The consulting unit of Travelocity Business has announced the results of its successful 2007 hotel rate negotiating season, claiming huge savings on corporate spend.  Working with six clients, including two companies in the Fortune 35, Travelocity Business recorded an average daily rate savings of more than 34 percent off the published corporate rate at preferred properties. Travelocity Business now ranks among the top travel management companies in the U.S., with more than $800 million in travel spend under management.

Travelocity Business deploys a unique combination of data mining tools, and strong hotel relationships to help corporations create a meaningful value proposition for hotels, resulting in measurable savings for large-scale corporations. The six clients that contracted with TBiz last fall for hotel consulting services combined for more than 440,000 room nights in 2006.

Last year’s hotel negotiating season was daunting for travel managers. PricewaterhouseCoopers reported an average rate increase of 7.1 percent in 2006 - the highest in 10 years. Many gateway cities like New York and San Francisco recorded double-digit increases.

Taking the average savings off the published corporate rate and multiplying that figure against the 2006 room night volume, TBiz expects that these six clients will cumulatively save approximately $30 million this year. Building upon this success, Travelocity Business’ Consulting Unit has already added three new clients for the upcoming 2008 negotiating season.

Travelocity Business offers hotel consulting services to current agency clients as well as corporations solely seeking assistance with their hotel programs. Among a range of services, TBiz assists corporations with:

Initial program review
Benchmarking against relevant programs
Development of negotiating strategies and achievable goals
Negotiations with multiple preferred suppliers
Implementation of programs to drive both offline and online compliance
CFO-ready reporting that demonstrates ROI and renegotiation savings
Regional savings and cost-avoidance summaries
“With business travel increasing and hotel rates still rising, travel managers are under enormous pressure to maximize their spend with suppliers that are willing to cut a deal,” said DeAnne Dale, vice president of account management and consulting services for Travelocity Business. “In addition to the expertise and technology our team offers, corporations working with TBiz also have the unique advantage that the Travelocity brand brings to the negotiating table. In an age where procurement executives are pushing for maximum savings, our comprehensive service makes sense for any mid-size to large managed travel program.”
——-