HRS With New Brand Presence In The Corporate Customer Segment

SINGAPORE, 20 March 2014 — HRS opens a new chapter in its company history and as of now presents itself as a global hotel solutions provider. With the new brand positioning, including a new logo, HRS emphasises the ongoing expansion of its products and services for corporate customers and expands its global presence. By now, HRS covers the entire value-added chain regarding hotel bookings. From hotel procurement, over booking transactions and innovative payment solutions to the transmission of relevant data for the analysis of the accommodation expenses, the whole service is more than just hotel booking by this time. With new products and tailored solutions, HRS wants to give its customers around the world more individual advice in future.

‘The hotel market is highly fragmented and complex. Therefore, companies have an increasing demand for relevant data and individual solutions to optimise their travel management. With our decades of hotel market expertise and the large global hotel portfolio, HRS has extensive benchmark information of 40,000 corporate customers. On the basis of these data, we can optimally advice our customers and support travel executives to optimise their processes and to save costs‘, says Tobias Ragge, CEO of HRS.

According to the VDR, about 26 percent of the travel budget in Germany account for accommodation costs. To simplify the analysis of accommodation costs, HRS provides companies with a high booking volume, free support with the procurement of accommodation services since 2012 within the framework of a strategic partnership. In the past year alone, HRS negotiated more than two million room nights with more than 15,000 hotels. The negotiated rates could be reduced by an average of nine percent. Procurement and travel management profit from an operative discharge and savings in the process costs and at the same time, the hotels profit from a high number of room nights. Requests for proposal and negotiations are supported by local purchasers in more than 50 markets and are conducted via a specially developed online-eRFP-platform, which also meets the standards of the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA). With that, HRS achieves a response rate of more than 90 percent.

With the innovative ‘Paperless Travel’ solution, all hotel expenses will be centrally recorded and digitally processed in a well-organised digital way: room rate, breakfast and extra costs will be separately itemised and VAT amounts displayed on a single item basis. The processing in ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) and accounting systems will be facilitated, the single employee relieved and the error rate reduced.

Moreover, this solution allows a generally accepted disclosure of VAT including the tax number of the provider and therefore a fast and straightforward refund of the VAT paid abroad on the hotel accommodation.

With immediate effect, HRS will appear with its new logo and gradually expand its activities abroad. ‘Our customers expect us to promote a strong presence globally. Especially the dynamically growing markets in Asia and Eastern Europe are in the focus of our international expansion‘, says Tobias Ragge. But HRS will also expand its hotel portfolio and negotiate corporate discounts for business travellers in other important growth regions such as South America and India.