Business travellers shouldn’t waste time booking online, says tech firm

Hotel solutions provider HRS claims it’s a myth that business travellers can find the best deals for hotel accommodation online.

In its latest white paper, Lowering the Bar, to be released at this week’s Business Travel Show, it says that even if ‘the company maverick’ does find a lower rate ‘five times in every hundred bookings’, the saving is decimated by lost productivity.

It also claims that cheaper rates are probably not cancellable and as it estimates that one in six corporate bookings are cancelled or amended, these charges will add up.

Jon West, managing director for HRS in the UK and Ireland, said: "We are delighted to be launching our third whitepaper at this year’s Business Travel Show, and hope that buyers and procurement managers really feel the benefit.     

"With this latest whitepaper we are keen to reiterate to this audience that the challenge is not to find the lowest hotel rate, but to find the best hotel at the lowest acceptable price taking into account all the key criteria within any corporate travel policy.

"With procurement having a wide choice of solutions to choose from, this whitepaper is intended to demonstrate that it is possible to have the best of both dynamic and negotiated rate models.

"’Lowering the BAR’ will help corporate buyers and procurement managers to turn knowledge into savings as the whitepaper clearly demonstrates that they no longer need to choose between dynamic and fixed price models – or have to invest time in creating a hybrid model."

The whitepaper delves into how hotel rate programmes are constructed, considers the best way to ensure the lowest available rate every time, and also debates what really constitutes the ‘lowest available hotel rate’.

West added: "Increased transparency of public rates through the OTAs and price comparison websites has driven corporate misunderstanding of rate types, and we hope that our whitepaper illustrates why it is important that business travellers aren’t allowed to waste their own or the company’s time looking around for the cheapest hotel. Finding the cheaper rate on a one off simply does not help to consolidate the volumes and gain negotiation power.

"Corporates require the best of both worlds – a choice of hotels to meet travellers’ needs at the lowest price, bearing in mind booking conditions.  Also, the lowest rate may not be the most cost-effective rate as negotiated rates often include airport or local transportation, breakfast, Internet, parking and other amenities."

The whitepaper will be distributed from HRS’ stand B755 on February25 and 26  and will be available to download for free at HRS’ corporate website www.hrscorporate.com/whitepapers-lowering-the-bar.php