Corporate accounts for hotels and caterers: how to approach travel and admin desks

In many companies hotel stays are booked by a travel desk, an admin executive or an assistant, not by the person who stays. Catering is often arranged by the admin or facilities desk, with HR involved for the canteen. Approach that desk with a one-page rate sheet, find out how a vendor gets approved, and stay on the list by being the vendor that creates no work: correct invoices, fast answers, no surprises.

Who books, and who approves the rate

Two different people matter, and they are often not the same.

The booker is the person who gets a request from a manager: "Two visitors from Chennai arriving Thursday, find them a room near the plant." They want a hotel they can book in two minutes, that confirms fast and does not call them back with problems.

The approver decides which hotels or caterers are on the approved list and at what rate. In a larger company that is purchase or finance, sometimes through a vendor registration form. In a smaller one it is the owner's office. This person cares about a single price list, tax documents, and a payment term.

If you pitch only the booker, you get used on busy days and dropped on dull ones. If you pitch only the approver, you get a rate on a list nobody opens. You need both.

A decision rule: is this account worth a rate card?

Not every company deserves a discount sheet. Before building one, ask the desk two questions: how many nights or events do you book in a typical month, and in what spread over the month? A company that sends visitors once in a quarter gets your normal rate and a friendly call. A company that sends a few visitors every month, or runs a recurring meeting, justifies a rate card.

This is an invented case. A 35-room hotel near the industrial estate in Peenya, Bengaluru, finds that engineers from several pump and machine-tool makers visit their customers' plants. The hotel does not go to all of them. It chooses the five whose visitors stay most often, and asks each desk for ten minutes.

Its first try is a brochure mailed to all twenty-odd firms on the estate's gate board, with a "corporate rate" of one figure for every night. Two desks reply that the rate matches the walk-in tariff and they already have a guest house. Rewritten, the sheet goes only to the five named desks and says what a booker needs: a rate for single occupancy with breakfast, a late-arrival rule for the night shift engineers, and a billing contact who answers invoices. The rate is one the hotel can serve on a full night, set a little under the walk-in rate and no lower. Of the five desks, one asks for a deeper cut, one says its visitors stay at a guest house, and one starts booking after the second visit. That is a slow result for a month of effort.

What the one-page rate sheet holds

A good sheet fits on one page and can be forwarded without explanation:

• Hotel name, address, nearest landmark and distance from the company's plant or office
• Rates by room type, with whether breakfast and taxes are included, stated in words
• What the rate applies to: all dates, or all except named blackout dates
• Booking contact: one phone number and one email that a person watches
• Payment terms you can really offer, and billing details required on the invoice
• Cancellation and change rules in two lines

A caterer's sheet is the same in shape: menu options, a minimum count, lead time for orders, delivery arrangements, hygiene and licence documents available on request, and the invoice contact.

How the approval usually goes

Ask the desk: "How does a hotel or caterer get on your list?" The answer is often a form, a sample invoice, GST registration details and a bank account letter. Some companies want a visit or a tasting. Some route it through a corporate travel agency, in which case you also deal with the agency.

Do not guess the process. Fill the form completely, the first time, in the format they gave. A form returned half-complete goes to the bottom of a pile that belongs to no one.

The path is slow in many companies, and a desk may tell you the list is under review. Follow up politely a couple of times. If nothing moves, say you are glad to be called for any visitor at the standard rate and turn to the next company on your list.

Staying on the list after the first stay or order

The first stay or order is the audition. Watch it personally.

Before the guest arrives, confirm the booking in writing to the desk and tell them who will meet the guest. On the day, check that the room matches what was booked. After checkout, send the invoice in the exact format the company asked for: their name, address and GST number as they gave them, the booking reference, and the guest's name. A wrong invoice gives a desk a reason to stop booking you.

A week or so after, ring the desk and ask one question: "Was there anything about the stay we should have done better?" This is not for a testimonial. It shows you are the vendor who asks. For caterers, add the same call after the first event.

What does not work

Mass mail to travel desks reads like every other vendor's mail. A letter to a named person that mentions the plant, the nearest gate and the eight minutes to your hotel is harder to ignore.

Do not pitch a rate to a company whose visitors always stay in a city you are not in. Do not chase an approver for months when the booker has already said they use the guest house.

For a similar desk in another trade, see how to win corporate travel and visa accounts, and for the canteen side, what HR heads check before hiring a corporate caterer. Other hospitality trades are under hospitality sales and marketing.

Pick five companies and ring the desk

List five companies within a short drive of you whose visitors stay overnight or hold meetings with food. Call each reception, ask who arranges stays or catering, and note the name. Send one rate sheet to each named person. If you want help choosing which companies deserve the effort, account-based selling is the service, and tell us what you need is where we start.