Room for Savings: Optimizing Hotel Spend - Carlson

SUMMARY
Key points for optimizing a hotel program:
Buyers should consider properties and locations that represent at least US$10,000 in
spend.
Travel patterns and local market conditions impact the number of hotels required to meet
travelers’ needs.
Significant savings are possible by providing different hotel categories for different
populations of travelers.
It can be worth considering competitor hotels, although a stable preferred hotel program
promotes compliance and enhances negotiations with hoteliers.
Companies can identify primary and secondary preferred properties, with the aim of
maximizing bookings at key hotels.
Few travel managers make environmental friendliness a key criterion for preferred hotels,
even though it is important to travelers. Security should also be considered carefully.
The “green” hotel program: myth or
reality?
Many travel managers are considering the
environmental friendliness of their preferred
hotels as awareness grows regarding carbon
dioxide emissions resulting from business travel.
Few, however, make it a primary concern.
According to the CWT survey, only 6 percent say
promoting the use of environmentally friendly
hotels is a primary objective of their hotel
programs, although 58 percent say it is a
secondary objective. (See Figure 53 on Page
62.) Similarly, only 9 percent of travel managers
always take hotels’ “green” credentials into
account when selecting preferred hotels, while
28 percent do so usually and a further 45
percent occasionally.
This is one area where travel managers’
objectives are not in keeping with travelers’
expectations. As seen on Page 39,
environmental friendliness is considered an
important feature for travelers when deciding
where to stay.
This discrepancy reflects the difficulty companies
have in evaluating hoteliers’ environmental
initiatives. Some properties and chains have