How the market works
Business travel runs through a travel management company (TMC), an online booking tool, a corporate card and an expense system, with direct agreements with airlines, hotels and car rental companies layered on top. TMCs are paid through transaction fees per booking, management fees or a mix, and sometimes receive supplier incentives. Airlines offer corporate discounts on routes where the organization has volume. Hotels offer negotiated rates in key cities, usually through an annual request for proposal and a set of rate and amenity terms.
Meetings and events are a separate market. Organizations contract with hotels, conference centers and venues for room blocks, meeting space, food and beverage, and audiovisual services, often through event agencies or third-party planners who may be paid by fee or by commission from the venue. Contracts are negotiated event by event, and the terms that matter most, such as attrition, cancellation and minimums, only become visible when plans change.
Where cost and value leak
Leakage from the program. Travelers book directly with airlines, hotels or online sites, so the organization loses the negotiated rate, the volume that supports its supplier agreements and the data for duty of care.
Policy that isn’t followed. Advance booking, cabin class and hotel rate caps are written into policy but not reflected in the booking tool or approval workflow, and exceptions aren’t reviewed.
TMC fees and incentives that aren’t understood. Transaction fees vary by booking type and channel, service fees add up on changes and offline bookings, and supplier incentives to the TMC are not disclosed.
Supplier programs without volume behind them. Airline and hotel agreements are negotiated on projected volume that never materializes, or strong volume is never used as leverage at renewal.
Event contracts signed under time pressure. Attrition clauses, cancellation schedules and food and beverage minimums are accepted as drafted, and the organization pays penalties when attendance or plans shift.
Illustration: a company holds its annual sales conference at a resort, booked by the events team with a contract that includes a room block, a food and beverage minimum and a sliding attrition schedule. Registration opens late and some attendees book cheaper rooms nearby, so the block isn’t met. A reorganization reduces headcount before the event, and the team cuts one dinner to control cost, which drops spend below the minimum. The company pays attrition charges and a minimum shortfall at the same time. Travel procurement had negotiated a strong rate with the same hotel group for individual travel, but no one connected the two relationships.
Negotiation and sourcing levers
- TMC sourcing and fee model — transaction or management fees aligned to your booking mix, with disclosure of supplier incentives and clear ownership of data.
- Airline and hotel programs — discounts and rates negotiated on validated volume, with performance reviewed against actual bookings.
- Policy and booking tool alignment — policy configured in the booking tool and approvals, with clear exception handling.
- Leakage reduction — content, communication and card and expense controls that bring bookings back into the program.
- Strategic meetings management — consolidated venue sourcing, standard terms and total event spend visibility across departments.
- Venue contract terms — attrition with review dates and mitigation credit, cancellation schedules, food and beverage minimums tied to realistic attendance, and change and force majeure terms reviewed by counsel.
- Relationship leverage — combining individual travel and group business with the same hotel groups in one negotiation.
The S2V approach
Potential. We join TMC, card and expense data with supplier agreements and event contracts to see total travel and events spend, program compliance, leakage and the terms that create exposure. That shows which supplier programs are working, which aren’t and where event terms put money at risk.
Priority. We rank opportunities by value, feasibility, time to value and risk, including traveler experience and event continuity. Hotel RFP cycles, airline agreement renewals and the event calendar set the sequence.
Performance. We run TMC sourcing, supplier negotiations and venue contracting with travel, events, finance and HR at the table. Policy changes are designed with travelers in mind so they stick.
Value. We validate results against invoices, card transactions and booking data, not negotiated rates alone. S2V Pulse tracks program compliance, leakage, supplier performance and event contract outcomes so value holds across booking cycles.
Data you’ll need
The core sources are TMC booking and invoice data, corporate card and expense reports, airline and hotel agreements and performance reports, TMC contracts, event contracts and final event invoices, and the travel policy itself.
Identifiers break in familiar ways. Hotels appear under property, brand and ownership group names, bookings made outside the TMC appear only as card transactions with limited detail, traveler IDs differ between the TMC and HR, and event spend is coded to departments without a contract reference. We establish first whether the data can be joined reliably. If it can’t, we say so and scope the foundation work separately, so travel and events spend can be tracked in one place going forward.
Outcomes we target
- Higher program compliance — more bookings through the program, with the reasons for leakage addressed.
- Transparent TMC economics — fees matched to booking mix, incentives disclosed and data owned by you.
- Supplier programs that perform — airline and hotel agreements measured against actual volume and rates.
- Protected event budgets — venue contracts with attrition, cancellation and minimum terms that reflect real risk.
- Combined supplier leverage — travel and group business negotiated together with the same suppliers.
- One view of travel and events — booking, card and event spend reconciled in a single model.
Every result is tracked to realized value — measured in invoices and operating performance, not negotiated estimates.
Industries where this matters
How we help
- Assess — Assess establishes where your organization stands and where value is trapped.
- Advise — Advise determines where procurement should go and what deserves resources first.
- Execute — Execute turns strategy into implemented results.
- Develop — Develop builds your team's capability so results last after the engagement ends.
- Sustain — Sustain protects and extends value after implementation.
Frequently asked questions
Do we need a travel management company?
For most organizations with regular travel, yes. A TMC provides booking tools, service, duty-of-care data and the reporting that supports supplier negotiations. The question is which model and fee structure fit your volume, traveler profile and geography, and whether the contract gives you ownership of your data.
How do you reduce booking leakage without frustrating travelers?
We start by understanding why people book outside the program: rates, content gaps, loyalty or a poor booking experience. Then we fix the causes, with better content, clearer policy and communication, before relying on enforcement. Policy that travelers understand gets followed more often.
What should we watch for in venue and hotel group contracts?
Attrition, cancellation, food and beverage minimums, room block release dates, change terms and force majeure language. These clauses decide what you pay when plans change. We negotiate the commercial terms; your counsel reviews the legal language where needed.
Can you help with meetings and events that are planned across different departments?
Yes. Events are often booked by sales, marketing, HR and executive teams independently. A strategic meetings management approach gives them shared sourcing, standard contract terms and visibility of total spend without taking planning away from the teams that run the events.
Where does an engagement usually start?
With the S2V Compass, an assessment of TMC data, card and expense data, supplier agreements, event contracts and policy. It shows where value leaks, which supplier programs are worth negotiating and whether the data can support ongoing tracking.