Washington
- The U.S. General Services Administration is threatening to ban three unidentified
hotel chains from its FedRooms managed hotel program for allowing 4,000 "squatter"
properties to load unauthorized rates, according to a FedRooms representative
speaking here at a Society of Government Travel Professionals conference.
Squatter rates are those that
use an organization's global distribution system rate-loading code without that
organization's consent. In some cases, guilty properties did not respond to a request
for proposal issued by GSA.
"There are three
hotel companies that have been responsible for the majority of the squatters,
and we are looking at what we can do next year because we are not going to let
it become a 4,000-hotel issue again," said FedRooms program manager
Kindall Farwell, noting that GSA can remove an offending chain's coded GDS
rates, thereby eliminating availability of compliant and noncompliant
properties alike.
To battle inaccuracies
and violations, Carlson Wagonlit Travel—which manages FedRooms for GSA—conducts
bimonthly audits to ensure loaded rate quality and annually undertakes four squatter
rate audits.
All identified squatter
and otherwise inaccurate rates immediately are pulled from the FedRooms site
and the government's internal booking tools—including GSA's E-Gov Travel Service
and the Defense Travel System. Properties caught squatting are placed on
temporary probation. Those that correct the rate still will not be listed in
ETS or DTS until they pass a second FedRooms audit. If the properties are
compliant with GSA per diem regulations and agree to terms outlined in the GSA RFP,
they eventually will be listed again, according to Farwell. In most cases,
squatter rates are $31 higher than per diem rates.
After the most recent FedRooms
rate audit on Sept. 1, CWT found 581 hotels with rates higher than per diem
allowances. Those hotels were dropped, Farwell said.
GSA annually spends an
estimated $4 billion to $5 billion on lodging, according to Farwell.
On Jan. 5, 2012, a new FedRooms
website powered by GetThere is scheduled for launch. FedRooms program managers also
plan to announce in 2013 a contract with a new RFP provider, responsible for
creating a GSA-specific hotel RFP "with customized questions as it relates
to additional green information," according to Farwell. FedRooms until
then will continue to use the Global Business Travel Association RFP template.