COLOGNE, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--A 2017 research report from the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) found that one in six hotel rates (17 percent) in shopping channels are wrong, with corporations paying 14 percent more than they negotiated when incorrect rates are booked. HRS, the leading Global Hotel Solutions provider, has often seen error rates of 20 percent or higher for too many of the programs it serves; the company estimates the cumulative industry lost savings due to incorrect hotel rates to be a stunning $662 (€573) million.
This error rate… and the losses incurred by companies because of these incorrect hotel rates… would be unacceptable in any other area of corporate procurement.
HRS solves this years-long challenge via today’s launch of new real-time rate filtering automation. Powered by artificial intelligence, the patent-pending technology addresses the issue of incorrect and so-called “squatter” hotel rates in the booking systems used by corporate employees. The Rate Filter prevents incorrect rates from being shopped, marking a quantum leap in corporate hotel rate assurance with the potential to deliver millions in savings across the global managed travel industry.
While rate auditing and re-booking – typically reactive solutions – helps corporations recover some savings, HRS’ new rate filtering technology, the industry’s first global machine-learned and channel-agnostic compliance solution, goes one step further. The technology identifies incorrect rates and prevents them from appearing in shopping channels (GDSs, online booking tools, mobile apps, etc.) used by business travelers.
“This filtering automation transforms the hotel rate accuracy conversation,” said Martin Biermann, vice president of product development and innovation for HRS. “The rampant errors in booking systems today costs companies more than half a billion dollars. With HRS’ Rate Filter, corporations will see more of the savings they negotiated, and travelers can be assured they are following designated company booking policy.”
HRS is a leader in the effort to enhance hotel rate accuracy. For one global manufacturing firm, HRS identified errors that would have cost the company more than $9 million (annualized) had they not been fixed. The extrapolated lost savings figure – $662 million across the industry – highlights the magnitude of the hotel savings at stake.
“We’re disrupting the global managed travel ecosystem by putting customer success first,” said HRS CEO Tobias Ragge. “We use data and technology to build better solutions for today’s complex hotel marketplace.”
HRS will have more information on the new rate filtering service at the upcoming GBTA conference in San Diego (August 12-15). HRS is located at booth #3508. HRS will start rolling out this global solution after the GBTA event.
HRS – Global Hotel Solutions
HRS simplifies business travel. Corporate travel managers and business travellers around the world trust HRS to find the best accommodation and simplify all processes related to their business travel. In addition to professional hotel sourcing and the negotiation of corporate rates with hotels, HRS optimises paperless payment of hotel accommodation and meetings as well as automated invoice processing. More than 3,000 multinational corporations rely on HRS Global Hotel Solutions. Customers include global players from the Fortune 500, including Google, Siemens, Alibaba, China Mobile and Volkswagen. HRS pursues clear goals: savings for companies and high traveller satisfaction. Founded in Cologne in 1972, HRS today has more than 1,500 employees in 35 offices worldwide, including Dallas, London, New York, São Paulo, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. Further information at corporate.hrs.com.
