Hickory Global Partners (HGP) reports it has completed its first ever “Consortia Rate Audit,” an internal study of the company’s 2013 Global Hotel Program, Hickory for Hotels. The study measured rates against competing rate codes in the consortia channel, HGP says.
Intended to become an annual benchmark for consortia rates, the 2013 HGP Consortia Rate Audit tracked supplier compliance across multiple consortia and TMC rate codes, Hickory says. According to Chris Dane, Hickory’s general manager, “Commissioning this study was an important first step toward change in an industry that has been unable or unwilling to track or measure itself.”
HGP’s 2013 study included 55 hotel chains representing 616 hotels in 127 cities. Rates were audited via the Sabre GDS and included the following consortia and TMC rate access codes: Hickory Global Partners (HFH), CCRA, ABC Corporate Services, and BCD Travel. Availability searches for one-night stays were performed using the following dates: 4/23/13, 5/4/13, and 9/23/13, according to Hickory.
As expected (and contractually stipulated) the rates from each competing program tended to cluster, Hickory said. "Under the rate code 'HFH,' Hickory’s 2013 products for the 616 properties studied outperformed the competitive set. Compared to the frequency that the HFH rate code displayed rates at parity or better, BCD offered rates at parity or better 94.0 percent of the time, ABC offered rates at parity or better 91.2 percent of the time, and CCRA offered rates at parity or better 93.3 percent of the time."
“We found the narrow range of rate parity we expected,” said Brian Harniman, HGP’s executive vice president of distribution and marketing. “But our initial testing highlighted another long- standing problem in the consortia space. Why do agencies continue to waste valuable time shopping multiple rate codes if the outcome will most likely be the same each time?”
The findings of this initial study have encouraged Hickory to continue the rate monitoring process on a semi-annual basis, Hickory said. "Furthermore, the Hickory team uncovered three key areas of opportunity to improve the HFH product: 1) correcting rates with old Hickory rate code descriptors, 2) isolating rates out of parity compliance, and 3) revealing 'squatter' properties – hotels that have loaded rates on the HFH code without authorization."
HGP said its member agencies may also instantly alert Hickory’s hotel team to a property listed in a GDS at a higher rate than other consortia programs through a simple function on Hickory’s extranet, PartnerHQ. Once notified, the hotel team works with the supplier to bring the rate back to compliance. Pro-active monitoring of this kind ensures that the Hickory hotel program will continue to provide value to agency and supplier partners alike, Hickory said.
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