It’s a tough job market for
employers. If you want to attract the top recruits, you’ll have to fight for
them. When taking new roles, many employees want benefits that offer better
work-life balance, like more paid time off and flexible work arrangements.
For those who travel frequently, a
good travel policy is essential to work-life balance and can be a key factor
when determining whether to stay in a job or accept a new one. In fact, 59% of
North American business travellers and 66% of Latin American travellers
told GBTA that a company's travel policy is an important factor when
deciding to take a job with a new employer.
What can you do to make sure your
hotel policy appeals to recruits?
1. Offer convenient locations and
properties
Time and time again, business
travellers say convenience is their number one priority. It’s not an
unreasonable request. Who doesn’t want an extra 30 minutes of prep time or
sleep before heading out to a meeting?
Yet, if you only rely on GDS content,
your hotel program may not offer properties at all of the locations your
travellers visit. Offering properties from third-party hotel content sources
like Booking.com and Expedia Partner Services can provide travellers with
access to more locations and accommodation types (independent hotels,
apartments, etc.) that are not available in the GDS.
2. Be realistic about rates
Beyond convenience, travellers want
to stay somewhere clean, comfortable and safe. Quality matters. While price
does not equate to quality, there are significant differences in average room
night rates by location. When setting city caps, make sure you know average
rates by city and how much rates are expected to grow. Carlson Wagonlit's 2019
Global Travel Forecast can help you
determine rate increases by region. Also, consider the type or class of
property your travellers expect to stay at when setting rate caps.
3. Help travellers save time
Scrolling through pages of hotel property
results trying to decide which hotel is the right fit – not so much fun.
Neither is searching through several sites. Partner with a travel
management company (TMC) that offers personalised search results.
4. Offer loyalty perks
Travellers care so much about
loyalty points that they’ll risk their personal safety to earn them. Literally.
3 in 10 business travellers surveyed by CWT said they would sacrifice safety
for loyalty points and incentives. The good news is that travellers can book
rates with loyalty points through RoomIt. The even better news is that they can earn additional hotel
loyalty points through Loyalty Booster, driving in-channel bookings to your
preferred suppliers.
5. Make Bleisure easier
More companies are allowing
travellers to add a holiday to the end of their work trips. However, most
travellers book their trips through consumer sites. Make sure travellers are
clear if they can take advantage of your preferred rates or TMC when booking
personal extensions and how to pay for those accommodations so they can book
their full trip all at once.
Blog author: Scott Hyden, Chief
Experience Officer, RoomIt by CWT,
No comments:
Post a Comment