Hotel RFP Hell: Is the End at Hand?

Let’s agree that all our friends and colleagues who are in the midst of yet another grueling hotel RFP season should have our sympathies.

You’re dealing with big chunks of invisible hotel spend, crappy data on the visible spend, clunky RFP tools, tedious back-and-forth negotiations, last room availability promises that won’t be kept, and disgruntled hoteliers only too happy to poach your travelers with squatter rates that they’ll offer as long as it suits them. Ugh.

Oh, yes – you’re also facing one of the toughest negotiating environments in what, a decade? Ouch.

Speaking of decades, we know you’ve been putting up with this predictably stressful process year after year, for what, two or three decades?  Gag.

Hang in their, friends, for the future is much brighter.  I saw a glimpse of it at the Beat Live conference in D.C. last week.  But fair warning…you’ll need to grit your teeth and open your minds, as it’s not an easy pill to swallow.

Two pills, really.  The first is TRIPBAM; the second is dynamic pricing.  Here’s how they get you out of the hotel RFP desert:

GBTA Prezos: Hit 1 Home Run, Struck 2 Nerves

Evan Konwiser and I presented the “Managed Travel 2.0” session at GBTA’s Global Convention last month.  The presentation was well received – lots of good discussion in the session, and after, about the implications of this form of travel management.

Here’s the deck we used, and here’s a good recap of the Managed Travel 2.0 session.  Look for a few more posts in the near future about some of the key points we made.

The next day I presented “Innovation in Travel”.  As promised, I took a critical view of the innovative track record in our industry.  Those views weren’t fully appreciated by some in the audience, predictably from the TMC and GDS camps.

Fair enough.  Innovation is to some extent a matter of opinion.  Here’s the deck I used to stir the innovation flames a bit. Thanks much to GBTA for the opportunity to speak about these important issues.

If you attended either session, what did you think?

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From Friction to Fire at GBTA

The sparks are flying.

No, not about GBTA’s IP policies – we got that resolved a couple of weeks ago.  Thanks to all who weighed in on that – GBTA leadership heard you loud and clear.

This is much, much bigger.  It’s the issue of how to manage travel in modern times.

Evan Konwiser and I will fan the flames at GBTA’s Convention in Boston. We’ll present some pretty provocative views on this.  We’re backing it up with evidence, and laying out a direction that has big implications for buyers and suppliers.

Come add your fuel to the fire – join our session on Monday, July 23rd at 9:00 am.

Meanwhile, here are a couple of the sparks we’re throwing out there:

Traveler welfare trumps travel policies

Savings is the wrong goal

Revolution or Evolution – your choice

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New Types of Hotel Rates Ahead

Let’s face it, it’s just a matter of time before hotels start offering non-refundable rates to corporations.  And you thought the hotel RFP process was already a pain in the butt.

Just wait until buyers have to try comparing a 10-day advance booking for a 20% discount at one property to a

Travel Booking Tool Goes Gaming

Wondering where “gamification” will show up in your travel program?  Have a look at SERKO’s  self-booking tool for a peek at the future:

Darrin Grafton, SERKO’s CEO, designed his booking tool’s behavior reward module to

TIILTS: Socially Aware Reservations

There’s got to be a way to cut through all the clutter when it comes to travel-related offers.  One solution may be to create socially aware offers tied to what’s known about the traveler.

Start with  a booked (or just planned) date and destination.  Combine that with the traveler’s socially-accessible profile. Assume the traveler selects a persona or trip type, such as “Business + client entertainment”, or “Family vacation”, “Romantic getaway”.   Presume the traveler has tied some preferences to each persona.

Together, these elements form the Social Reservation.  Put that in the cloud, and let suppliers have a look!

No doubt, given the ever-improving analytics of travel marketers, we’d see more on-target offers presented. Think Groupon and Google Offers brought to your social reservation’s doorstep.

Since the reservation is now social,

Innovation and Patents: Pros and Cons for Procurement

Are patents good or bad for the end consumer?  OK, that’s pretty broad…how about this specific example concerning Virgin Atlantic and Delta Air Lines:

Virgin recently filed this patent infringement case against Delta over Delta’s use of a herringbone-style seating configuration in its BusinessFirst cabin. Virgin Complaint Against Delta

At issue is Virgin’s patent, granted by the U.S. Patent Office two years ago.

The implications for travel buyers are interesting.  Virgin came up with a clever way of arranging its seats in the business class cabin.  The advantages include easier access to the aisle, and more seats in the cabin for Virgin.

Airlines invest significant sums in their seating designs, and clearly hope to gain competitive advantages by doing so.  In this case, Virgin, by virtue of its patent, has the right to exclude other airlines from copying the features covered (claimed) in its patent. Less competition means some combination of more traffic and higher prices for Virgin.

Let’s set aside the issue of whether or not Delta is infringing this patent.  The facts are not clear, and Delta likely believes that either the Virgin patent should be invalidated, and/or there is no infringement. Best guess is this will be  settled in court within two years.

More importantly, what do all you travel buyers and suppliers have to say about the pros and cons of a supplier who has patents covering elements of its offerings?

Should innovation be rewarded with this form of protection, essentially as a way to create more incentive to risk R&D funds?  Or do the implications of paying higher prices for what amounts to a monopoly on a product turn you off? Vote here and let’s see what you all think.

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TIILTS: Making Traveler Profiles Social

Wouldn’t it be nice to have an easy way for updating your traveler profile?  Regardless of which travel agencies, online sites or airlines you use?  A place where any travel supplier could – with your permission – access your most current profile data and use it as needed?

Hello, Facebook!  Why not hang a module on Facebook where you could

TIILTS: Policy Points for Good Self-Bookings

TIILTS stands for Travel Innovations I’d Like To See.  You’ll see quite a few more of these in the weeks to come. This first one deals with corporate self-booking tools.

There’s a trend toward empowering corporate travelers when it comes to making their travel arrangements. Why not swim with this tide? Why not create a positive reward, rather than a negative consequence, for travelers who are about to pull the trigger on a travel purchase?

I’d like to see companies reward travelers for doing the right things. Before you say “No way – employees are expected to do that in the first, middle and last place!”, take a breath and hear me out.

What is one of the biggest obstacles to travel policy compliance? You got it – Frequent Flyer Points.  These loyalty schemes work really well, so why not take a page from the suppliers and put the concept to work for you buyers?

Here’s a mock-up of what a points-driven self-booking tool might look like (click on the image for a better view):

The keys are that the traveler gets very clear reinforcement of the desired booking behavior, the reward associated with it,  his current status, and what it takes to get to the next level.  There are lots of variations on this, but you  get the idea – a way-easy element to build right into the point of sale when – and where –  it matters most.

Top Posts from 2010 Travel+Procurement

The hottest topics on this blog last year dealt with data metrics, innovation, distribution and hotel sourcing. In case you missed these most-read articles:

• Travel Benchmarking Done Well – Describes the best travel benchmarking tool I’ve seen. From the fine folks at Travel GPA. (661 views)
• Savings Metrics, Rat Farms and KPIs Gone Bad – Makes you think a bit more carefully about