Business Travel Executive, October/November 2020

A fter years of predicting the end of the annual hotel RFP the industry may finally be able to chant RFPs no more Because of the impact of COVID 19 dynamic rates identifying target cities and shifting expectations more toward cleaning protocols health and safety audits and more flexible booking may be the new normal for hotel partnerships A year ago with the RFP season in full swing travel buyers knew exactly where their company would need to travel giving them the ability to plan ahead and anticipate their travel needs months in advance Today we are still seeing RFPs however todays buyers are really prioritizing flexibility and duty of care This has led to an increased interest in dynamic pricing as companies travel programs and new market needs shift Additionally as companies are consolidating programs and processes they are looking for larger global portfolios that will provide solutions for all their requirements Jill Hatfield Wyndham Hotels and Resorts vice president of global sales North America says since the pandemic started there have been two schools of thought about the RFP process One is that 2021 will be a year of ramped up recovery but business travel will still be markedly down from 2019 For that reason these clients arent allocating the typical resources time money against their RFP process she explains Instead theyre securing 2021 preferred rates in markets that had the highest historical volume and allowing other rates TMC rates chain wide discount rates with their preferred chains to serve as the rate products in secondary and tertiary markets The second line of thinking Hatfield says is among those who dont foresee travel ramping up until at least mid 2021 Those clients are looking to postpone the RFP process until next year and in the meantime are asking existing preferred hotels to rollover 2020 rates for their team members who are traveling she notes There are several travel technology companies out there that have been touting that the RFP process is forever changed We would like to see more buyers shift to an RFP process that is more dynamic in nature as opposed to the fixed negotiated rate model that we have long been accustomed to RFPs are becoming a more significant responsibility for travel managers according to Lexi Benakis HRS director of sourcing Americas and there are important changes occurring Flexible cancelation has become even more critical in negotiation with more changes to meetings market conditions and restrictions on travel she says There are new restrictions on quarantining still coming out so having that flexibility is important The annual RFPs should not fully go away Benekis cautions adding a thirdparty should be able to audit and ensure hotels are applying whatever is negotiated For instance the amenities negotiated going into 2020 are not applicable due to COVID 19 so things need to be evaluated and corrected Partners in The New Normal This pandemic has led many travel buyers to expand their duty of care program to include health and safety guidelines for various sectors of the travel journey lodging air ground transport etc Buyers are wanting to understand the various health and safety protocols being implemented by their preferred suppliers engagement with customers provides insights into when they will be traveling who is traveling where they are traveling and what their needs are in our current landscape she says This provides us the opportunity to identify mutually beneficial solutions and respond quickly to buyer and travelers needs which look differently now than in the past While Ferrill has seen a definite shift in how business is negotiated today she says BWH Hotel Groups focus on working strategically with buyers has remained which has allowed the company to not only understand each customers unique circumstances but also to provide solutions based on their needs even as those needs continue to evolve Buyers needs are evolving rapidly as markets shift and regions respond to the pandemic so flexibility and duty of care and the enforcement of cleaning programs at the property level remain top priorities for customers she says Steve Reynolds CEO of Tripbam which works with more than 2000 clients on hotel negotiations notes things have been thrown into a state of chaos since the pandemic Once COVID hit and hotels started to lay off employees and furlough staff they put out a request saying Lets not negotiate discounts this year lets give us a bye and well talk about it next year he says Our buyers response to that was Are you crazy We finally are in an Flexible cancelation has become even more critical with changes to meetings market conditions and restrictions on travel says Wyndhams Hatfield In our case our Count on Us program provides a comprehensive approach to keeping travelers safe Wendy Ferrill vice president of worldwide sales for Best Western Hotels Resorts notes relationships are key in this business but the importance of partnerships has only increased since the start of the pandemic Buyers are reacting differently based on needs for their specific companies both regionally and globally so our 21 environment thats somewhat of a buyers market and you want to skip the annual negotiation process youve been forcing on the industry at large for the past number of decades These circumstances have made it hard to properly forecast what negotiations are going to look like in the next six to 12 months though Reynolds says he believes there is beginning to be some clarity around how to get a program in place He says chains are hoping that buyers will accept the low static rates that were Business Travel Executive askBTE com October November 2020