Managing a tailor-made Corporate Hotel Program can be so complicated. But is it so essential? A standard package can be effective as well, can’t it?
Standard answers: true, of course, not at all.
Unconventionally-honest answer: it depends.
We can approach each decision in our life in the same way: depending on our final goals, a solution can be more or less effective than another, even if the issue seems so obvious at first (superficial) sight.
If you aim to get a fast and “touchable” saving on your hotel expense in order to be welcomed as hero by your boss, a standard fares package is all you need.
Instead, if your final goal is getting effective results on your travel balance sheet in medium/long term, you can’t help entering the complex world of dedicated Corporate Hotel Programs.
Talking about dedicated Corporate Hotel Programs importance may be commonplace – who would gladly admit that under certain circumstances the immediate end justifies the means? –, but choosing the “tailor-made” route implies a few prerequisites you can’t ignore.
A few weeks ago, we discussed travel data analysis: I know I sound like a broken record, but we have to start right from there. Room nights, most frequent destinations and hotel expense analysis are the very first step we have to make towards your brand-new Hotel Program.
According to the data and thanks to the help of a specialized consultant, you can understand what you need and if it makes sense for your contracting power as a travelling corporation. Your Request For Proposal comes from your analysis and the great contacting and contracting effort starts at this moment till you finally select the suppliers that shape an actionable Hotel Program able to last and bear fruit.
Managing all this by yourself is no easy. To make it worth the trouble, let’s see together why relying on Travel Management Companies for your Corporate Hotel Program is always a good idea:
- Expertise. Selecting travel suppliers and contracting is TMCs’ core business, who else?
- Contracting power. Apart from yours, TMCs manage thousands of Corporate Hotel Programs – beyond ordinary contracting during their everyday business activity.
- Networking. TMCs are part of travel industry and know the best contacts to reach everything their Clients can’t even be aware of.
- Time spending. Time is money and time spent on providing valuable consultancy to their Clients is the only one that makes sense (and profit) for each TMC.
- Benchmarking. Evaluating proposals considering the framework and right comparisons helps improve final effectiveness.