Guest blog: HRS - innovating and disrupting corporate hotel procurement

We are setting the tiresome 'annual RFP process' on the road to retirement. With its unique continuous sourcing approach, a growing number of the world’s biggest companies – 40 percent of the Brand 100 – record lodging savings all year long. Infusing the sourcing process with proprietary data-driven automation and artificial intelligence, HRS has reduced the process to a replicable eight-week time frame. This high-impact process is blazing a new trail for corporate programmes from a broad range of vertical markets.

Amadeus and HRS jointly serve a growing collection of multi-national corporate clients, many of them using Amadeus’ cytric self-booking tool to enable seamless hotel shopping and booking. Brands like Daimler benefit from the combination of two industry leaders and their ongoing technological and service investments, all targeted at making corporate programmes more efficient and travellers more satisfied.

HRS’ solutions cover the entirety of the corporate hotel booking cycle. Beyond sourcing, the company’s rate loading and Rate Protector services perform essential auditing, catching both price and amenity errors that impact anywhere from 17 to 25 percent of rates in typical booking channels. HRS’ industry-first Rate Filter prevents inaccurate rates from even reaching GDS and cytric shopping channels. And for those scenarios where a hotel may have reduced rates after the initial booking, HRS’ proprietary re-booking solution seamlessly resets the traveller’s booking at the lower price – all while keeping the proper data trail and record in appropriate GDS channels.

Virtual payment represents another key element in HRS’ holistic model that drives benefits for travel progammes, business travellers and preferred hotels. The company’s proven payment systems expedite the flow of funds from companies to hotels. Blockchain enables contract terms to be easily conferred while enhancing security and data privacy. And virtual payment essentially eliminates the hassle of hotel expense reporting for travellers, capturing level-3 data that enables deeper analysis and spend pattern tracking.

Beyond transient travel, HRS and Amadeus also work together helping companies leverage preferred properties and automation to organize and plan simple meetings. cytric and HRS’ simple meetings platform have been integrated for more than a year, laying the foundation for stress-free and efficient sourcing and bookings for this growing category of corporate spend.

To learn more write to australia@hrs.com.