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Optimise your hotel programme

Tips to help businesses save up to 21% on their hotel programme

 

Hotel prices are expected to rise by 1.3% across Europe, Africa and the Middle East in 2013, so now is the time to make sure your hotel programme is working hard to deliver savings.

 

Tips for travel managers looking to optimise their hotel programme

  • Audit the hotel rates you have loaded into the global distribution system (GDS), particularly in year two of your hotel programme

  • Run regular reports to find out how much of your total business hotel spend is being booked via your preferred travel management company (TMC), and how far in advance bookings are being made

  • Take your hotel programme to the next level by including new ways of booking, such as via mobile travel apps

  • Allow travellers to review the hotels in your programme and provide useful advice to colleagues via CWT HotelIntel , a review site

  • Keep your company intranet/ CWT Portal up-to-date with the latest travel policies, safety and security information and TMC contacts

 

Communicate with travellers

  • Reveal results from the previous year’s hotel programme, emphasising the critical contribution travellers can make to a successful hotel programme

  • Highlight policy changes - if a programme moves from 5-star properties to 3-star properties, let travellers know why. Is budget, availability, or location driving the decision?

  • Tie the hotel programme to the organisation’s strategic plan if possible. Highlight how the hotel programme is supporting new business initiatives, or supports the organisation’s financial goals

  • Send tips to travellers at the point of booking, or as a follow-up

  • Tell travellers how compliance with the hotel programme booking policy helps to keep them safe – highlighting how their TMC can locate travellers in a crisis and get them home safely

  • Ask for feedback from travellers and report back how this is being used to further modify the programme and benefit both the organisation and individual travellers

 

Optimising a hotel programme maximises the value of negotiating one!

 

To learn more about how CWT Solutions Group’s Hotel Solutions team can help optimise your 2013 Hotel Programme, contact your CWT representative or the CWT Solutions Group
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