COLOGNE, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HRS, the leading Global Hotel Solutions provider, introduced a new Meetings & Groups sourcing service today, targeting the growing simple meetings management arena. With companies already spending $565 billion on meetings worldwide — and projected to spend more in 2019 — HRS’ solution is perfectly timed as corporations seek to maximize this growing business expense.
The M&G sourcing service fits neatly into HRS’ industry-first end-to-end corporate hotel procurement solution. HRS is already renown worldwide for its transient hotel sourcing services, helping companies secure millions in annual savings and competitive rates in more than 200 countries. A growing number of HRS clients build upon sourcing to include full end-to-end hotel services, incorporating ongoing rate auditing, search and book that contains a company’s corporate negotiated rates and HRS’ unique discounted rates, and integrated payment via virtual payment and other automated solutions.
“With this announcement, HRS has created the very first end-to-end simple meetings solution for corporations. From procurement to payment, in all markets around the globe, HRS can now serve as a company’s single contract partner,” said Marco D’Ilario, Vice President of Sourcing Solutions for HRS. “HRS can now source an annual program, prioritize the negotiated program in the search and book process, automate compliance objectives and deliver a much faster booking procedure.”
The end-to-end M&G solution offers companies a unique option to gain transparency into what they spend on simple meetings, while simultaneously leveraging its proven transient sourcing process and global network of hotel specialists to secure savings on meeting room space, guest nights, food+beverage costs, and more.
Research Cites Tremendous Lost Savings Opportunities Amid Growing Meeting Spend
This past July, research from the Global Business Travel Association and HRS captured the challenges, scope and opportunity of today’s corporate simple meeting landscape.
- Simple meetings, consisting of 50 or less participants and featuring mostly replicable venue requirements, make up 50-70 percent of a company’s annual meetings schedule
- A stunning 70 percent of simple meeting planners don’t follow a defined process to source and book these gatherings
- Shockingly, 77 percent use consumer channels to seek out venues, not taking advantage of preferred hotel relationships and setting up potential duty-of-care risks
The lack of discipline these metrics illustrate drives incremental excess costs for companies — and these costs are projected to rise in 2019. One large travel management company projects corporate meetings to rise by five to ten percent next year. Fifty-five percent of respondents to a Meetings Outlook survey from Meetings Professional International say that contract negotiations are getting more complex.
Six Benefits of M&G Sourcing for Corporate Meeting Departments
With the launch of M&G Sourcing, meeting departments can anticipate the following benefits:
- Direct savings
- Improved planning
- More time for strategic activities
- Global data transparency
- Decreased liability via standard, pre-approved contract terms
- Streamlined financial processes via virtual payment integration
Combined, these six benefits help drive adoption. For example, with pre-approved contract terms, less experienced planners no longer need to wait for the procurement team to examine the contract before awarding the meeting to a property. Historically, such delays cause companies to miss out on option dates, adding time and complexity for planners.
Beyond sourcing, HRS has an automated, simplified search and book platform which aligns with a company’s corporate objectives and prioritizes the negotiated program. With HRS’ industry-leading rate protection technology, planners are guaranteed that they will not pay more than their agreed-upon rates. Clients using this service today issue pre-approved contracts immediately upon agreement, driving higher adoption. Planners book negotiated rates with 100% accuracy in cancellation, deposit and payment clauses.
“No other global travel company is better positioned to leverage its expertise from the transient sourcing arena to help meetings departments consolidate their buying power,” said D’Ilario. “Companies have tremendous opportunities in simple meetings; we’re excited to help them uncover newfound savings.”
HRS will feature the new M&G Sourcing Service at next week’s ACTE-CAPA Global Summit and Corporate Lodging Forum in Sydney, Australia.
About HRS
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, San Francisco, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo. Further information at corporate.hrs.com.
