Hotel shopping, benchmarking and analytics provider Tripbam has added two new features to its solution offering to allow corporates to monitor last room availability (LRA) performance and add dynamic sourcing to their programme.
LRA Enforcement audits real traveller bookings daily to identify where and when negotiated rates are unavailable. When such an instance is discovered, Tripbam notifies non-compliant hotels to fix the issue and then rebooks the reservation at the corrected rate. All instances of unavailability are documented and measured to capture the savings lost as a result of non-compliance.
According to the company, LRA Enforcement has already seen clients increase rate availability by 90 per cent and realise savings of 3 to 5 per cent on overall hotel programme spend. Tripbam also claims the tool gives corporates leverage during negotiations by ensuring contracts are honoured and programmes are given credit for all traveller stays at a given property.
Meanwhile, the new Smart Sourcing solution identifies destinations where a negotiated rate is needed based on existing booking volumes and provides clients with a list of Tripbam A-rated properties in the area that meet their criteria. The customer can then opt to have Tripbam send a bid to a hotel, which the property can either accept or reject.
Tripbam says Smart Sourcing eliminates the back-and-forth dialogue that often comes with hotel negotiations. The company uses its own internal data to ensure the property rate or discount requested by the client is competitive in the market. If a bid is accepted, rate loading instructions are automatically sent to the hotel and online booking tool provider to be incorporated into the travel programme within 48 hours.
The company claims a trial of the solution with ten clients resulted in 74 per cent of offers accepted at the rate and discount provided at no cost to buyers or suppliers.
“With these two updates, Tripbam is going a step further to make sure travel managers have greater confidence in their hotel programme, source additional preferred properties, save more money for the company and provide traveller increased choice,” commented MD Peter Grover.
Tripbam's Hotel Intelligence tool was highly commended for Best New Travel Technology Product at this year's Business Travel Awards.
tripbam.com