Medical software-as-a-service company Medidata is growing. Payroll has swelled to over 2,000 employees, and revenue increased 18 percent in 2017. While still midsize, the medical technology company has a global footprint, with offices in New York, Shanghai, London, Seoul, San Francisco and Tokyo. It says its great corporate culture and work environment has attracted top talent.
As the company has grown, its travel volume also has increased. Medidata realized it had an opportunity to leverage its increasing travel volume to improve the experiences of its travelers and secure lower costs. When the company hired Daniel Honig in October 2017 as its first dedicated travel manager, he went after the big opportunity he saw in the lodging program.
Engaging with Travelers
Honig compared data from Medidata’s travel agency and internal reports to understand where travelers were going and how long their trips were. He engaged with the company’s “road warriors and a lot of our frequent travelers to see what issues impact them the most because they are the ones on the road all the time,” he said.
Many travel managers in Honig’s shoes would have approached big hotel chains because they are seen as safe bets when it comes to familiarity and quality. “The thought process is: There are these huge standards installed in the big-box hotels of the world. It’s safe; we know what we are going to get,” said Honig.
Plus, business travelers hold dear their big brand loyalty programs. Honig knew it would be a challenge to pull them away from those, but he also believed a midsize program might not fare well trying to negotiate the large-brand market. “People think you should do a deal with Marriott because it has all the market share,” he said. “That doesn’t work for a midsize” program.
Building the Program
Instead, Honig went after the smaller and midsize boutique chains to pursue a great experience at a better rate. “Business travel is not fun … so anything you could do to make it fun is a great benefit,” he said.
First, he went after properties near Medidata’s headquarters in New York City; then he built a cohesive experience around the globe. “I went to our office locations in London, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo because I wanted everything globally to elevate the traveler experience,” he said.
For each property, Honig investigated the vibe in the surrounding neighborhoods, lobbies, food and beverage, the rooms and business amenities. He also established rapport face-to-face with the hoteliers via these visits. “You yield better results when you have that interaction with the head of sales versus sending an unsolicited email,” he said. He also had hoteliers come to the main offices to familiarize them with Medidata’s culture.
He worked with his agency to send RFPs to four or five hotels in each city. He leaned on his TMC to understand typical rates in each market so he had a clear starting point for negotiations.
Honig said he secured great rates. “By going there, it showed the suppliers we were really serious about the program. And I [learned] that for some of these smaller brands, it’s such a feather in the cap of their portfolio to work with a midsize American company.”
Adoption & Compliance
He also customized messaging to influence travelers. “[We concentrated on] what affects them the most, so it [listed] distance from the office, benefits, cool features of the property,” he said. He added that the service and amenity standards at the boutique luxury chains made “such a compelling case [that our travelers] can’t fathom booking a big brand hotel at a higher cost.”
Medidata also allows employees to book corporate negotiated rates for leisure travel. “If people want to use the rate for personal [travel], it helps our volume. The hotel loves the additional revenue,” he said. “It’s a win-win for the traveler and the company.”
Always Educating
Reduced rates and luxury experiences have incentivized adoption. “People have been adopting extremely well,” Honig said. When a traveler doesn’t take advantage of a preferred property, Honig has a conversation with the person. “If someone finds a lower-priced hotel using the correct booking methods, I can’t get upset about it, but I would like to have a conversation,” he said. He makes sure they know about the properties and the benefits now available to them via his program.