do while they are here. We have learned that human connection is still essential. People want to be together, and that will always make tourism a strong industry.”
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