The hotel marketplace is in a buoyant state as we head into 2015. Analysts say next year will be a sellers’ market. Obtaining rate reductions from hotel partners is probably out of the question. Sales and account managers across the sector have aggressive growth targets.
However, all is not lost. With every challenge comes an opportunity. This year, for buyers, will be about finding added value from hotels. They might not drop nightly rates, but there is room to discuss breakfast, wifi, laundry and other expenses being built into negotiated rates.
These are areas that travel managers often find difficult to control. It is, therefore, time to get round the table with your hotel contact and find ways to close gaps and tighten spend leakage... so BBT has provided some advice on how you can optimise your travel programme.
To control hotel spend, the first questions to ask is: what type of policy do we have? Is it mandated, for example? Do travellers choose from a list of hotels – pre-determined by availability, price and proximity to location – or is it traveller-led? Does the individual choose the hotel, within certain parameters such as a rate cap? And what systems do employees use to book hotels? Once you know these answers, you’ll know what you can and can’t control.
Having a solid travel policy is crucial when it comes to savings, and systems to enforce and manage it are necessary. Communicating the importance of policy to travellers is also key.
Booking online can save money on service fees, which adds up to a lot over a year. Having an extensive hotel selection as well as the ability to add any hotel to the programme at short notice creates value for both the traveller and travel manager. It also reduces out-of-policy behaviour.
Always remember the end user - the traveller. Put yourself in their shoes and think about what is important. Then try and weave that into your objectives for cost, safety, consolidation, quality and control.
By engaging key stakeholders, creating ambassadors and asking for constructive feedback from the travelling community, you will get buy-in to a hotel programme in its infancy and help smooth the path forward.
Analyse the data you already have. The more you collect the better. Consolidating agency, supplier, consultant and expense data can give you a good starting point to build a strategy to mitigate leakage.
Strong and clear communication to bookers and the travelling community is key. Tailoring messages and getting them out in a variety of ways ensures greater participation and feedback. Try stakeholder engagement webinars, face-to-face workshops or ‘fireside chats’. Concise and clearly written documentation should also be communicated and made available for future reference when discussing policies or changes in practice.
Often benchmarking departmental behaviour (nobody wants to be at the bottom of a poor adoption league table) can improve the overall hotel programme stickiness, and even just knowing that spend and bookings are being monitored is a good way to get compliance.