Expenditure on hotel accommodation can account for as much as 40% of total travel spend. This represents a significant cost for many companies, yet booking data is often limited.
Typically, in most European markets less than 25% of hotel bookings pass through an appointed Travel Management Company (TMC). The remaining hotel bookings are made in a number of ways: directly with hotels, by the offices they are visiting or through a disparate range of hotel websites. The flaws of this are evident: traveller whereabouts are unknown; compliance cannot be tracked; data consolidation is impossible.
The bottom line is that many organisations could make substantial savings by taking control of a higher percentage of hotel reservations: ensuring they have a well negotiated but relevant hotel programme and a policy structured to obtain maximum compliance.
The RoomTrust team has an expert knowledge of the complex hotel market and can assist with a range of key functions to consolidate the number of hotels used and lower average rates:
- Comprehensive analysis of existing hotel data to identify hotel and destinations volumes, rates paid and room night potential.
- Assessment of the validity of an existing hotel programme and the actual utilisation of contracted rates.
- Recommendation of a hotel programme that suits the realistic travel needs of an organisation.
- Design of a suitable hotel policy to establish budgetary guidelines and 'best practice'.
- Preparation and execution of the hotel rate negotiation process (RFP).
- Finalisation, publication and communication of the programme and policy.
- The loading of negotiated rates to our booking system.
- Bringing local hotels into the booking systems to enable more effective management of visitor bookings.
A good hotel programme is only successful if used and tracked. As part of a comprehensive service RoomTrust provides online booking systems specifically designed to help organisations manage their hotel programme and drive policy compliance.
