Companies can ring up significant cost savings by having a more careful travel programme that will catch common errors like misreported hotel room rates.
Emmanuel Ebray, managing director for South-east Asia, India and South Korea, HRS, cautioned that more than one-fifth of all submitted hotel room rates are wrong.
He noted: “Of approximately 450,000 hotels worldwide, 76 per cent are independent and are managed by different systems around the world.”
This leaves room for error in reported rates, which may not always be accurate or available in real time or on demand, said Ebray.
This is exacerbated by corporate travel booking platforms that are not intuitive. He said: “Many of us use B2C tools, which are very user-friendly, to book our private trips. So if a company is not able to provide its employees with user-friendly tools, (employees are more likely to) book directly (or) outside (of company policy).”
He advised: “Corporates must understand that while they could face some challenges, they should take this issue seriously and take control of (the accuracy of) their rates.”
To combat this, Ebray offered that it is important for companies – both large and small – to look for an integrated and seamless solution that not only captures and integrates booking data into the company system, but also produces “smart data”.
An intelligent system, for example, can detect when a company often books hotels within or near a city centre, and display similar and relevant options that conform to company policy and travel patterns during subsequent searches.
HRS’ Rate Protector is one such solution. After locking in preferred rates, HRS conducts a 360-degree rate audit and correction process to ensure that hotels submit accurate rates to its booking platform.
The tool also ensures that after committing to HRS’ best-buy rates, hotels follow through with a reasonable room availability rate.
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