Room for Savings: Optimizing Hotel Spend - Carlson

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Figure 12: Most corporate hotel bookings are made by travelers contacting hotels directly, although the proportion made through TMC booking channels is growing Estimated use of different distribution channels as a percentage of corporate bookings Mid-1990s 2008 Future trends Internet (online travel agencies, online hotel specialists and hotel-branded Websites) Hotel/chain call center ~15% ~10% (hotel-branded Websites) (online travel agencies and online hotel specialists) ~10% TMC (online booking tool or counselor) ~25% ~90% Hotel directly (phone/fax/email) ~50% Source: CWT Travel Management Institute Today, business travelers have little incentive to shop around. Notably, travelers who book through Web hotel booking specialists cannot access their negotiated corporate rates, nor benefit from the one-stop shopping for hotels, flights and ground transportation provided by TMC booking channels. Moreover, “price parity” is common practice today, meaning hotels offer the same public rates via multiple booking channels. This practice emerged to help hoteliers regain control over their room rates, instead of enabling Web resellers to offer major discounts (which occurred particularly after 9/11, when occupancy dropped dramatically). With price parity, many hotels no longer keep their best rates for their own Websites, even though this distribution channel enables them to limit GDS costs while building direct contact with customers. Lower prices are sometimes available on different channels, but often they come with restrictions (e.g., cancellation penalties and immediate payment).
Hotel spend represents nearly 40 percent of total travel spend 1. Hotel spend is often underestimated, although it represents nearly 40 percent of total travel spend Hotel spend accounts for nearly 40 percent of business travel spend on average and even more in some cases, according to CWT analyses. This finding may surprise travel managers, who estimate their companies spend on average 28 percent of their travel budgets on hotels. At the same time, survey respondents acknowledge the benefits offered by improved hotel spend management, making it a priority in their travel programs. Underestimated spend Surveyed travel managers say hotels account for 28 percent of their companies’ total travel budgets on average. Eighty-three percent believe the share of hotel spend is under 35 percent (Figure 13). Figure 13: Surveyed travel managers believe hotels account for 28 percent of their companies’ total travel spend on average Source: CWT Travel Management Institute Based on a survey of travel managers (79 responses) 21
Page 1: Room for Savings: Optimizing Hotel
Page 4 and 5: Contents Introduction Overview ....
Page 6 and 7: Research objectives This CWT resear
Page 8 and 9: Figure 1: Breakdown of surveyed com
Page 10 and 11: Key findings in brief The research
Page 12 and 13: changes. In addition to providing t
Page 14 and 15: A complex market The complexity of
Page 16 and 17: A lack of global standards to defin
Page 18 and 19: Complex pricing Hoteliers use diffe
Page 20 and 21: Figure 10: Rates remain fairly cons
Page 24 and 25: Data on hotel spend is however, not
Page 26 and 27: How to calculate your company’s t
Page 28 and 29: 2. Twenty-one percent savings throu
Page 30 and 31: Many organizations have yet to opti
Page 32 and 33: GDS auditing It is important to ens
Page 34 and 35: 1. Consolidate data Travel managers
Page 36 and 37: Figure 27: Combined TMC and credit
Page 38 and 39: Figure 28: Recommended data fields
Page 40 and 41: Hotel category: not the most import
Page 42 and 43: “No-frills” booking When it com
Page 44 and 45: In fact, travelers often draw on th
Page 46 and 47: A number of differences between the
Page 48 and 49: SUMMARY Understanding traveler need
Page 50 and 51: 2. Ask travelers to use serviced ap
Page 52 and 53: Figure 41: Recommended rules for bo
Page 54 and 55: Figure 43: Rates are on average 18-
Page 56 and 57: Figure 46: In a rate benchmarking e
Page 58 and 59: 5. Mandate booking at least two wee
Page 60 and 61: 6. Address extra charges Travelers
Page 62 and 63: SUMMARY An optimal hotel policy cov
Page 64 and 65: 4. Optimize the preferred hotel pro
Page 66 and 67: Identifying properties and location
Page 68 and 69: Considering local market conditions
Page 70 and 71: Figure 59: One company could save 6
Page 72 and 73:
Figure 61(continued): The share of
Page 74 and 75:
Figure 63: Hotel stays of at least
Page 76 and 77:
Deciding between existing preferred
Page 78 and 79:
Figure 69: Companies that retain at
Page 80 and 81:
SUMMARY Key points for optimizing a
Page 82 and 83:
5. Negotiate effectively Negotiatio
Page 84 and 85:
Chain-wide agreements, as the name
Page 86 and 87:
Chain-wide deals tend to offer smal
Page 88 and 89:
There is, however, a risk associate
Page 90 and 91:
Despite this reticence, 40 percent
Page 92 and 93:
Figure 83: Another company’s ARR
Page 94 and 95:
Last-room availability A last-room
Page 96 and 97:
LRA is common in corporate contract
Page 98 and 99:
Benchmark rates. Companies commonly
Page 100 and 101:
Companies can consolidate volumes i
Page 102 and 103:
Leverage city caps. Experience sugg
Page 104 and 105:
Consider renegotiating flat rates d
Page 106 and 107:
Buyers should use the full range of
Page 108 and 109:
Hoteliers’ performance. A hotelie
Page 110 and 111:
Ensure your travel management team
Page 112 and 113:
6. Improve traveler compliance The
Page 114 and 115:
Understanding why travelers book ou
Page 116 and 117:
The survey also indicates that trav
Page 118 and 119:
Explain the stakes. Price-conscious
Page 120 and 121:
Figure 112 shows how an OBT can be
Page 122 and 123:
Require travelers to book their hot
Page 124 and 125:
Investigate the reasons for noncomp
Page 126 and 127:
To ensure that the agreed condition
Page 128 and 129:
GDS rate squatting. Regular GDS aud
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Rate audits pay A rate audit conduc
Page 132 and 133:
Tracking traveler compliance Compan
Page 134 and 135:
SUMMARY Tracking performance: Compa
Page 136 and 137:
Appendices Glossary The following i
Page 138:
For more information about how CWT
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