SunTrust Bank, a large regional US bank, sought to reduce costs and simplify its hotel procurement process by using Advito's hotel plan solution. The bank aimed to reduce the number of preferred hotels in each city to one or two, and in a few major cities to three or four. Advito's process involved defining priorities, using comprehensive data and its exclusive tools to determine the best providers, and conducting simplified negotiations to achieve the desired reduction in preferred hotels. The bank's travel responsibilities were new and part of its broader role, and it wanted the process to be simple. The bank chose Advito based on its ability, experience in the market, and industry knowledge, as well as its ability to manage and share data. Advito's hotel plan manager tool was used to insert the bank's priorities into market indices and other key data sources. Advito then analyzed the data and scored each attribute. The bank received a comprehensive and easy-to-read report in graphical format, outlining alternative options and solutions and helping to speed up the decision-making process. Advito's hotel project manager tool and industry experience were valuable in representing SunTrust in the hotel negotiation process. SunTrust's strategy was unique because it not only focused on reducing hotel costs year over year, but also wanted to evaluate each property on a total cost model that included all amenities and minimum available rates. This required adjusting many individual RFPs. Advito's hotel project manager tool and industry experience were again valuable in this process, as the detailed scoring process allowed Advito's representative to understand the target product, whether it be cost or a specific facility, in each RFP.
