Hotel Sourcing Improves Savings, Duty of Care and Traveler Experience
A new manufacturing client came to Fox World Travel without a corporate hotel program in place and was subsequently missing out on hotel savings and other benefits. The client’s travel manager, who was new to business travel management, did not have negotiating power, supplier relationships or technology to effectively manage a time-consuming procurement process to secure the best hotel rates for their organization. So, the client looked to Fox to help build a hotel program that would achieve savings, improve their duty of care and improve the traveler experience.
After consulting with the client, Fox proposed a fully managed hotel sourcing solution in-house to assist the client from start to finish. The key to this solution’s success was assigning a dedicated Fox project manager as the client’s advocate and consultant in managing all strategic planning and bid management activities, which included:
Since implementing their new hotel program, the client has seen an increase in hotel savings, including:
Further, the duty of care initiatives improved, giving travelers access to hotels that made them feel comfortable and safe and providing the travel manager complete visibility of where their travelers were staying at any given time, in the event of an emergency.
In addition, to supplement the client’s new corporate hotel program, the Fox Hotel Discount Program offers travelers discounted rates and amenities to over 47,000 properties spanning 106 countries. Many participating hotels offer up to 20% off the best available rate and complimentary amenities such as Wi-Fi, breakfast and parking.
“From start to finish, the Fox Hotel Sourcing process was seamless, easy to understand and faster than my previous experience.” – Travel Manager/Executive Administrator
On July 19, 2024, Fox World Travel faced a major IT disruption due to a faulty update from CrowdStrike, which led to widespread system failures and a significant increase in call volume and duration. Our IT team swiftly mobilized, prioritizing customer-facing roles, and successfully restored functionality by the afternoon, ensuring our commitment to exceptional service remained intact despite the unprecedented challenge.
As part of Sysmex’s North American travel program, they utilize a local, in-country TMC in Canada to service their Canadian-based travelers. The Canadian TMC is essential in accessing local fares, complying with regulations, reporting on taxes, and providing Canadian French-speaking agents. With traveler data flowing from multiple sources, Sysmex preferred to consolidate their travel data into a single source to streamline data and reporting.
Ashley Furniture previously relied on static reporting, pulling travel program performance data manually to create reports. This process became tedious and labor-intensive, which ultimately hampered problem-solving efforts for the travel manager. Having to manually create reports also limited visibility to real-time data, where stakeholders were only able to view basic metrics and lacked real-time data insights.
Signify had a specific division comprised of travelers based in Canada that faced the challenge of centralizing North American travel services and data globally for their Canadian-based division. The goal was to provide a single service platform for travelers from Canada and the U.S., establishing a single operational and reporting system that would facilitate streamlined services and travel experiences for their Canadian travelers. Additionally, Signify was required to comply with Canadian laws and regulations while ensuring access to Canadian airline content.