Hotel costs can normally eat up a significant chunk of your company’s business travel spending. In this guide, we'll show you how you can cut costs and benefit from some of the best corporate discounts at hotels.
Just like other travel service providers, hotels offer their business clientele corporate special rates and discounts. These discounts normally start at 10% but, with a bit of shopping around and negotiating, you can easily get a better deal.
It’s in a hotel’s best interest to offer business travelers more attractive rates in exchange for loyalty and a guaranteed high volume of business.
Hotel corporate rates are generally negotiated beforehand between the hotel or hotel chain and your company, usually via your travel manager. These rates are usually based on criteria like minimum annual stays, a predetermined number of employees, or a partnership agreement with the hotel chain.
They can be the same all year round or only be applicable when you book your stay on business days or during off-peak seasons. Getting the best rates all depends on what is negotiated between your company and the hotel.
When you book an accommodation through the hotel’s website, you’ll be prompted to insert your corporate code into a coupon or discount code box while making your reservation. Upon check-in, business travelers might be asked to show a company card or identification to prove they’re eligible for corporate hotel discounts.
Having good discounted corporate hotel rates helps you stay within your budget and aligned with your company’s travel policy. Quite often, hotel corporate rate agreements could include auxiliary perks such as more flexible cancellation policies and loyalty points, which could be exchanged for free nights or add-ons.
Request a demo with TravelPerk to see how you can save money on accommodation for business travel today
Book a demoIf you’re a large company, working with a travel agency can give you access to prime corporate hotel rates. But their expertise comes at a fee. And, that doesn’t leave much on the market for smaller businesses.
Here are a few other tips on how businesses of all sizes can get discounted rates at hotels:While small businesses may not have the same negotiation power as larger corporations, there are a number of ways in which you can still get great hotel corporate rates:
Direct to consumer booking platforms, like booking.com or Airbnb, don’t integrate with each other—yet they’re often a go-to booking tool for employees. This massively complicates consolidating travel data and keeping track of your budget. Why? When employees book through multiple platforms, it can quickly lead to overspending by having employees unknowingly book out of policy. Plus, these leisure-first booking platforms don’t provide tools for tracking and managing your business expenses. In many cases, they also provide perks and upsells your business traveler just won’t be using.
A business travel management platform, like TravelPerk, fixes this issue through centralized bookings, easy expense management, and integrated travel policies, all while providing access to a world-class inventory of hotels and apartments.
With over 25,000 negotiated rates across 150 countries, TravelPerk offers competitive pricing tailored to your company’s needs. It features a golden TravelPerk rate tag, so you can easily spot negotiated rates when searching for accommodation. These negotiated deals on hotels often include added extras such as free speedy Wi-Fi, complimentary parking, and discounts at restaurants and bars.
One of the benefits of booking your business travel with TravelPerk is that we're able to negotiate some of the most competitive corporate hotel rates for our customers around the world. In fact, you can choose from over 25,000 negotiated hotel rates when you book with us.
Take the time to see what’s available out there. Speak to multiple hotels and chains that match your needs, compare their rates or the offers that they give you directly. Don’t be afraid to ask them to match the best offer you’ve received so far.
While this is an option that many companies try, be mindful that it requires a lot of time and effort. This may not be ideal for SMBs who often have limited resources or don’t have a dedicated travel manager on board.
If you’re staying for more than five nights you can ask for what is known as an extended stay discount. This might not be advertised openly on the hotel’s website but it is common practice to ask for.
While a business trip may not warrant your traveler staying with the hotel for five nights, their bookended leisure travel might. It’s a good idea to specify your company’s stance on bleisure in your travel policy— make it clear to employees that the company sees
value in extending business trips for personal and professional growthNot sure if allowing bleisure trips is right for your organization? Here’s some stats from our recent