COLOGNE, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--HRS, the leading global corporate lodging platform, is breaking new ground by including the new “longstay” hotel segment into its continuous procurement approach and corporate booking platform. This new segment – 8+ days – is a key feature of corporate travel’s comeback, and HRS’ innovative technology makes the entire booking-through-payment experience simple for travelers using their company’s preferred travel management channels.
The trend towards more longstay bookings is only accelerating with duty-of-care policy revisions and more vaccinated employees beginning to travel. HRS, which works with 35 percent of Fortune 500 hotel programs, has seen longstays grow to represent 39.2 percent of corporate hotel bookings through the first three quarters of the year. In 2019, only 7.9 percent of trips booked by HRS clients were for stays in the 8-to-13 night range. While 2021 metrics are obviously derived from smaller volume, this data mixed with insights gleaned from procurement leaders and HRS’ hotel partners proves that longstays are a critical new element to buyer-supplier negotiations for 2022 and beyond.
“The longstay segment is a noteworthy new reality for buyers and suppliers as our industry looks towards recovery,” said HRS CEO Tobias Ragge. “Making the entirety of the longstay experience – from initial procurement and rate loading, on through to everyday shopping and virtual payment – easy for procurement leaders, travelers and hoteliers is vital as business travel re-emerges. Moreover, even with the reduction in transient and meetings volume, corporations using the HRS longstay solution can fully maximize their value to preferred hotels as negotiations for 2022 continue in the fourth quarter.”
HRS Helps Companies Leverage New Longstay Segment To Secure Savings and Transparency
The importance of this new segment, along with the issues of re-starting travel as the pandemic wanes, has HRS helping corporate hotel procurement leaders enhance their programs in several ways:
- Providing an aligned, symmetrical experience for travelers regardless of segment;
- Securing appropriate rates for these kinds of stays – buyers seek more automation to eliminate the manual, antiquated processes typically tied to extended and longstay segments;
- Addressing the need for full transparency in all segments (inclusive of transient, meetings & groups, and longstay) with preferred hotels as they negotiate for anticipated 2022 volume;
- Fulfilling the requirement of up-to-date information on a hotel’s hygiene standards and carbon metrics, which are increasingly important for higher-profile safety and green initiatives;
- Facilitating virtual, centralized payment of longstay bookings, as most employees are challenged to carry the burden of accumulated room nights + taxes + incidentals on their personal or corporate credit card.
New Longstay Segment Spawns Opportunities for Hoteliers that HRS Helps Them Seize
HRS’ inclusion of the longstay segment facilitates expedited negotiating, efficient distribution and faster payment collection for hotels. HRS’ proprietary payment and procurement automation drives accurate displays and pricing in corporate booking tools, propelling bookings of preferred hotels by travelers. HRS’ Invisible Pay solution efficiently transacts the larger sums driven by longer stays in secure channels used today by companies and a broad range of hoteliers around the world. Finally, hotels also gain from new insights into the totality of a corporation’s spending and profitability totals on a property-by-property basis.
HRS’ Clean & Safe Protocol and Green Stay Initiative – two new programs introduced for hoteliers to efficiently showcase hygiene and green investments – are also options for apart-hotels and other longstay-focused properties to adopt to be more attractive to corporations in this fluid marketplace.
“Hoteliers need dynamic technologies to capitalize on the growing longstay segment and see the return from their on-property investments to accommodate these types of guests,” said Ragge. “By using intuitive technology that helps drive more longstay bookings, hotels increase their chances of gaining stronger recurring business across all segments from vital corporate clients as they get back on the road.”
HRS is facilitating monthly planned “procurement waves” for its clients through November. Leveraging proven automation and data analytics, HRS has reduced the historically months-long RFP process into a four-week procurement cycle. This process results in committed volume with transparent pricing, complete with security, sustainability and satisfaction measurements that are vital to today’s evolving corporate hotel programs. Prior to the pandemic, HRS oversaw the procurement of more than 150 million room nights for its roster of global and regional corporate clients.
About HRS
HRS is revolutionizing managed lodging programs for corporations, hotels and business travelers worldwide with its proprietary technology and expertise. The company is committed to facilitating safety, savings, security, satisfaction and sustainable hotel options for its global client roster. Leveraging its unique Lodging as a Service platform, HRS oversees the totality of corporate hotel programs for its clients, from initial procurement and rate assurance to booking, virtual payment and expense management. With more than 65,000 hotels joining HRS’ Clean & Safe Protocol in 2020, and the recently launched Green Stay Initiative, the company provides newly-prioritized information on key decision factors impacting post-pandemic travel. The company’s data-driven solutions deliver savings and performance for corporations across all hotel categories, including transient, meetings and long-stay lodging scenarios – all while digitizing processes on the hotel side for a better traveler experience. Founded in 1972, HRS today works with 35 percent of the global Fortune 500, as well as the world’s leading hotel chains, regional hospitality groups and independent hotels. More information at www.hrs.com/enterprise.
