Advantage plans to integrate all hotel bookings into one system to make it easier for its business travel agents to book bed banks.
Advantage to integrate all hotel bookings in one system
Advantage plans to integrate all hotel bookings into one system to make it easier for its business travel agents to book bed banks.
Recent statistics from a new survey of members by the consortium show a quarter of its corporate hotel bookings are now made through bed banks, which have been traditionally sold by leisure agents.
Global distribution systems remain the most popular channel, accounting for 65% of business hotel bookings, while 10% come through other channels.
Advantage agents have increasingly started to book rooms through bed banks for corporate clients based on price and easy and quick to use booking systems and the fact they offer clients the chance to pre-pay so agents can earn commission upfront rather than at the end of the stay.
Currently, agents have to manually enter the bed bank booking details into their global distribution system, which drives their backoffice system.
Speaking at Advantage’s Hotel Hero Conference 2012, Neil Armorgie, who heads up Advantage’s corporate hotel relationships, said an aggregated system would allow agents to make all hotel bookings in one place and search across hotels and bed banks at the same time for accommodation. The new system should be place within 12 months.
“We want an integrated system so agents do not have to manually enter bed bank bookings into the GDS. It will save time for agents and allow them search one system for accommodation,” he said.
More of Advantage’s hotel partners are also loading up to offer pre-pay options, he said, which is proving more popular with clients, while the consortium is also working on improving its hotel GDS rates and rates which include breakfast.
