Hyatt Leaders Discuss Shifting Business Travel Trends and Meetings Outlook for 2026
Meetings Today's Taylor Smith sat down with Hyatt's Trina Camacho-London, vice president of group sales, and Christina Gambini, vice president of global sales, on the show floor at IMEX America to talk business travel trends, how they've shifted since the first half of the year and what Hyatt is doing to stay on top of group and business traveler needs in 2026 and beyond.
Listen now:
Transcript
Taylor Smith:
Hello and welcome to this Meetings Today podcast. I'm Taylor Smith, content manager of destinations at Meetings Today, and I'm here at IMEX America with Trina Camacho-London vice president of group sales at Hyatt. And Christina Gambini, vice president of global sales at Hyatt to talk trends in the business travel space and how Hyatt is approaching meetings and events with these trends in mind. Christina, I'm gonna start with you from more of a business and corporate travel lens, but what patterns were you seeing in the business travel space in the first half of 2025?
Christina Gambini:
Thanks, Taylor. I think earlier this year, particularly in second quarter, we saw some travel softening. There was a reluctancy from some of our corporates to get out there and travel. They weren't canceling so much as maybe holding off and booking a little later. So, we saw a lot of booking windows becoming quite smaller and people were really prioritizing what they called essential travel. So really focus on client facing the things that they felt were really pertinent to their business.
Thankfully we have spoken to a lot of customers, and we saw pickup going into now Q4 and really, at the middle, the end of Q3 where they are, you know, traveling again, and they're saying that they plan to keep their travel budgets. Pretty steady for next year as well. So, we are really hopeful that has kind of turned around and we'll see an increase in 26.
Taylor Smith:
Yeah. Why do you think we saw some initial hesitancy to book business travel, and where do you think that hesitancy came from? The most?
Christina Gambini:
Honestly, I think there's a number of factors. The economy being the biggest one, companies were really unsure with the increases in tariffs and increase in cost. There was a lot of concern. So again, there was that initial hesitancy with the unknown. So, for us, we really focused on being true partners, listening to their needs, working with them, and being flexible and collaborating with them and ensuring we were meeting their needs for the travel that they were booking.
Taylor Smith:
What were businesses doing instead at that time, if they were putting a pause on their business travel and meeting plans? Did you see any hybrid meetings or anything like that?
Christina Gambini:
You know, we didn't see too much, honestly. What we saw was those that were traveling, again, they were prioritizing that essential travel. So, we did see, you know, some that said, okay. We're still gonna have that meeting with you, but maybe the meeting got a little smaller. So, they were prioritizing bringing in maybe the leaders rather than the entire team. So really kind of cutting down in the number of travelers and such.
[Related: How to Combat the Most-Critical Meetings Industry Legal Issues]
Taylor Smith:
So, we've seen those patterns and trends shift from earlier this year and, and more positive, outcomes in Q4.
Christina Gambini:
Yes, very much. Yeah, and we're excited that that we'll continue on through in ‘26.
Taylor Smith:
Wonderful. Thank you so much, Christina.
Christina Gambini:
Thank you, Taylor.
Taylor Smith:
Trina kind of moving on to you from a group sales perspective and group business, what do you think happened that changed people's perspectives around travel since the start of 2025 and made them want to get back on the road?
What was the industry maybe missing? And you know, it's always about face to face in person connections.
Trina Camacho-London:
Absolutely. Yeah. Absolutely, there is no doubt at the end of the day, you cannot beat a face-to-face interaction and groups realize that. Mm-hmm. Especially up in the C-suite. Whether the groups are traveling for conferences or for conventions or large meetings or training sessions. The demand for in-person meetings, I mean, take where we are sitting right now in Las Vegas on the trade show, the attendance level is even more high. It’s got over 6,000 in-person appointments.
Taylor Smith:
Wow congratulations. That's like a huge number.
Trina Camacho-London:
Definitely a need for face-to-face meetings.
As we look at, pace, we are definitely in the high single digits going into 2026. We’re kind of in that booking period now, looking into the remainder of the year in the first or second semester of 2026 and so I think the momentum will continue.
[Related: IMEX America 2025: All of Our Event Coverage in One Place]
Taylor Smith:
And how is Hyatt approaching meetings and events with all of this in mind, taking into consideration these business travel trends, this uptick as well as the evolving business traveler demographics right now?
Trina Camacho-London:
No doubt, the fact that we are still small, even though we've grown so much, makes us very nimble, and with that we can be very flexible. And of course, our purpose of care is ingrained in our sellers, at our hotel properties with our customers, so I think that definitely brings a comfort level to the planners that they feel like it's okay. We can book with Hyatt now.
Taylor Smith:
Are businesses and companies, organizations seeing the benefits and value of business travel, especially following a period where it was put on brief pause or is there still this need? You said the C-suites are seeing the benefits of in person. So, before we were kind of coming out of the pandemic, needing to push them to say no in person is valuable. And now we're seeing they're agreeing.
Trina Camacho-London:
Yeah. Once again, I think it's about caring for your associates, and caring for your customers, and being there for them where they need to be. Of course, sustainability and wellbeing are definitely on top of mind, with these planners. And Hyatt is evolving and has done an amazing job, really top of the class, with our wellbeing and our sustainability efforts.
Taylor Smith:
Yes, I've read a lot about those too. Yes, wellbeing, I got to try out a couple of classes last year at Hyatt Regency Chicago. It was wonderful. So, thank you for having me there.
Trina Camacho-London:
That's wonderful. Yes. That's great. Spread the word.
Taylor Smith:
I will, everyone, go try it. What can we anticipate in the group business travel space in 2026 and beyond? I know Christina said it's looking positive in general for business travel, but what about group travel?
Trina Camacho-London:
Yeah. For group travel, we are seeing the lead volume in an uptick. We also are seeing a lot of short term, a little short term, but at the same time, the multi-year is further out. So, it's a nice balance between short term and just being able to find availability, is always a challenge, but as long as the customer, as well as Hyatt, is being flexible and really listening to the customer's needs.
Taylor Smith:
Well, Trina and Christina, those were all of my questions for you today. Is there anything else that you wanna add or maybe talk about before we wrap it up?
Trina Camacho-London:
Yeah, I would say, uh, I do wanna talk about the experimentation that Hyatt's doing with AI. Yes. I know that's a big subject matter, on the keynote on the floor of IMEX this week but once again, we are looking at how we can be, it's kind of a speed to market and how we can, be more thoughtful in the way that we are responding to the lead volume, that we're getting and, and to definitely be able to meet the needs of the customers through powered by AI.
Taylor Smith:
Yeah. Wonderful. Thank you, Trina. And Christina, anything else from you?
Christina Gambini:
Thank you, Taylor. I think for us, honestly, we had a customer panel that spoke to our hotels yesterday and they really shared that. You know, it's almost a back to basics, right? Really focusing on building the relationships and, you know, starting from there. And fortunately, as Trina mentioned, our size does allow us to do that. We really pride ourselves on putting, you know, partnership above anything else and ensuring that we're meeting the needs of our customers, our hotels.
Taylor Smith:
Thank you both so much for joining me for this podcast today. I appreciate your time and I always love talking to Hyatt and hearing what's new, so thanks for sharing with the audience too. That was Trina Camacho-London vice president of group sales at Hyatt, and Christina Gambini, vice president of global sales at Hyatt. Once again, I'm Taylor Smith, content manager of destinations at Meetings Today. Thank you all for tuning into this podcast and we'll see you next time.
