CONVENTION SALES & DESTINATION EXPERIENCES

Sales Performance Summary through end of November

Year-to-Date Highlights & Off-Peak Booking Progress 

The VGPS team has delivered strong results through the end of November, outperforming both year-to-date targets and last year’s benchmarks across all key production metrics. While the team remains on track to achieve 2025 goals, emerging headwinds anticipated for 2026 will require continued adaptability, creativity, and strategic focus to sustain momentum and drive group business.

• Room Nights Booked: 226,521 room nights — 108% of the year-to-date goal, 18% ahead of 2024 
• Lead Distribution: 1,510 total leads — 106% of YTD goal, 7% ahead of 2024 
• New Leads: 792 new leads — at 107% of goal, 7% ahead of 2024 
• New Bookings: 262 new bookings — 104% of goal and 13% ahead of 2024 

Comparative Year-to-Date Metrics 

• 2024: 191,984 room nights | 1,407 leads | 739 new leads | 233 new bookings  
• 2023: 193,081 room nights | 1,518 leads | 814 new leads | 242 new bookings 

Top-producing regions by definite room nights year-to-date are Southern California, Northern California, and Mid-Atlantic.

Off-Peak Booking Momentum (2025–2028)  

As of November 30, the team has secured a total of 122,953 off-peak room nights for the year and into future years, supporting the destination’s strategy to drive year-round visitation:  

• May & September: 38,776 room nights  
  • 2025: 9,699 | 2026: 22,952 | 2027: 6,125  
• Summer: 29,193 room nights  
  • 2025: 1,618 | 2026: 17,409 | 2027: 3,382 | 2028: 6,784
• October–December: 54,984 room nights  
  • 2025: 24,614 | 2026: 18,274 | 2027: 7,003 | 2028: 5,093

Industry Trends at a Glance 

See below for the August Coachella Valley CBRE Hotels Research forecast and highlights.

Hotel Market Summary – Baseline Report (November 2025)

2025 End-of-Year Outlook

• RevPAR is forecast to increase 3.8% by year-end, driven by a 1.3% rise in occupancy and a 2.5% gain in average daily room rates (ADR).
• The 3.8% advance in Palm Springs RevPAR is better than the national projection of a 0.5% decrease.
• Year-end RevPAR in Palm Springs will be 26.2% higher than the 2019 baseline of $102.89.

By Segment (2025)

• Upper-priced hotels: ADR increase of +2.2%, occupancy increase of +3.1% → resulting in a RevPAR increase of +5.4%.
• Lower-priced hotels: ADR decline of –6.9%, occupancy decrease of +0.5% → resulting in RevPAR decline of –7.4%.

2026 Outlook

• RevPAR is projected to grow 2.2%, a slower rate than what is forecasted for 2025. This is slower than the forecasted rate of growth for 2025.
• Prospects for RevPAR growth in the lower-priced segment (2.7%) are better than in the upper-priced segment (2.1%).
• Overall market occupancy is expected to range between 59.9% and 61.4% during the five-year forecast period.

Tradeshow & Travel Representation  

September–November 2025 Sales Representation Highlights 
The team actively promoted Greater Palm Springs at 23 key industry events across the country, including:  

East Coast

• Sales Mission and client events – Washington, D.C.
• Far Hills Client Event – New Jersey
• SITE Northeast – New York
• FICP Annual – Washington, D.C.

Midwest

• PCMA – Destination Celebration – St. Louis
• TEAMS Sports Conference – Columbus
• PCMA Foundation – Fashion Show - Chicago

South

• Retreat Resources – Savannah
• SITE Texas Roadshow – Houston, Austin, Dallas
• PCMA- Partnership Summit –Tampa
• PCMA – Exhale – Austin
• Sales Calls, Raleigh
• ConferenceDirect Forum – Tampa
• Visit California Roadshow – Kansas

West

• ASAE – CEO Conclave – Las Vegas
• Sales Mission & Client Calls – Seattle and Portland
• Destinations California – San Diego
• ConferenceDirect -Industry Insights – Los Angeles
• Sacramento Golf Tournament and Associations West Lunch
• IMEX – Las Vegas
• Sales Mission – Denver
• Prestige Event – San Jose
• Bamies & CREW –San Francisco

Tradeshow Highlights 

There was a lot of excitement at IMEX America this year, with the debut of our brand-new booth that captured the essence of what makes our Southern California meeting oasis so special. The booth—which featured midcentury modern design touches and side panels depicting mountains, palm-trees, and colorful bougainvillea and was bright and lit up (evoking our destination's abundant sunshine)—was a perfect backdrop for show floor meetings. Another element that made our booth stand out was the eye-catching wall and floor digital area, where guests were able to take selfie photos selecting from one of our many destination experiences, from surfing to hiking in Joshua Tree National Park.  

The event saw record-breaking attendance with over 6,100 buyers, a 7% growth from 2024. Foot traffic to our booth increased 32% from 2024, and we hosted 120 planner appointments, and as of December 2, 2025 generated 23 leads with a value of 14,313 room nights.

The team hosted an in-booth reception on day one and participated in a joint reception with Visit California as a regional collaboration on day two, as well as hosting clients for an evening show the Sphere.

Additionally, VGPS hosted Smart Monday Planner Education Forum in partnership with PCMA Institute. As the host sponsor, we were able to address over 200 meeting planners over three sessions, showcasing a meetings video and what’s new in the destination to entice planners to include Greater Palm Springs in the sourcing of their next meeting. 

Grateful to the partners that joined us this year:

• Ace Hotel Palm Springs 
• City of Indian Wells 
• Grand Hyatt Indian Wells Resort & Villas 
• JW Marriott Desert Springs Resort & Spa 
• Kimpton Rowan Palm Springs Hotel 
• La Quinta Resort & Club 
• Palm Springs Convention Center 
• Parker Palm Springs
• Renaissance Palm Springs Hotel 
• Terramar, a DMC Network Company 
• The Westin Mission Hills Golf Resort & Spa 
• Thompson Palm Springs 
• Tommy Bahama Miramonte Resort & Spa 

Palm Springs Welcomes IGLTA

Visit Greater Palm Springs in collaboration with Visit Palm Springs and the Palm Springs Convention center, hosted The International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA) this October, setting a record breaking attendance making it their largest convention yet.

Approximately 750 delegates and 465 businesses representing 30 countries and territories attended the convention.  Our community really carried out our tag line of “An Oasis for All” welcoming the attendees with open arms, business exhibited special welcoming window stickers and offers for travelers. The feedback from attendees was overwhelmingly positive, they felt welcomed, safe, and in awe of the beauty of our Oasis even some ready to move here!

Global Convention Highlights:

• Two-day Buyer/Supplier Marketplace with buyers representing an estimated $700 million in tourism business
• Launch of the Gender Diverse Travel Advisory Group’s guide, a resource for navigating global travel
• Recognition of the 2025 IGLTA Foundation Fellowship recipients, five emerging voices in global LGBTQ+ tourism leadership
• Nearly 70 global LGBTQ+ travel media in attendance, marking the convention’s largest-ever media turnout
• Women’s Leadership panel celebrating visibility, empowerment, and collaboration
• The IGLTA Foundation’s most successful Voyage fundraiser to date. Held at the Dinah Shore Estate, it raised more than $120,000 to support inclusive travel initiatives
• Arenas District Gilbert Baker Pride flag dedication and a permanent public art installation, the Pride Monument
• IGLTA’s 2026 Global Convention will take place from November 17–21 in Seville, Spain

Other Event Highlights & Meetings News

Visit Greater Palm Springs participated in the PCMA Foundation “Living in Color” fashion show in Chicago in November, partnering with designer Robert Rodrigo from the El Tuggle shop in downtown Palm Springs to show their amazing outfits, vibrant colors, and that signature Palm Springs style. Our superstar models were meeting planners Bob Moore, MA, MS, FASAE, CAE – American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians; Jennifer Romine – HelmsBriscoe; and Lane Velayo, CAE – Synergos AMC, who lit up the runway with their incredible smiles, energy, and confidence! 

Additionally, we had a pop-up shop with Greater Palm Springs items to help planners kick-off the holiday shopping season.

For the sports market, Visit California develop a statewide Events Venue and Sports Facility Resource Hub for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. This platform will provide a single, centralized resource to support delegations in identifying meeting venues, hospitality spaces, and training facilities across California, including Greater Palm Springs. This website will go live mid-January 2026.

Site Inspections & Conversions  

September through November, the Destination Experiences and Convention Sales team conducted 28 in-market site inspections equaling 21,619 room nights. 

Year-to-date the team has conducted 64 sites with a value of 86,376 room nights and converting 43 groups, with a value of 57,072 room nights and an estimated economic impact of $18,684,195.

Looking forward 

In December, we will showcase our destination at 10 tradeshows and events. To celebrate the inaugural Newark flight, Visit Greater Palm Springs will host 12 participants—including meeting planners, media, and travel trade professionals—for a familiarization (FAM) trip from December 18–21. We’ll also host a client event in Charlotte on December 19, with over 30 attendees joining us for a reception and the official flight launch celebration on Saturday, December 20.

To kick off 2026, we are organizing a FAM that will spotlight the Palm Springs Film Festival Gala on January 3.

Convention Sales Dashboards

Below are dashboards showing our year-to-date non-legacy team production and open tentative leads.