Corporate group travelers across the U.S. are returning with different wants and needs, including a desire for more team-building opportunities.
Ron Gorodesky, founder and CEO of Refined Hospitality, said via email that corporate bookings and business travel demand has picked up across the company's portfolio of luxury lifestyle hotels. The company also operates restaurants and catering venues.
Over the past year, the luxury hotel River House at Odette's in New Hope, Pennsylvania, has experienced "a huge shift in demand from booking meeting spaces and ballrooms for traditional team-building activities," he said.
Groups booking at River House at Odette's are looking for food-and-beverage tastings, historical tours, terrarium workshops, group cycling trips on the towpath that runs alongside the property, and more, he said.
Due to this increased demand for experiences, River House at Odette's started offering more group programming that specifically caters to a "no-work work trip" style and found unique ways to use traditional spaces for entertaining group activities, Gorodesky said.
"We first saw this trend really starting to gain traction at the end of last spring, and it has continued to grow ever since," he said. "As long as there continues to be a large part of the workforce working remotely, we foresee this trend maintaining this trajectory."
Gorodesky said each group that stays at River House at Odette's defines a "no-work work trip" differently based on their internal structure.
"However, from what we can tell, these trips tend to look and feel more like a typical vacation you would take with friends or family," he said. "We see fewer emails, PowerPoints and networking, and more fun."
These trips are also meant to offer employees a reprieve from office life and stimulate real relationships between co-workers that otherwise would only know each other from a video call.
"When someone is hired remotely, it becomes so hard to truly get to know them and the pressure of work adds to this strain," he said. "This new type of 'work trip' breaks down these barriers and offers a refresh to combat burnout."
Corporate retreats in the past typically were for senior leadership, he said. Now, staff of all experience levels are joining in on these trips.
Miraval Austin General Manager Sheri Morgan Muskin said via email her property in the past year has had increased interest from groups wanting to participate in experiential activities to promote team bonding and wellness.
She said one of the main catalysts for this trend is that employers are "recognizing and rewarding their employees who stayed with the company through tumultuous times."
"I can foresee this need for wellness retreats, both as a gift of gratitude to loyal employees and as an opportunity to reconnect in person and continue to grow," she said. "Even for businesses not headquartered here in Austin, companies are choosing to meet at Miraval Austin for its central location to both coasts."
Activities that groups are booking on property include challenge courses, culinary workshops, equine programming and group meditations. Some of Miraval Austin's signature programs are Hatchet Throwing, Mindful Stress Mastery and Cardio Drumming, she added.
"The Blue Heron Challenge Course is our most recent capital investment since seeing an increased interest in teams that want to unite," she said. "The three-tiered challenge course added six new activities to Miraval Austin's outdoor adventure offerings."
The goal with some of these activities is to help teams break down barriers around communication or productivity and strengthen bonds. Muskin said each activity is led by outdoor guides who are also skilled in moderating group discussions.
"These trips require less time in a typical boardroom or conventional meeting and less PowerPoint presentations on a screen," she added, and instead teams are encouraged "to swap the boardroom for an outdoor adventure followed by a self-reflection counseling session."
Talya Regan, director of sales and marketing at The Kartrite Resort and Indoor Waterpark in Monticello, New York, said via email that group bookings began to pick up in spring 2022, coinciding with warmer weather and the lifting of a mask mandate in New York.
Regan said many groups sought to book events outdoors or in unique on-property venues such as restaurants.
"They are splitting their time almost equally between meetings and interactive and engaging programs such as goat yoga, archery, enjoying our six miles of hiking trails, team-building programs like 'bridge the gap,' or time in our indoor water park," she said.
At the Kartrite Resort, several corporate groups booking day visits have focused solely on bonding as a team.
"For corporate groups staying overnight, while we have not seen work duties completely eliminated, there have been multiple instances where the work has been minimal," she said.
Regan anticipates this trend will last as companies and organizations have noticed the importance of showing value to their team members.