Higher-travel-spend companies tend to be more team-oriented than lower-spend groups, according to a new report from the GBTA Foundation, the education and research arm of the Global Business Travel Association.
The report — which surveyed 272 travel managers in North America and Europe from December 2013 to January 2014 — evaluates differences in global hotel programs in North America and Europe as well as any differences based on a company’s travel spend. “Global Hotel Program Study 2014” surveyed travel managers to evaluate what their global hotel programs look like, how they are organized and managed and what the most important factors are when selecting hotel chains for their program.
Other key findings from the report include:
- While companies based in North America tend to have centrally managed programs, their travel policy is also more likely to use guidelines. European-based companies are more likely to use mandates.
- High-travel-spend companies are more likely to issue one global hotel RFP after receiving regional recommendations.
- On average, one in five preferred hotels is dropped from a global program each year after an RFP is issued. The rate is twice as high in Europe as in North America.
- Travel managers in North America are more likely than their European counterparts to enter into individual property agreements, while in Europe global chain-wide agreements are more likely.
- The people most commonly “involved” or “very involved” in preferred hotel negotiations are global travel managers (73%), regional travel managers (58%) and local travel managers (51%).
- When travel managers negotiate rates for their global hotel program, 58% say a global travel manager or global team negotiates directly with hotels.
- The top factor taken into account when selecting a preferred hotel mentioned by almost all of the respondents who have chain-wide agreements is rates, followed by overall quality of hotel and added-value offerings.