Room for Savings: Optimizing Hotel Spend - Carlson

4. Optimize the preferred
hotel program
Knowing which hotels to select for the
program is a challenge, but a methodical
approach helps. This section provides
guidelines on which locations to cover, the
appropriate categories to use, and whether
or not to favor existing suppliers over
competitors.
Eighty-eight percent of surveyed travel managers
say their company has a hotel program. Most of
the remainder have the smallest hotel budgets
(under US$5 million). The main reason they cite
for having a preferred hotel program is to reduce
hotel costs, but ensuring security, satisfaction and
convenience for travelers is also key. Providing a
choice of environmentally friendly properties is
considered less important but nonetheless
relevant for 64 percent (Figure 53).
Figure 53: The top 3 objectives of a hotel program are reduce costs, ensure security and satisfy
travelers
Hotel program objectives Travel managers (%)
Reduce hotel costs
80%
19%
1%
Ensure traveler security
68%
27%
5%
Ensure traveler satisfaction
64%
36%
Make it easier for travelers
to find a suitable hotel
48%
45%
7%
Encourage the use of
environmentally friendly hotels
6%
58%
36%
Primary Secondary Not applicable
Source: CWT Travel Management Institute
Based on a survey of travel managers (89 responses)