The business travel and group booking landscape is shifting. In 2025, the rules of booking a hotel room block have evolved beyond familiar RFP chains and legacy processes.
If you're responsible for conference and meeting planning, coordinating travel, or securing hotel rooms or your team or organization, understanding what’s changing (and what still works) is essential.
This article breaks down the key trends travel professionals need to know to navigate the complexities of business and group travel when it comes to attrition and contract terms, with clarity and control.
In previous years, travel professionals and meeting planners often secured their contracted room more than twelve months out. In 2025, the new standard is 90 days or less. Teams are moving more slowly for fear of the unknown. This is causing the inability to have the correct room blocks and often not having availability for last minute registrants within a sold out destination. This is where RoomRite comes in.
What to do:
Track demand windows, secure blocks earlier when possible, and use tools that give visibility into current hotel group rates in real time.
Attrition clauses have always been a hot topic, but now they’re a financial pressure point. RoomRite is here to help both the businesses and the hotels by sharing unpublished rates and availability that is already pre-negotiated. This saves both parties the time it takes when it comes to RFP's and proposals.
We’re entering the era of real-time group rates. Platforms are emerging that allow planners to bypass manual RFP processes and view group hotel pricing directly, along with contract terms and availability.
While not all hotels have adopted instant booking yet, expect a hybrid model to continue expanding through 2025: partial automation, with quicker quote turnaround and flexible room block holds.
Tip for planners: Look for tools that surface room booking options in real-time with flexible contract terms.
Planners aren’t just dealing with hotels—they’re also managing internal stakeholders. In 2025, CFOs and procurement teams are requesting tighter documentation of contracted room blocks, attrition risk, and the justification behind hotel selection.
RoomRite enables travel and event professionals to view multiple room block options in one interface, giving them side-by-side comparisons of rate, availability, room type, and contract flexibility saving you time and money.
Even with all the changes, some foundations remain valuable:
If you’ve built strong hotel relationships, keep them. A good sales rep will help structure your hotel contract to reflect your real needs, including backup meeting space or room type contingencies.
Share your total room block, number of room nights, food and beverage expectations, and event planning requirements upfront. Transparency helps both you and the hotel avoid surprise charges or availability issues.
Whether you’re securing 30 rooms per night for a leadership offsite or 150 rooms plus meeting space for a multi-day conference, your booking decisions now carry more weight.
Platforms like RoomRite are part of a new wave of tools helping planners compare, evaluate, and book hotel group rates and availablity in real-time, with greater transparency and fewer headaches.
The future of group bookings is flexible, data-driven, and planner-first. And that’s a change worth leaning into.Join the RoomRite VIP Program at no cost to your organization to get access to: