It’s tough to know if you got the cheapest hotel rate. A lot of that has to do with timing. Published hotel rates, like airfares, fluctuate. Availability changes based on occupancy. Corporate rates aren’t always as accessible as many program managers would like. Some big chains also are more actively favoring direct bookers. They offer various enticements,…
[UPDATE: Booking.com in 2017 acquired Evature. Concur in 2016 bought Hipmunk.”] The next big thing excited travel technology enthusiasts when Concur in 2012 invested in Evature, provider of natural-language search capabilities. The technology hasn’t become, in PhoCusWright’s words at the time, a “game-changing travel innovation.” But there are signs it’s beginning to move from Gartner’s “peak…
[UPDATE, March 7, 2018: 30SecondsToFly made available its Claire travel management platform for “small teams” on Product Hunt. Users access Claire by text and on Facebook or Slack. The platform offers pre-trip approval, custom travel policies based on price caps and cabin classes and consolidated travel data for admins filtered by office, department or traveler.]…
Airfares around the United States generally are falling compared with last year, but exceptions include some pretty big markets. Even where prices aren’t rising, years of capacity reductions in some places mean much less choice, fewer nonstop destinations and lower overall value. This forces travel buyers to rethink their air contracting strategies. Where the loss of air service is extreme,…
[UPDATE, June 16, 2017: Marriott International on June 15 introduced a new 48-hour cancellation policy at all hotels across all brands in the Americas, except Design Hotels, effective immediately. “Guests will now be required to cancel their room reservation by midnight 48 hours prior to arrival to avoid a fee,” according to a company statement….
It’s another tough negotiating cycle for corporate hotel buyers. Healthy demand and tight availability mean some hotels are even declining to bid. But it’s not the same story in all markets and there are several ways clients can attempt to mitigate rate hikes. Buyers should have more leverage in markets that are adding lots of new rooms. New York still is…
Virtual payment remains a hot topic in managed business travel. The benefits for companies that employ non-cardholding travelers are clear. Not resolved, however, are the headaches associated with faxing card authorizations. Travel managers wonder why the hotel industry can’t get its act together. It’s not as easy as they would hope. Choice Hotels has received praise for one initiative it’s testing,…
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