The Business Travel Performance Index (BTPIndex), a solution that allows travel managers and their TMCs to improve hotel programme management through attachment rates, has been launched in partnership with Sabre Hospitality Solutions and Fare Audit.
The solution will be available first to existing Sabre customers who currently use its Hotel RFP product, with additional customer channels due to follow in the coming months.
BTPIndex says changes in booking options have created a challenge for travel buyers in the form of off-channel bookings and a resulting reduction in hotel attachment rates. This also makes it harder for TMCs to monitor traveller compliance, take corrective actions, assess changes in the programme and market conditions, and adjust the hotel programme accordingly.
The BTPIndex aggregates and normalises booking and spend data from all available sources, such as GDS data, credit card information, expense reports, negotiated rates and other performance indicators. The data gives travel managers insight into their programme’s hotel attachment rates and allows their TMCs to implement strategic management.
The company expects travel managers to see up to a 20 to 30 per cent increase in hotel attachment, a 20 per cent increase in savings and a reduction in hotel negotiation time to one or two hours per month.
Fernando Avila, president and CEO of BTPIndex, said: “Travel managers have long felt they are flying blind when it comes to reconciling disparate hotel booking data. Now, for the first time, travel management companies and travel managers can properly assess the true cost of business travellers not booking through the designated channels in real financial terms. We’ve created a powerful, dynamic, real-time solution to provide, in one single number, the information TMCs and travel managers need to increase hotel attachment. And it is only through the strategic combination of Sabre, Fare Audit and BTPIndex that this is now available.”
Rande Gross, general manager of business travel services at Sabre Hospitality Solutions, added: “Hotel attachment is a critical component of any corporate travel programme, and not only because it generates savings – it is also one of the most effective ways to know travellers’ itineraries and ensure their safety during all stages of their trip. Historically, it has been difficult for hotel programmes to meaningfully measure attachment, but the BTPIndex simply delivers the information that travel managers need to do so effectively. We are excited to be the first technology partner to offer this to our customers as a component of Sabre Hotel RFP so that they can continuously improve their hotel programmes and achieve an even stronger return on their investments.”
btpindex.com