American Express Corporate Travel today announced its most recent innovation, Rate TRAX, an automated tool that compares a company’s negotiated hotel rates to rates listed in the Global Distribution System (GDS).Ê The product is American Express’ latest solution to help travel managers contain their travel program costs and increase program compliance.

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Rate TRAX completes a comprehensive audit of each program highlighting any differences between the negotiated rate and the actual rate found in the GDSs.Ê Companies can then share this data with hotels, which are then able to make any necessary corrections and address pricing inconsistencies, and thus help them achieve greater savings.

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“The Rate TRAX solution from American Express provided my company an automated solution for managing our hotel contracts that was previously a time consuming manual process” said Marianne Buschmann, Corporate Travel Manager, Thermo Electron Corporation.Ê “The reporting clearly details omissions and errors in the rate loading through a detailed analysis of the GDS rates.”

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Rate TRAX helps solve a longstanding industry problem. Companies have been frustrated when they find that their travelers are charged inconsistent rates.Ê Similarly, hotels have been working to ensure that their corporate contract commitments are being honored chain-wide.Ê

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“This solution will help our customers with corporate negotiated rates get the most out of their hotel programs. Their business travelers will routinely have access to consistent and accurate negotiated rates, said Andrea Levine, Vice President of Marketing at American Express Corporate Services.Ê “We are committed to delivering innovative solutions which help our clients control their costs, improve program compliance and build traveler satisfaction.”

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Rate TRAX is designed to meet challenges unique to the lodging industry. The program can take into account seasonal rates negotiated with specific hotel chains or individual properties, as well as rates for different room types. Travel managers can also opt to benchmark their rate to the GDS Best Available and AAA rates, when available, to get more perspective on the deals they have negotiated. In addition, Rate TRAX will identify “squatters” - properties that are not part of a company’s hotel program, but give the appearance of being selected, therefore drawing business away from the company’s preferred suppliers and distorting overall volume numbers.

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“Dealing with complicated negotiated agreements for hotel chains, and individual agreements by property, has made GDS lodging rates historically tough to track.Ê American Express has developed another tool in their suite of technology products to bring added value to our program and to identify ways to save money for my company,” said Marianne Buschmann.
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