Readybid's blog

Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming how corporate travel programs negotiate hotel rates. Traditional negotiation cycles often relied on static historical data, manual comparisons, and subjective supplier evaluations. While procurement professionals bring expertise and strategy to the table, they frequently operate without predictive analytics or automated benchmarking tools that reveal deeper market insights.

In many organizations, hotel sourcing is often viewed as a procurement-led function. Procurement issues the RFP, negotiates rates, evaluates responses, and finalizes contracts. However, in complex corporate travel programs, the final hotel selection decision rarely belongs to procurement alone. Multiple internal and external stakeholders influence which properties ultimately become preferred suppliers.

Corporate hotel sourcing has evolved from a once-a-year rate negotiation exercise into a core pillar of enterprise travel strategy. In today’s environment - marked by rate volatility, traveler expectations, compliance pressures, and data-driven procurement - organizations can no longer afford fragmented, spreadsheet-driven RFP cycles. A high-performing hotel RFP strategy is structured, data-informed, repeatable, and aligned with broader enterprise objectives.