American Express Global Business Travel (GBT) introduces Rest Assured Solutions, a comprehensive suite of end-to-end lodging booking products and services. Rest Assured Solutions gives travel managers the confidence they need to get the most out of their hotel program, while offering travelers access to the accommodations they want at the best rates, all in one place.
Rest Assured Solutions, introduced at this year’s Business Travel Show in London, helps travel managers and decision makers reduce out-of-policy bookings resulting from well-intentioned traveler behavior and associated booking decisions. The importance of choice, cost, location and amenities was just one of the concerns that emerged in GBT’s new Hotel Traveller 360° survey[1], which maps what determines the hotel booking behavior of business travelers.
Wes Bergstrom, GBT’s Vice President, Hotel Strategy: “Travelers want to do the right thing for their companies. The research shows that it is possible to manage the good intentions of travelers who book outside the policy by proactively addressing common misconceptions that you can get a better price, choice or experience elsewhere. Education and communication is needed to understand what is included in negotiated rates, such as wifi, parking, breakfast or resort surcharges, compared to booking outside the preferred channel. Steering for greater compliance is essential for better data visibility, security and savings – in short, a more effective and centralized travel program. That’s what we deliver to our customers with Rest Assured Solutions.”
Controlling costs and payments
According to Hotel Traveller 360°, 73% of business travelers worldwide indicated that saving money was an acceptable reason for booking outside of their company’s travel policy, while 68% cited better hotel choices. With Rest Assured Solutions, GBT customers get:
- Access exclusive hotel rates at thousands of properties worldwide through the Preferred Extras™ hotel program, across all channels including mobile, with discounts of up to 25% and availability of specially negotiated amenities and perks such as favorable cancellation policies, last room availability and free wifi and breakfast.
- Assurance through a new Hotel Rate Guarantee that they will receive the lowest hotel rate at the time of booking. Should they be able to find a lower fare, they can rebook and the difference will be refunded to them. This guarantee is backed by GBT’s Hotel Assurance and Hotel Re-Shop Expert tools, which use automation and bots to monitor lower rates and book when available.
- Expanded geographic coverage and functionality enhancements for Virtual Payment Expert™ (VPE), GBT’s virtual hotel payment and processing solution, enabled by Conferma Pay.
Access to content
Access to the right hotel content is also a concern for business travelers: on average, 68% of business travelers worldwide cited location as a good reason for booking off-policy. Rest Assured Solutions offers:
- Access an extensive portfolio of accommodations and rates sourced from multiple sources, all in one place, including more than 2 million accommodations through GBT’s partnership with Booking.com, with heavily discounted rates.
- Access rates from members of loyalty programs of major hotel chains.
- Access to more than 6 million other accommodations, including houses, apartments and fully furnished corporate apartments, including partnerships with Booking.com, Expedia and WWStay.
- Strategic advice from experts who analyze data and trends to provide travelers with the right mix of content.
Improve confidence in the program
Business travelers lack confidence in their programs: more than half (57%) think they can find better rates on overnight accommodations than their company’s travel programs. Rest Assured Solutions offers GBT customers several guarantees:
- The most comprehensive accommodation content at the best available rates, backed by GBT’s extensive expertise in rate negotiation and groundbreaking technology.
- Advanced algorithms and historical booking data, through GBT’s enhanced Trip Recommender solution, that generate and proactively offer hotel recommendations based on employees’ business trips to the same destination.
- Mobile access to hotel reservations through the comprehensive Amex GBT Mobile app.
GBT began developing Rest Assured Solutions following its acquisition of Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) in 2018, to fully integrate the company’s accommodation solutions, align with GBT’s traveler-centric service approach and address the challenges faced by travel managers and their business travelers. Throughout 2020, new innovations will be added to Rest Assured Solutions.
For more information on Rest Assured Solutions, please visit: https://www.amexglobalbusinesstravel.com/uk/rest-assured/
