Business travel and travel management are interesting these days. Most Corporate travel managers negotiate annual static pricing from their preferred properties during the "hotel season" in the fall. By the end of the year, they load the prices into the global distribution system (GDS), a technology used to make reservations. (along with other tools).
As hotel prices tend to rise year over year, this strategy has worked. In todays market where travel has declined and prices plummeted, hotel managers are scrambling to renegotiate their discounts and load new prices into the GDS.
It is much easier for the corporate travel managers to manage spend when rates are constant. Yet, this year, many companies have probably lost the productivity of one or more travel people as they had to "redo" everything they negotiated and loaded in the fall. Those salaries must count for something.
Dynamic pricing is used in leisure travel whereby rates constantly change based on numerous factors. Maybe dynamic pricing is the way to go for corporate travel? Have we ever considered the lost productivity of the constant negotiations and reloading of the hotel rates? Or, is this year just a unique year?
If your company needs helps with hotel negotiations, contact me.
http://www.management.travel/news.php?cid=hotel-negotiation-season-negotiating-cycle.May-09.07
Debi Scholar, CMM, CMP, CTE, CTT
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