This case study looks at how a strategic communications plan helped to bridge the misconceptions that business travelers had, and ultimately improved compliance and improve the hotel program for a client in India.
A professional services firm wanted to increase compliance and encourage their employees to use hotels that were part of the company's hotel programme.
Travellers, on the other hand, believed that they were able to get better rates by booking directly with a hotel or through an online travel agency.
This disjoint caused inefficiencies in the client's booking process, reduced the hotel spend with preferred vendors, and caompromised safety policies as travel managers could not track their staff's whereabouts in the event of an emergency.
Recognising that this issue can be solved with a cohesive communications effort, CWT worked with the client to develop a plan to educate and dispel misconceptions. This included face-to-face meetings and online training sessions with both travellers and travel bookers, as well as a useful FAQ document as a reference guide.
The training topics focused on helping travellers understand their company’s travel policy better, and the reasons why they should adhere to it.
Support from key stakeholders from within helped drive the project and ensure buy-in from travellers and travel bookers.
In just 5 months, we managed to halve the number of travellers who booked hotels outside of the programme - from 73% to 38%.
This in turn increased the client's occupancy with preferred partners by 480 nights per month, contributing to increased traveller safety and an improved hotel programme for the client.