For as long as corporate travel programs have been
conducting audits of global distribution system hotel rates, it's been lather,
rinse and repeat. Travel programs run the audits, catch the rate discrepancies,
spend weeks trying to get hotel partners to load the proper rates, then repeat
once or twice more to get the rates where they need to be.
But with the advent of technologies like Tripbam and Yapta,
which catch improperly loaded corporate GDS rates while searching for better
deals, it's unclear how much the old way of doing things has changed in recent
years. Early numbers from a survey conducted by HRS and GBTA has found: not
much.
Data collected from the first 200 respondents found that
continuous rate auditing is rare among corporates. Only 2 percent check rates
weekly, and 7 percent do so monthly. A larger 22 percent audit the rates every
couple months. Thirty-three percent check only once, when rates are loaded. "Anyone
who deals with a hotel program knows that that's not when rate complaints
stop," said HRS head of corporate sourcing for the Americas Jeff
Hillenmayer.
GBTA research manager Kate Vasiloff said that before
conducting the survey, GBTA had no real sense of how and how often programs
were conducting audits, "not even a finger in the air sense," she
said. "It really depended on who you talked to, how mature their programs
were. There are just too many factors."
Of the 13.5 percent of travel managers who don't audit hotel
rates, 27 percent don't think it has a significant impact on their hotel rates,
so it's not a priority. "Not only are people not doing this,"
Vasiloff said, "part of the reason they're not doing this is they don't
think it's important enough; they don't realize how much money they're leaving
on the table."
On average, travel managers found rates to be incorrectly
loaded 16 percent of the time, Vasiloff said. That included errors not only in
price but also in negotiated amenities and room types. One-third of travel
managers found rate issues more than 20 percent of the time. A separate
analysis HRS conducted on 23,000 of its own clients' rates last spring found
that one-quarter were incorrect and 11 percent of the rates were higher than
what was negotiated.
The GBTA survey returns also pinpoint the varied ways in
which travel managers conduct audits. About half said they audit rates manually.
Thirty percent rely on reports from their travel management companies and 19
percent on reports from hotels. Some 40 percent rely on travelers to report incorrect
rates.
The survey will continue to run through April.
The first 200 responses came from GBTA members and affiliate organizations and
HRS clients. To participate, travel managers must have responsibility for negotiating,
loading or verifying hotel rates and contracts.