ALEXANDRIA, USA, 1 November 2019: More companies are paying attention to traveller satisfaction when conducting hotel Request for Proposals (RFPs), according to research released by Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) earlier this week.
Conducted in partnership with Accor the research shows that customer reviews, amenities and hotel brand type are all factors that play a role in the RFP process,
“Cost will always be an important driver in any managed travel programme, but we are seeing more and more that traveller well-being is now becoming a true priority,” said GBTA executive director and COO Scott Solombrino.
Research Highlights
Reviews
When conducting RFPs, half (50%) of buyers “always” or “often” check reviews from any one of four sources: a consumer review website ( TripAdvisor), their online booking tool (OBT), the hotel’s website, or an Intranet or internal traveller forum.
However, only 29% of buyers survey their own travellers about satisfaction with preferred properties or chains.
Amenities
Two in three buyers discuss amenities “a lot” (27%) or “a moderate amount” (39%) with their hotel sales or account manager.
Buyers say specific amenities are important: high-speed internet (97%), cybersecurity policies or data breach prevention efforts (84%), on-property fitness centre (80%) and loyalty programs (55%).
Brand Type
A large majority (85%) of buyers are interested or very interested in contracting with traditional brands.
This is higher than the share who are interested in lifestyle brands (65%) or small boutique brands (58%); however, at least half of buyers are interested in contracting with each type of brand.
The online survey was based on feedback from US and Canada-based travel buyers who are GBTA members and qualified as travel manager/buyer or procurement/sourcing profession and involved in the hotel RFP process at their organization.
Global Business Travel Association claims 9,000-plus members who manage more than USD345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually.
Visit gbta.org.
