Hotel spend represents between 30 and 50 percent of a company’s total travel spend but in contrast to air spend, it is often left unmanaged. Corporate travel buyers need to focus greater attention on this complex, inflationary spend category to optimize their overall travel program. Unlike the approximately 250 IATA (International Air Transport Association) companies that constitute the global airline industry, the corporate hotel market is fragmented with more than 250,000 suppliers, creating an elaborate sourcing environment for travel buyers. Establishing and closely monitoring a hotel program that travelers adhere to provides greater leverage for negotiations and drives savings. Discouraging the use of distribution channels outside of the travel management company (i.e., hotels’ proprietary reservation systems and Websites, Web booking sites) is an important step to enhancing compliance, capturing hotel spend, obtaining better rates and improving traveler tracking in the event of an emergency.

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