CHOOSING the right hotel booking agency to suit your business is no mean feat. Whether you control the travel spend for a small company or a branch of a giant multinational, driving costs down is still key but there is so much more to consider. Do you want to nail down compliance issues,


for example? Are you looking for a hotel booker that is at the top of its game when it comes to technology, with time-saving mechanisms in place to reduce man hours spent on the phone? And how high up does a carbon emission reporting tool come on your must-have list? The Business Travel Magazine asked various


hotel booking agency key people to tell us what they thought were the most important issues for companies when choosing an HBA and how they matched up to this. The issues varied by agency but, essentially,


came down to a list of five key selling points, namely: saving money, time and bother; service levels and customer care; managing travel policy and compliance with it; technology and innovation; and flexibility. What is a given is market knowledge. Hotel booking agents have always promoted themselves as category experts over their travel management company rivals, and since the recession – with price now undisputed king – buyers have been embracing the best-in- class route as much as they have a one-stop- shop. The new converts to HBAs are as much taken by their technological expertise as they are by their market knowledge. HBAs have always claimed market-leading expertise in supplier relationships, effective rate negotiation and in building hotel programmes. But is this enough to tempt corporates over to the HBA side? In addition, the lines are now blurring somewhat between HBAs and TMCs since the latter have grabbed the opportunity to set up their own hotel divisions (with the exception of HRG who has had one for many years), or are working in partnership with them. Nonetheless, HBAs still believe their market knowledge is unsurpassed.


DECADES OF EXPERIENCE “With nearly 30 years operating as an HBA, Hotelzon takes pride in long established relationships with suppliers, across the full global range of available venues, hotels and


apartments. This not only helps with hotel programmes and rate negotiation but also with issue resolution,” says Juliet Price, head of marketing and business intelligence at Hotelzon. Expotel flags up its 40 years’ experience and buying clout through the booking of over one million bed nights a year. Not surprising that it lists rate and allocation negotiation among its selling points. Meanwhile, The Corporate Team’s


sales and marketing director, Tony Kingsnorth, says, “Those seeking to hire an HBA should ask themselves whether the agency has the experience to deal with the various types of hotel bookings your organisation needs to make, and whether it has built up relationships with a large number of hoteliers? “Ask whether the HBA has had to develop booking systems for previous clients and if it has a solid staff base. Are key personnel hotel industry professionals?“ If buyers choose to cherry


commissions from suppliers instead of charging a booking fee to customers. “This also enables customers to make cancellations and changes without incurring a penalty,” points out HRS’ Jon West. Buyers appear to like this fully transparent


“Buyers are taken by the free-of-charge hotel booking service of HBAs as they collect commissions from suppliers instead of charging a booking fee”


pick, then they can easily click between self booking tools if they have split their spend between a TMC for air and rail travel and an HBA for hotel spend. Dealing with two sets of MI doesn’t appear to be an issue either.


BETTER RATES Hotel booking agents claim that they will usually undercut an average rate from a TMC as they will be able to access rates outside the GDS. “We don’t solely rely on computer systems utilising online availability,” explains Nick Scott, Bookotel's managing director. “Rather, we use all types of accommodation and booking channels, taking advantage of late cancellations, any direct special offers and direct negotiation discounts.” Billback is another service synonymous


with HBAs to help reduce the burden to the customer. Moreover, Scott refers to the ability to centrally bill every client’s unique invoicing instruction, such as board basis and set monetary allowances, in any requested manner. “This can include up to seven nominal coding fields broken down into spend sector,” Scott explains. Buyers are also taken by the free-of-charge hotel booking service of HBAs as they collect


cost model without preferred suppliers. “There won’t be any HRS.com bias on search listings,“ adds HRS’ West, “allowing users to make an informed selection at point of sale.” If it’s a supplier that’s up


to speed with corporate social responsibility and environmental com- pliance, then HBAs are in the game. Bookotel has achieved both ISO9001 and 14001 for example, while Inntel has its i-Care traveller tracking system and Hotel.info its people locator function. Ultimately, buyers must


choose an agency for its cultural fit. This is, after all, a people business, and if there’s no rapport, then there’s probably no relationship.


SERVICE AND CARE “We are judged not just on quality of service, but on the breadth and depth of that offering and the lengths we go to ensure customer satisfaction,” explains Hotelweorld commercial director Ricky Kapoor. “We also need to ensure we monitor the performance of the accommodation providers in terms of their service delivery and quality.” It’s a view echoed by Juliet Price, head of marketing and business intelligence at Hotelzon. She says: “This simply can’t be emphasised enough. A hotel booking agent must work with clients to ensure that service level agreements are meaningful, measurable and reportable through every aspect of our offering, from the uptime of a self-booking tool to the presentation of invoices.”


MANAGING TRAVEL AND COMPLIANCE Expotel chief executive Ian Burnley refers to the “provision, proactively rather than on-demand, of accurate and detailed management information, to help client


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