However, says said there are two reasons for an upswing this month.
"The amount of business meetings and seminars displaced because of Sept. 11 are now occurring," Wilson tells GlobeSt.com. "Plus, business people are getting used to the new strategies of traveling, such as dealing with security checks and waits at the airport, and so on."
The hotel industry has gotten a boost during the last two months in business travel, though the suburban hotels are actually seeing the better increase in business, Wilson says.
"Instead of someone flying from Cincinnati to Detroit, they might drive instead to Plymouth, MI and go to a suburban hotel," he explains.
For example, he says two locations his company operates are doing better than a few months ago. Occupancy at two of his company's hotels, the Hilton Garden Inn of Plymouth and the Holiday Inn of Southgate, was at 60% to 70% in October, he says.
Now, encouraged business people have signed up for more rooms again, he adds, and occupancy is now back up to almost 80%.
The trend toward the outskirt hotels is not just in Michigan, Wilson notes.
"The destination locations, like Disney World, New York City, anywhere where there's a resort or some sort of pleasure travel, those places are still off on vacancy upwards of 50%," he says. "The middle-market hotels in the non-gateway cities are faring much better."
However, Wilson sees a resurgence ahead for the hotel industry.
"While it may be more convenient to wait now, people will find the courage to fly, and travel, again," he says.
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