How to Get Corporate Hotel Rates and Discounts for Your Business
If your company generates a lot of business travel expenses, corporate hotel discounts on lodging can net you significant savings. Each corporate rate may not seem substantial on its own, but they add up over the year.
Making a profit is the bottom line of every business, no matter how big or small. So when you find ways to save money, like with corporate discounts, it makes smart financial sense to include them in your regular processes.
Did you know you can negotiate corporate hotel rates and use other strategies to boost the value of your dollar?
Once you learn the tricks of the trade, you’ll be able to land discounts effortlessly on hotels for groups. You’ll be maximizing points to get free stuff on bookings you were making anyway.
This article has all the details you need to start saving money today.
How Corporate Rates Work
When you understand the premise behind corporate rates, you’ll know how to approach the negotiation table.
Hotels, car rentals, airlines and travel agencies offer corporate rates as a way to attract workforce business — particularly medium-to-large corporations.
The idea behind hotels offering a discounted rate to big companies is that those organizations will use the deals often enough that the greater amount of bookings will make up for the lower rates. Gaining recurring bookings from a business client can be very lucrative for a hotel, so it’s in their benefit to make themselves an attractive option to book.
Hotels Want Your Business, Even at a Discount
It’s the same mathematical principle used by any business that offers bulk sales:
When you get enough of a quantity sold for an amount slightly higher than your cost, you end up with a profit.
Typically, hotels will offer a general 10% discount on available public rates. This small concession attracts repeat guests and word-of-mouth referrals.
Still, 10% is the bare minimum, and you shouldn’t settle for that small reduction when you can negotiate a much better rate.
Using a Platform for the Best Rates
Discount rates are applied using predetermined corporate codes. In the hotel industry, these booking codes are created for different companies to give them the best prices based on certain factors.
For instance, a company that could bring a lot of revenue to the hotel would be able to negotiate a better discount code than a small business with few employees.
The codes are supplied by the employee, manager or authorized person when they book their lodging. The general hotel rate is then adjusted accordingly. However, if you know how to work around the system, you may be able to find better “codes” than your company’s special rate can give you.
Engine’s Deeply Discounted Negotiation System
What hotel booking sites are you currently using to find the best rates for your business travelers?
Chances are, you’re not getting the greatest discounts possible — unless you have serious leverage and lots of negotiation finesse.
That’s what you get when you use Engine.
Unlike other booking tools that go a mile wide and an inch deep with multiple travel needs, Engine focuses on one thing:
Getting the best hotel rates for corporate clients, at the most hotel properties worldwide.
By crowdsourcing demand from a large network of small and medium-sized businesses, they provide access to discounts that are otherwise only available to the Fortune 500. Engine offers rates that are up to 60% lower than what is publicly available.
And once you get those deep discounts, the HE Rewards program allows you to double up your rewards points with hotels’ brand-specific loyalty programs, which we’ll discuss in detail later.
The savings don’t even stop there. When you use your credit card to pay for your hotel bookings, you may be eligible for even more perks.
Learn more: Engine Members Can Now Double Dip With Expanded Hotel Loyalty Program
3. Unlock Significant Savings with Corporate Hotel Rates and Discounts
If your company generates significant business travel expenses, securing corporate hotel discounts on lodging can result in substantial savings. Making a profit is the goal of every business, regardless of size, so leveraging corporate discounts is a smart financial move to incorporate into regular processes.
To explore these options further, check out Engine’s corporate hotel rates for more detailed information on how your business can start saving money on hotel bookings today.