Concur clients now have access to almost 7000 additional accommodation providers, thanks to a new partnership with The Hotel Network.
Concur and The Hotel Network signed a new partnership yesterday to give employees access to these hotels within company policy.
“With every business trip involving the often cumbersome and time-consuming task of managing travel expenses, a seamless and integrated travel and expense solution…will drastically increase overall efficiency and productivity for business travellers,” says Michael Eberhard, Concur executive vice president.
“This has a profound impact, considering travel and entertainment is one of the largest areas of controllable spend for most companies.”
The partnership comes after a 2012 study by travel industry analyst PhoCusWright found that over 40 percent of staff accommodation bookings could potentially fall out of company travel policies.
Employees will now be able to use the combination of the Concur platform and The Hotel Network’s accommodation choices to easily book their business trips.
Access to these hotels through the partnership will reduce the need for employees using Concur’s travel and expense management solutions to book hotels outside of their own pocket and outside their corporate policy.
“Accommodation has traditionally been the missing piece of the corporate travel and expense management puzzle,” says Nick Brooke, managing director of The Hotel Network.
“This partnership will give organisations and their business travellers more choice than ever when it comes to booking accommodation within company policy.”
The partnership will also minimise an employer’s duty of care risks.
An increasingly mobile workforce means it’s more important than ever for employers to be aware of the location of their travelling employees in case there are any problems.
With employees now able to stay at hotels linked to their company, employers will be able to anticipate greater transparency in their employees’ whereabouts, which gives them the ability to provide quick assistance if the need arises.
