COMPANIES WASTE AT MINIMUM $500 MILLION ANNUALLY IN HOTEL SPEND DUE TO INEFFECTIVE HOTEL PROGRAM MANAGEMENT ACCORDING TO AMERICAN EXPRESS BUSINESS TRAVEL
Complimentary Hotel Program Assessment Fits Companies with Best Strategy for Capturing Lost Savings -- Announces New Hotel Solutions
NEW YORK, July 09, 2009 -- American Express Business Travel, a global leader in business travel management, estimates that companies are collectively wasting half a billion dollars annually by failing to strategically manage their hotel program. To help identify whether or not companies are optimizing 100 percent of this T&E category, American Express is offering a complimentary hotel program assessment which will determine if companies are paying the right price, spending for the right reason and spending the right way.
Based on the findings, American Express will
offer participating companies recommendations on how to more effectively
manage this area of spend. The Company is also announcing two new hotel
management solutions; Complete Suite by Preferred Extras program and hotel
eXpert, both aimed at providing companies a hotel program that meets their
individual needs and drives savings. Finally, companies that participate in the assessment will also receive a new white paper developed by American Express' Advisory Services group that offers expert insight into how to effectively manage this T&E category.
Snapshot of missed savings opportunities:
- An average of 22 percent of travel bookings are non-compliant with corporate policy
- Nearly 40 percent of air bookings with an overnight trip do not include a hotel booking
- Mid-sized companies can save 10-15 percent off best available rates through preferred supplier program
Creating the Right Hotel Program for You:
To assist companies in determining whether or not they are strategically managing and optimizing their hotel program, American Express Business Travel is offering companies a chance to evaluate the effectiveness of their hotel program through a new free assessment. By reviewing the principles of right price, right reason and right way, companies will be fitted with recommendations on how to best structure a hotel program that meets their needs and closes any savings gaps. To initiate the assessment, companies should visit the American Express Business Travel online community at www.businesstravelconneXion.com and click on “Hotel Program Assessment.”
“Most companies currently are not fully realizing the benefits of a well sourced hotel program,” said Hervé Sedky, vice president and general manager of Global Advisory Services, Corporate Meeting Solutions and Global Business Partnerships for American Express Business Travel. “Negotiating discounted hotel rates is only one aspect of strategically managing this T&E category. Companies also need to focus more on improving traveler compliance, ensuring discounted rates are loaded correctly and offered at the point of sale and confirming travel is aligned with business goals.”
New Solutions for Strategically Managing and Optimizing Hotel Spend:
American Express Business Travel expanded its strategic hotel sourcing and program management offerings to include new services for companies of all sizes and travel volume:
- Complete Suite by Preferred Extras
The newly created program provides discounted rates on leading hotel brands, comprising more than 7,000 properties, in North America and exclusive international locations. American Express has negotiated discounts with these hotels with typical savings of up to 15 percent off the best available rate.
Participating hotels help drive the adoption of the program across a company's traveler base through loyalty rewards benefits, including up to 1,000 bonus points for each stay or automatic upgrades to gold or elite program status.
“By negotiating guaranteed discounted rates otherwise unattainable for mid-sized companies, they will no longer have the stress of the RFP process and can generate a much higher net effective discount across properties,” continued Sedky. “Further, Complete Suite provides these discounts to companies that spend under $10,000 annually on hotels which is a significant differentiator as most programs require minimums larger than this amount for just one hotel chain.”
- hotel eXpert
This new offer provides consultative, end-to-end delivery of insight and advice aimed at uncovering savings opportunities for companies with significant hotel spend. hotel eXpert meets the broad needs of travel managers up to the C-suite and allows companies the freedom of not having to manage the RFP sourcing and administration of a hotel program. Through this offering American Express Business Travel identifies specific high-level savings opportunities through:
- Needs based strategic sourcing that leverages best in class benchmarking data
- Guaranteed savings and demonstrated ROI through a consultative approach
- Application of tools and solutions to further drive traveler compliance and effectively manage demand
Aside from the new offerings announced today, companies can utilize existing American Express Business Travel services to help build a more robust hotel program. These existing solutions include:
- Hotel Rate Trax – Compares a company's negotiated hotel rates to what is actually loaded in the global distribution systems and reports the results, including any discrepancies and the amount of the difference
- Hotel Hub - Aimed at delivering better control of hotel spend and a more efficient way to manage corporate hotel programs, both online and offline. The solution brings together properties from a variety of sources including global distribution systems, consolidators and direct hotel connections into one single source and can offer a variety of rates, from rack rates to last-minute Internet offers and exclusive merchant rates
- Pre-Trip Auditor - Automated solution providing improved control of travel policies and expenses by allowing companies to review out of policy business travel prior to ticketing. The customizable solution audits all online and offline bookings processed allowing policy compliance across all booking channels
In accordance with American Express Business Travel's STEPS advice created to help companies achieve best-in-class travel and expense management, expansion of its hotel solutions provides companies with access to Sourcing savvy and drives greater Precision and control of travel management programs. Additional STEPS include Transforming the model, Empowering the traveler, and
Service Excellence.
“Companies no longer have the financial flexibility to overlook potential cost savings associated with a loosely managed hotel program,” added Sedky. “By implementing a few policy and compliance changes, utilizing turn-key solutions and tools like Complete Suite, and sharpening sourcing practices to make sure they are truly strategic, companies of all sizes have the potential to drive a significant piece of revenue back to the bottom line.”
About American Express Business Travel
American Express Business Travel, a division of American Express Company, is committed to helping its clients maximize the greatest return on their travel investment through increased cost savings, world-class customer service and greater spending control. Ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations, American Express Business Travel provides a combination of industry-leading technology, travel management consulting, strategic sourcing and supplier negotiation support, alongside global customer service available online and offline. The Company also provides a dynamic online community (www.BusinessTravelConneXion.com) harnessing the collective intelligence of those in the business travel industry offering a variety of perspectives, best practices, current research and industry news.
American Express operates one of the world's largest travel agency networks with locations in over 140 countries worldwide. Total travel sales volume in 2008 was $29.1 billion, including proprietary volume, volume processed through joint ventures, and American Express branded volume processed through its partner network.
American Express Company is a leading global payments, network and travel company founded in 1850.
