London venues are cashing in on a return of business travel as a major hotel firm says video meetings over Zoom are not cutting it for bosses anymore.
Corporate bookings at PPHE Hotel Group are back to pre-pandemic levels despite fears that work-related travel was a casualty of virtual meetings.
The firm behind Westminster’s gigantic Park Plaza hotel and Radisson hotel chain is seeing ‘a very strong traction’ in corporate booking demand, its chief financial officer, Daniel Kos told The Mail.
‘We are hearing about a lot of significant meetings with a lot of attendees and from companies with a global scale,’ he said.
Kos added: ‘In the pandemic, the general opinion was that nobody will travel anymore and they will do meetings on Zoom.
Cashing in: Corporate bookings at PPHE Hotel Group are back to pre-pandemic levels despite fears that work-related travel was a casualty of virtual meetings
‘Zoom is very efficient but in the end, you want to see a person and meet a person.’
Corporate travel has focused on midweek, with many taking ‘bleisure’ trips combining business and leisure, PPHE added.
The resurgence has also helped ring tills of pubs and restaurants, according to UKHospitality. ‘Business trade has picked up significantly,’ UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said.
In another sign of the times, Eric Yuan, the boss of Zoom, told staff they needed to be in the office at least two days a week, claiming ‘we cannot debate each other well because everyone tends to be very friendly when you join a Zoom call’.
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