Is your organization reaping the benefits that a targeted and consolidated corporate travel supplier base yields? Discounted rates and free upgrades are a couple of the advantages that come from selecting the best air, car and hotel suppliers for your organization’s needs. How do you go about optimizing your supplier base?
A review of your current spend volume with each of your suppliers is the first step you’ll need to take. If it’s fragmented among many suppliers, see if you can consolidate down to a select few within each of your various supplier categories. If you’re looking at your air spend, your goal is to move volume to your preferred airlines to capitalize on your current contracted rates or if you don’t already have airline discounts in place you’ll want to move enough volume to enable you to qualify for a contract.
You’ll want to take a similar approach with your hotel and car rental suppliers. How many hotel nights do you have in each property in each city your travelers stay in? What does your spend look like with each car rental supplier you utilize? Again consolidating volume with preferred suppliers is your goal. Of course, this type of visibility into your travel spend isn’t always easy to come by.
If you’re partnered with a travel management company, they should be able to provide you with the type of reporting and analytics for each of your supplier spend categories that gives that type of insight. Because travel patterns change from year to year, it’s a good idea to revisit the exercise annually. For help with consolidating your travel spend with the right suppliers, contact Travel Leaders / Destinations Unlimited.