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91 st Annual Meeting April 1 – 4, 2012 Rebooting University Travel: A Fresh Approach to Conventional Travel Practices. Outline of Presentation. Background and Problems Vision and Goals Implementation plan and Results Question. Background and Problems. Background.
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91st Annual Meeting April 1 – 4, 2012 Rebooting University Travel: A Fresh Approach to Conventional Travel Practices
Outline of Presentation • Background and Problems • Vision and Goals • Implementation plan and Results • Question
Background • Public Institution of Higher Ed founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1819 • FY 2011 University purchased approximately 22 million dollars worth of Travel related services • 8 million in Air • 1.5 million in rental car • 13 million in lodging
The Problem • Lack of Fiscal Management • Economies of scale • Rogue spend • Local hotel discounts • Smart purchasing decisions? • Not using available Technology • Process was fractured and confusing • P-card • Local lodging reservation process • Information / commodity management • No University Guests & Visitor travel assistance • Booking a trip or hotel while visiting UVA? • Leveraging spend
Procurement What are the travel rules? Accounts Payable Here they are: Travelers 9 Travel MGMT Vendors Online booking sites Hotels Airlines Rental Car
Guest & Visitors Prospective Students Website Travel agent or booking site Visiting Family Visiting Professors Sports fans Department of Procurement Services University of Virginia
The Trigger for Change • Economic Downturn and new fiscal operating environment triggered change • Identified the Travel Commodity as an opportunity • 3rd largest commodity in spend (22 million)
The Vision • Create a Travel Management Program that is: • Fiscally strategic and well managed • Travel MGMT supplier consolidation • Create hotel and air contracts 2) Technologically innovative • Customizable and auto-synching 3) Simplified 4) Guest & Visitor friendly
Vision of Travel MGMT Post travel audit of vendor charges Single Award Travel MGMT Vendor Accurate spend Reports Online Travel Booking Engine Customized online booking tool P-card allowed for lodging Traveler monitoring and Risk MGMT
Vision of Guest & Visitors “One-stop-shop” Prospective Students Website With Travel Tools Visiting Family Visiting Professors Sports fans
Planning • Wow! Complicated, long, and large project • Travel affects literally every single department • Travel is very personal Step 1) Formed a large cross departmental team (future buy-in) Step 2) Committee determined that the three mini-projects / request for Proposals would need to be managed: - Travel MGMT RFP - Lodging Widget RFP - Local Lodging RFP Projects would be intertwined and require to be simultaneously worked on
Online Booking Tool Travel MGMT Vendor UVA Travel
Travel MGMT RFP • Identified as the largest and most ambitious project • Created and sent out a Travel MGMT survey to peer Universities (benchmarked) • Reviewed other Universities RFPs • Asked internal Travelers what was most important • Went through a very long RFP process – focus evolved into a technology solution supported with professional service • Involved internal audit and P-card administrators • And after 18 months of Travel MGMT work, the results…
Travel MGMT Results • Awarded to Travelectra • Low transactional cost / no implementation cost • Price match guarantee • Completely customizable • Travel rules with hard or soft stops • No first class tickets, premium car rentals • Hotels no more than double the federal CONUS / OCONUS rates • Hierarchy / approver routing • Different rules for different departments • Automated (synchs with data sources) • …Which allows for the P-card to be used for lodging • Travel Risk and information management
Department of Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services University of Virginia
Travel MGMT: P-card / Audit • P-card can now be used for all three pieces of travel: Air, hotel, and rental car • How • Online booking tool has all of the University’s travel rules and policies built into it • P-card can only be used for lodging reservations booked through the Travelectra tool – which ensures policies are being followed • Travelectra P-card compliance process (included at no extra charge) • Send P-card instructions to hotel at the time of reservation • Post stay audit of bill • Disputes errors until resolution • Recommends vendor removal in system
G & V Lodging Widget Online Booking Tool Travel MGMT Vendor UVA Travel
Lodging Widget RFP • What is a Widget? • Who are UVA’s Guests & Visitors?
Lodging Widget RFP • Destination Marketing Organizations (DMO) use • Don’t force your website visitors elsewhere • Had the Webmaster as part of the RFP team • Obtained 4 proposals • Vendor selected had most attractive revenue proposal
Lodging Widget: Results • Awarded to JackRabbit Systems • Low implementation cost: $2,900 • Pricing displayed matches or beats available pricing 95% of the time • Free reservation booking tool for small hotels and inns • First University in the country with a tool like this • Revenue: UVA makes approximately $2 for every $100 in business booked through Widget • More leverage in future pricing negotiations with local hotels
G & V Lodging Widget Online Booking Tool Travel MGMT Vendor Local Lodging UVA Travel
Local Lodging • UVA spends 1.5 to 2 million on local lodging annually • Previous reservation process was costly and inefficient • 12 communications back and forth between UVA and vendor • Solution was • RFP process would be long – negotiations and Agreements for 20 hotels • P-card administrator and Audit was involved • Surveyed the local hotels – all were interested in a simpler process
Local Lodging RFP Call hotels for availability and rates UVA Department Local Lodging Vendor Give rates and availability Circle back around to best option Soft confirmation / Hold Create PO and give vendor order confirmation Final confirmation communication Stay occurs Send invoice to AP PO Increase needed? AP PO adjustment Pay invoice Ask Procurement – where is it in the process Department of Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services University of Virginia
Local Lodging: Success Overview • Competitive rates, attrition, and cancellation terms negotiated for next 10 years • Vendor to vendor contractuals spelled out • Success with negotiating local corporate reward points: $50,000 in room certificates annually • University department approved “order confirmation document” • Last room availability clause • Large efficiency savings from transitioning to the P-card
Department of Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services University of Virginia
Local Lodging: Success Overview • Negotiated with Travelectra to: • Waive booking fees for local lodging • Charge the local hotels a 8% transaction fee • Travelectra keeps 4% / UVA gets the other 4% (about 80K annually)
Implementation; On-going • How do we get people to use Travelectra? • Expect price and ease of use to drive adoption up quickly • Grassroots – via the large RFP committees • P-card allowed for lodging only booked through Travelectra • Training and demos • Sell savings potential to MGMT at large departments • Risk MGMT advantage • Goal is to get to 80% usage within 2 years. If not may consider using some sticks
Future Identify Cooperative contracts National Hotel Contracts G & V Lodging Widget Online Booking Tool Travel MGMT Vendor Local Lodging Car Rental contracts UVA Travel Air Contracts
Cooperative contract Using UVA’s contracts… You will say Every time WOW!
Using UVA contracts Use of Agreement by Third Parties It is the intent of this Agreement to allow for cooperative procurement. Accordingly, any public body, public or private health or educational institution, or any University related foundation may access this Agreement if authorized by Travelectra. Participation in this cooperative procurement is strictly voluntary. If authorized by Travelectra, this Agreement may be extended to the entities indicated above to purchase at fees in accordance with this Agreement. Travelectra will notify the University in writing of any such entities accessing this Agreement. No modification of this Agreement or execution of a separate agreement is required to participate. Travelectra will provide semi-annual usage reports for all entities accessing this Agreement. Participating entitieswill place their own orders directly with Travelectra and will fully and independently administer their use of this Agreement to include contractual disputes, invoicing and payments without direct administration from the University. The University will not be held liable for any costs or damages incurred by any other participating entity as a result of any authorization by Travelectra to extend this Agreement. It is understood and agreed that the University is not responsible for the acts or omissions of any entity, and will not be considered in default of this Agreement no matter the circumstances. Use of this Agreement does not preclude any participating entity from using other agreements or competitive processes as the need may be.
Questions? Questions? Kevin Crabtree – Senior Buyer University of Virginia Procurement & Supplier Diversity Services kc5yc@virginia.edu 434-924-4219