Travel managers in the Asia/Pacific and Latin America regions are more likely to use chainwide hotel agreements and rely more heavily on travel management companies than do travel managers in other regions, according to a newly released study from the GBTA Foundation, the research arm of the Global Business Travel Association.
For the study, which was sponsored by Best Western, the GBTA
Foundation during December 2014 surveyed a total of 145 travel managers, both
GBTA members and nonmembers, within the respective regions. Responses suggest each
area's penchant for chainwide agreements owes to different reasons. In the Asia/Pacific
region, travel managers use such deals for about 75 percent of all hotel agreements.
That could relate to the 76 percent of respondents in the region who ranked
brand recognition as one of the most important factors when considering a
preferred hotel. In Latin America, where about 80 percent of all agreements are
chainwide, the immaturity of travel programs could be driving their use,
according to the report.
Almost half of the survey respondents in Latin America also indicated
their hotel programs rely on TMCs to negotiate rates. In the Asia/Pacific
region, two-thirds of survey respondents rely on TMCs for some daily
management, but few use them to negotiate rates.
The study found no management structure is dominant in
either region. Some respondents had one global travel manager responsible for
every region, others had regional travel managers that work within a vertical
structure, and others had regional travel managers that work within a
horizontal structure.
In both the Asia/Pacific region and Latin
America, local and regional travel manager respondents are commonly involved in
selecting preferred hotels and negotiating preferred hotel rates. The study
suggests this engagement could contribute to the fact that two-thirds of respondents
in the Asia/Pacific region and three-fourths of those in Latin America are
satisfied with their hotel request-for-proposals processes.