Hotel sourcing automation

Introducing BTP Automation by Christopherson—a powerful new tool that streamlines hotel sourcing for travel managers. BTP Automation continuously analyzes your organization’s hotel spend, removing the guesswork and helping you pinpoint the best hotels for negotiation.

Customization: Set your sourcing and RFP-specific preferences easily.

RFP automation: Automatically generates and sends RFPs, renegotiates existing RFPs, and processes renewals. 

Negotiation: RFPs returned by hotels are reviewed and negotiated further as needed.

Loading and testing: Agreed-upon rates are loaded and tested for accuracy. 

Booking: View, select, and book the negotiated rates and save.

In the first year of using this service, Christopherson clients on average generated: 

• 36 RFPs

• $37,500+ in direct hotel spend savings

• 180 hours in time savings

With a total average cost to client of $3,600, our clients realized:

• 4x return on investment from hard savings

• 6x return on investment including time savings* 

• What is BTP automation?
  Business Travel Performance (BTP) is a hotel sourcing automation tool that we are offering in tandem with our services to ease the stress and time of managing your own hotel negotiations, RFPs, contract management, and rate loads.

  Visit their site →

• How do I know if I need hotel sourcing?
  We’re here to help you assess if BTP Automation is a good fit for your hotel program. It’s ideal if you: have enough bookings to justify negotiated rates but lack time for individual negotiations, need support managing and renewing hotel contracts, require regular booking data analysis to guide RFP submissions, or want to build preferred hotel rates to strengthen policy adherence.

• Why did you choose BTP Automation versus a different hotel automation software? What makes it better through Christopherson? 
  We have explored other hotel sourcing automation tools and determined BTP Automation is the strongest partner for us and our clients. With BTP Automation, we have a real-time data feed of your bookings through the online tool for constant data analysis. We also handle everything from start to finish with the GDS rate testing and confirm the ability to book the negotiated rates through your booking system, like Concur. We can track the savings specifically from these negotiated hotel rates as part of your hotel program and ensure each RFP is entered into Airportal/Andavo so you have all contract management at your fingertips. Our team automatically processes renegotiations on existing RFPs as your booking volume increases. We also automatically submit existing RFPs for renewal prior to expiration dates so there’s no lapse. 

• How does BTP Automation determine which hotels should be sent an RFP? 
  The data from your hotel bookings is fed into the system and there are a series of complex algorithms in place constantly evaluating the data and searching for trends. Typically, an RFP is generated when you’ve booked at least 20 room nights within the past 60 days at a certain property. However, depending on the size and scope of your hotel program, we can configure that differently. The system monitors your hotel spend 24/7/365 and identifies opportunities for new negotiations as well as ensuring your current rates stay competitive. 

• What happens after an RFP is accepted? 
  The BTP Automation team, in tandem with the Christopherson team, ensure the rates have been loaded correctly by the hotels. The rates are then made visible in your online booking tool. Each time you book through the online booking tool at that hotel, your savings are tracked and grow.  

• What do average savings look like for clients using BTP Automation? 
  Our clients, using BTP Automation for one year, saved an average of over $42,500 just through booking the RFP agreed upon hotel rates. When you add that onto the soft (time) savings, it is $55,000 total saved on average. This translates to a roughly 6.5x return on investment.

• Are there ever changes to RFPs after they have been accepted and before they expire? 
  If your volume increases and supports the decision to push for better rates/terms, the RFP will be renegotiated. 

• What happens when the RFPs are close to expiring?  
  BTP will automatically renew RFPs. This starts the RFP process over; your updated booking spend and current market conditions are taken into account.  

• What if I want an RFP sent to a hotel that the system hasn’t auto generated or one that I don’t currently have spend at?   
  If, for example, you know you will have upcoming hotel spend at a property and want to proactively send an RFP, we can assist with those as well.

• What if I have hotel contracts already?   
  As part of your initial configuration, we would load the contracts you have currently and ensure we have all details so they will be renegotiated/renewed as needed. 

• What if I already have a chainwide hotel agreement and a NAM?   
  We can opt out of negotiating with those chains if you’re content with your contracted rates. Or we can work with your NAM as well as the properties when additionally discounted rates at specific properties are identified. 

• What would you need from me to get started with BTP Automation?    
  We would set up a meeting to discuss full details and would work with you to revise your existing Christopherson contract. To ensure you are set up correctly we will need: basic company information filled out via a simple form, confirmation of your existing hotel contracts, specifics most important to you for inclusion on your RFPs (ex: amenities, terms, etc), any quarterly budget restrictions. If you have hotel National Account Managers, that information will be needed as well.

  We strive to have you implemented within 2 weeks of setting up your initial configuration within the system.