Hilton has updated its Hilton for Business programme to let company owners and administrators book hotel stays on behalf of employees, manage reservation changes and view team travel in one place.
The tools are available now through the free programme for small and medium-sized businesses. Hilton says booking for another traveller was the feature most frequently requested by members.
Booking and changes without separate logins
Programme owners and administrators can now reserve rooms for travellers within their organisation without using separate employee logins.
They can also view upcoming team reservations, modify or cancel bookings, and see which employees are currently staying at a hotel. The latter feature is intended to help companies support staff while they are travelling.
Together, the changes allow those responsible for business travel to manage more of a trip directly, rather than asking individual employees to update their own reservations.
“These new tools are a direct result of that feedback, especially the ability to book on behalf of someone else, which was the most requested capability,” said Frank Passanante, Hilton’s Senior Vice President and Global Head of Sales and HRCC.
“Our teams are acting quickly to deliver a full set of enhancements that provide a better digital experience and make managing business travel simpler for those who do it every day.”
More coordinator roles and reporting planned
Hilton has also outlined further updates, although it has not announced launch dates.
A future booking feature will allow authorised users to arrange stays for travellers who are not members of their organisation’s Hilton for Business account.
Additional travel coordinator and administrator roles will let companies assign responsibility for bookings without granting owner-level access.
An upgraded dashboard is also planned, with more information on spending, booking activity, employee points earning and points distributions. Hilton says this will give businesses greater visibility when managing travel budgets.
Free programme with no minimum spend
Hilton for Business has more than 400,000 members, according to the company. Hilton used customer studies and traveller research to identify where businesses wanted more flexibility and oversight.
The programme is free to join and has no minimum spending requirement. Benefits include hotel discounts across Hilton’s portfolio, travel rewards, Hilton Honors benefits and tools for managing company bookings.
The latest update focuses on businesses where one person arranges travel for several colleagues, giving that organiser direct access to reservations before and during a stay.
