The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) today offered a preview of its new white paper, Making Cents of Your Preferred Hotel Program: Methodologies for Measuring the Effectiveness of a Managed Hotel Program. This how-to guide for demonstrating the value of a managed hotel program to key stakeholders will be made available to NBTA members and attendees of the 2010 NBTA International Convention & Exposition in Houston, August 8-11.

The new white paper provides readers with an overview of the methodologies used to validate savings resulting from the Hotel Request for Proposal (RFP) as well as those used to measure and communicate program value throughout the year. These methodologies serve as a guideline to assist travel managers in designing and implementing hotel metrics within their companies.

The paper focuses on six RFP methodologies to begin quantifying savings resulting from the hotel RFP process, which include:

  1. Measurement of Common Hotels/Year-over-Year
  2. Initial Bid Rate vs. Final Accepted Rate
  3. Average Negotiated Rate Benchmarked Against Industry
  4. Measurement of New Preferred Hotels
  5. Comparison Measurements
  6. Amenity Savings and Overall Program Value

The paper also stresses the importance of establishing a set of metrics that will indicate whether a given hotel program is performing as designed – to optimize savings and value by monitoring compliance, discount utilization and savings on an ongoing basis. Five methodologies are highlighted to determine this, including:

  1. Average Negotiated Rates vs. Average Booked Rates at Preferred Hotels
  2. Average Negotiated Rates vs. Average Booked Rates at Non-Preferred Hotels
  3. Gap Analysis of Compliance to Preferred Hotel Program
  4. Savings/Loss Impact of Market Tier Shift
  5. Average Negotiated Rate vs. Best Available Rate – Captured at Point of Sale

NBTA Hotel Committee Co-Chair Laurie Kazimer said, “Although there are many elements of a successfully managed hotel program, clear communication of the value of one’s program to one’s stakeholders is an important piece. Tailoring methodologies to meet the needs of one’s audience allows for better communication of the overall value of the process from start to finish, not only during the RFP process but throughout the year.”

Kristin Ojala, Co-Chair of the NBTA Hotel Committee, added, "The NBTA Hotel Committee is pleased to continue developing key industry resources, and in the case of this white paper, a streamlined tool that can help travel managers account for the savings and increased value a well-managed hotel program provides. Carefully choosing the right metrics for your program can be the key to success.”

The NBTA Hotel Committee, comprised of buyers, hoteliers, and third-party RFP service providers, is the group best known for managing the NBTA Modular Hotel RFP, the industry-standard hotel RFP model.

This white paper is the basis for one of the Convention’s featured education sessions. More than 100 buyers are expected to attend this session, to take place later today. The white paper will be available on USB drive wrist bands given to attendees of the 2010 NBTA Convention at the Discover NBTA booth (#343) and on NBTA’s website: .

About the 2010 NBTA International Convention & Exposition | Widely recognized as the must-attend event for business travel buyers, suppliers, industry leaders and business travel journalists, the 2010 NBTA International Convention & Exposition is taking place in Houston August 8-11, 2010. Nearly 6,000 travel professionals will take advantage of the Convention’s programming, designed to empower attendees to maximize value for their companies, including more than 60 seminars on the most important topics in business travel, more than 400 companies exhibiting in the Expo and countless opportunities for networking with peers. For details, visit .

About the Global Business Travel Association

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) is the world's premier business travel and meetings trade organization headquartered in the Washington, D.C. area with operations on six continents. GBTA's members manage more than $345 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually. GBTA delivers world-class education, events, research, advocacy, and media to a growing global network of more than 28,000 travel professionals and 125,000 active contacts.

About the GBTA Foundation

The mission of the GBTA Foundation, the US 501c3 charitable arm of GBTA, is to help the global business travel industry create a positive impact and a better future for people and the planet. The GBTA Foundation focuses on the strategy and execution of GBTA's global sustainability programs, supporting initiatives related to climate action; diversity, equity and inclusion; and other talent-related topics via education, research and advocacy.

Nicole Hayes
Assistant Manager, Communications
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GBTA