Travel Smart
Vol. 3, No. 4 May 1995
Consolidators hold line on hotel costs
By Alan Rosenthal
In these days of $300 hotel rooms, small business executives are desperately searching for ways to control travel expenses.
Charges for accommodations currently account for more than 20% of total travel costs, according to Rochester, Wis. based consulting firm Runzheimer international, and prices are increasing at an annual rate exceeding 6%.
"Small companies get a good value through consolidators like us because we buy up blocks of tens of thousands of room-night annually, and our volume purchasing allows us to provide bargain rates, "explains Bob Diener, president of Hotel Reservations Network (HRN) in Dallas.
"Our service also is a time-saver for businesses executives." he adds. "You don't have to sit on the phone for hours searching for the best price and negotiating with hotels".
HRN's discount booking service provides a choice of some 450 hotels in 21 major U.S. cities, plus London and Paris. Common business destinations are included. Travelers have a choice of accommodations ranging from economy lodgings to top-of-the-line suites. Major chains as well as boutique properties are represented and savings can be significant.
"Our travelers have used the consolidator to book rooms in New York and San Francisco," says Roxanne Olson, executive assistant for Trident Capital L.P., a Chicago venture capital firm. "We've recorded savings of at least $50 per room per night compared with the corporate rate."
Ron Caplan, owner of a Chicago manufacturers' representative company bearing his name, reports even greater economies; "I travel to New York frequently, and at the hotel I like. HRN gets me a rate of $75 a night: the standard rate at that hotel is $150. And a couple to times, the consolidator booked me a suite at a different hotel for $120 per night, when the regular price was about $400. By my calculations, over the year, we save 50% by using a consolidator."
Mr. Diener says that HRN clients generally may figure on rates up to 65% less than a hotel's published room price. And, he points out, there are no membership fees or service charges needed.
"I've also used HRN to get downtown Chicago hotel rooms for my business visitors - even when big conventions were in town and everything supposedly was sold out," Mr. Caplan recalls.
Confirms Mr. Diener: "Businesses appreciate the fact that we always can line up rooms, even if some big event is going on and the hotels say they're full. The hotels block our space for us, so if you have a business trip to New York during the marathon, or to Washington during cherry blossoms or to Boston when all the colleges are holding graduations ceremonious you don't have to worry."
Business travelers give the consolidators good marks.
"They are knowledgeable about the hotels, handle booking judiciously and confirm immediately," Mr. Caplan says.'Also, they're great about returning phone calls; as a small business person, I really appreciate that."