Business Travel March-April-2021

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ACCOMMODATION Rise and SHINE Four experts share their advice on how to respond to trends in the accommodation sector Nina Marcello American Express GBT Principal, Global Hotel Practice Line Lead Hotels have been under immense pressure, operating at vastly reduced capacity with the lowest occupancy rates on record. They have had to meet additional costs around cleaning protocols, particularly when rooms must be left vacant between guests. Revenue per available room has dropped, so hotels have had to find other ways to maintain revenues, such as offering companies meeting space as an extension of their office space. Travel buyers might see this as the ideal moment to overhaul their sourcing strategy, but this only makes sense if they have sufficient volume in their programme. Many hotels just don’t have the staff to work on RFPs and many won’t take corporations seriously if they plan to book only 40 nights per month. To make sure they can get the rooms they need, at the right rates, buyers need to take a longer-term view. Sourcing in today’s fluid environment is a continuous process: don’t just roll over your rates or fix and forget. Keep an eye open as volumes return, maintain relationships and talk regularly with top partners so they understand what kind of support you need when travel starts moving again. And, as part of their focus on rates management, buyers need to make sure they get any available percentage discounts off the best available rate when this is lower than their negotiated rates and take advantage of resources like travel management company (TMC) rates and re-shopping tools. Peter Grover TRIPBAM Managing Director for Europe It’s no great shock that Covid- 19 has had a major impact on the corporate hotel market. Booking volumes are down 86% year over year globally, with European volumes down 95%. This greater decline in Europe can be attributed to firmer national lockdowns compared to the U.S. and weaker domestic travel. At TRIPBAM we’ve seen a number of trends emerge, not only in rate but also in stay patterns and demand by segment and brand. While European volumes may be down compared to the rest of the world, we’re not seeing the same rate volatility here, with more hotels retaining pricing power compared to their North American or Asia Pacific counterparts. Travellers who are booking overnight stays are doing so outside of city centres and at lower-scale hotels. Stays at five-star properties are down 91%, while stays at two-star properties are down only 56%. This is being driven largely by the types of workers who are still travelling. This change in the travelling population is also shifting market share among the chains, with independent properties gaining the greatest share of corporate travel bookings ahead of Marriott, Hilton and Accor. How can you as a buyer respond to these changes? First of all, look at your current travel volumes. If you still have people on the road, you’ll want to make sure you negotiate or renegotiate discounts at properties they’re currently using. Retail rate bookings are up 55%, which indicates corporate negotiated rates are either out-ofstep with the market or they don’t exist at the properties being booked. 22 THEBUSINESSTRAVELMAG.com
ACCOMMODATION Responsible travel, risk management and employee wellbeing are high priorities for most travel buyers and the pandemic has accelerated this” Next, consider what your travelling population will look like toward the back half of the year and adjust your programme accordingly. We expect to see some rebound in the higher-scale hotel segments and in brands because of greater trust in their well-marketed hygiene initiatives. Looking ahead, there is reason to be optimistic. The UK roadmap out of lockdown and the successful vaccination efforts underway nationally and in the U.S. has more corporates anticipating the return of business travel in 2021. We expect by the fourth quarter we’ll see corporate hotel volumes return to 40% of 2019 levels. Leigh Cowlishaw Global Supplier Partnership Director, Advantage Business cultures and values, such as wellbeing, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, are now being weaved into travel policies. This means the selection of accommodation providers into travel programmes is now being measured not only by the discounts they offer but by the facilities provided within their room rate and how guests will feel staying at the property. There is an increasing demand for serviced apartments. In the pandemic we have become used to our home comforts – the ability to relax after a busy day, enjoy Untitled-2 1 25/02/2021 09:31 2083.4_LockeLiving_PrintAds_TBTM_Quarter_01.indd 1 24/02/2021 17:08
Page 1 and 2: 84 March/April 2021 BRIGHTER HORIZO
Page 3 and 4: UP FRONT Contents MARCH-APRIL 2021
Page 5 and 6: Welcome Spring into action Whether
Page 7 and 8: UP FRONT SPEAKING OUT We have come
Page 9 and 10: Think you know serviced apartments?
Page 11 and 12: THE NEWS REVIEW T H E B U S I N E S
Page 13 and 14: THE NEWS REVIEW T H E B U S I N E S
Page 15 and 16: TRAVEL MANAGEMENT CoMPANIES Y O U R
Page 17 and 18: Introduction / TMCs TIME out The bu
Page 19 and 20: Introduction / TMCs 38% said they e
Page 21 and 22: Covid response / TMCs THEBUSINESSTR
Page 23 and 24: Traveller safety & cost control? Ye
Page 25 and 26: Consolidation / TMCs Size is no gua
Page 27 and 28: Strike a balance Do you spend every
Page 29 and 30: The 2020 Directory / TMCs Business
Page 31 and 32: The 2020 Directory / TMCs Business
Page 33 and 34: Fees / TMCs Underlying health condi
Page 35 and 36: Good Good Travel Travel Management
Page 37 and 38: A lot is changing in business trave
Page 39 and 40: taxis GrOUnd and transPOrt transfer
Page 41 and 42: Eco solution Go Electric. Operate y
Page 43 and 44: WELLBEING POSITIVE thinking As comp
Page 48 and 49: ACCOMMODATION home-cooked food, an
Page 50 and 51: DEPARTURES Reality check FLIGHT: QA
Page 52: Save the date SEPTEMBER 14-15, 2021

Business Travel March-April-2021

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