Business travel continues to grow, as shown by the NOVA Nuovo Osservatorio sui Viaggi d'Affari (a research study drawn up by Prof Andrea Guizzardi in collaboration with the Centre for Advanced Studies on Tourism at the University of Bologna, promoted by major players in the travel market such as AirPlus International, HRS, Lufthansa Group, Zucchetti and published by Mission, the business travel magazine) and it is a shame not to take part in this important market segment.
TMCs, Corporates and large Agencies are issuing thousands of RFPs (Request For Proposal) to plan Business Transient Travel for 2019.
Hotels belonging to some chains, often without even knowing the steps well, participate at group level because they are followed by their sales departments.
Other brands leave the management of RFPs to the individual hotel, while providing the tools and support.
What about independent hotels? A lot depends on how they are structured or which partner follows them.
If they have the qualified staff in-house, and with the "mandate" to allocate the right time/work, they participate in the "summer market" of agreed rates.
When there is no dedicated staff or investment in the tools to participate in and manage the RFPs (we are talking about small amounts anyway), important opportunities to increase turnover from the Business Travel segment are lost.
NetToHotel is a good example of this: affiliated hotels can always choose to participate on their own, or they can rely on the Corporate & RFP 2019 Service, which centralises the activity like a hotel chain and at the same time allows the hotel to follow all stages directly.
Not only that, the Nexus tool used by NetToHotel connects the main RFP showcases as a "Channel Manager of RFPs" and the cost of the whole service is very close to the simple Lanyon membership, which is already included in the service.
