Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:00:00 GMT The latest news from Inntel Ltd, recognised as one of the UKs leading conference venue finding, hotel accommodation, event management and business travel agencies. http://www.inntel.co.uk Inntel Ltd en-gb Inntel has been appointed to provide business travel and accommodation booking services for Morrison. Morrison is a leading repairs and maintenance provider delivering services to local authorities, housing associations, arms-length management organisations (ALMOs) and private companies. Operating throughout the UK, Morrison looks after over 400,000 homes and 4,000 public buildings on behalf of its clients. Fri, 23 Jul 2010 13:00:00 GMT http://bit.ly/c40JzH http://bit.ly/c40JzH Inntel brought corporate buyers with a combined spend of some 1billion GBP together in London recently, with its sponsorship of the Institute of Travel and Meetings (ITM) first Chairman's Dinner. ITM holds such events to offer suppliers the opportunity to engage with buyers in a relaxed environment, providing them with the platform on which to discuss business in a less formal way and to build new business contacts and long lasting relationships. The dinner attracted ten corporate buyers with a very significant travel spend between them - including Deloitte, BBC, BP, Barclays Bank, HSBC. Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:00:00 GMT http://bit.ly/abVsaU http://bit.ly/abVsaU Channel 4 has appointed Inntel to handle its business travel requirements. One of the UKs leading providers of specialist venue and travel solutions to the corporate market, Inntel is now responsible for providing accommodation and international travel services to the broadcaster through a mixture of online and offline booking tools. As well as driving cost savings through rate negotiation and effective strategic management, Inntel is also tasked with achieving a high level of policy compliance. Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:00:00 GMT http://bit.ly/bwnuP5 http://bit.ly/bwnuP5 Inntel has been appointed to handle the overseas accommodation requirements for London Business School. The business travel expert will be responsible for building an international hotels programme and booking overseas accommodation to meet the needs of the members of London Business School's staff and faculty, as well as students and alumni. London Business School is a top ten global business school whose purpose is to deliver insights and leaders that have impact. In addition to its London location, it has a presence in three international locations, as well as alumni in over 130 countries, and links to most countries around the world. This means that its faculty, staff and students are constantly traveling, whether it be to teach, study, attend sales and marketing events, international conferences and other events, and therefore overseas accommodation is a large area of spend for the School. Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:00:00 GMT http://bit.ly/bsQiqE http://bit.ly/bsQiqE The team at Inntel are delighted to have been announced as finalists in the Business Travel Awards, Best Hotel Booking Agency category. Being up against some tough competition we have made it to the top 3 and are looking forward to the Awards dinner on the 18th January when we hope to walk away with this prestigious award. Mon, 26 Oct 2009 09:00:00 GMT http://bit.ly/9CXOKP http://bit.ly/9CXOKP Inntel's survey shows that timing is everything for hotel savings. A survey by business travel experts Inntel has revealed when it's best to book budget hotels - and when taking the budget option may be a false economy. Inntel contacted eight hotels in each of its top 25 UK locations with the same enquiry: one room for one night for the next day, the next week and in three months time. The minimum standard was 3* and, as well as getting the rates from a budget hotel in each location, Inntel looked at alternative brands such as Jurys, Best Western, Holiday Inn and Ramada, each within five miles of the budget hotel. Surprisingly, overall only 32% of the cheapest rates were from the budget brands. Budget brands were the strongest for the next week enquiry, offering 46% of the most competitive rates. Booking enquiries for the next day were the worst, with only 25% of the budget hotels offering a more competitive rate. Industry 'rate band' levels have widened significantly during the economic down turn, and the rates that Inntel is achieving show that now even the 4* brand hotels can be competition for the budget brand options. Inntel's research also shows that the budget brands are often less flexible about cancellation charges and are unlikely to be able to offer the 'package' pricing Inntel is able to negotiate elsewhere for its clients, to include breakfast in the rate or upgrade the room type at no extra cost. And many budget brand hotels don't have in-house restaurants, which gives Billback clients a problem, as the traveller has to pay for dinner and then claim the costs through their expenses, increasing administration time, reconciliation issues and costs all round. "There will always be a strong market for the budget option," said Inntel Managing Director, Douglas O'Neill. "In some cases, budget brands compete with the quality and decor style of mainstream hotels, with new build structures and great locations. And it's true that some of the alternative hotels at this end of the market have seen better days and have a service delivery that needs attention. However, we found that where we were able to find cheaper alternatives to the budget brands we could, on average, offer more than two alternative hotels, providing a choice and a full service offering, enabling us to maintain standards and quality of property for our clients. "It's been an interesting exercise to compare rates - and I look forward to seeing how budget brands act to retain the client base that the recession has given them, when the economic climate becomes sunnier once more. As well as continuing to invest in upgraded properties and strong locations, I believe they will also take a good look at flexibility and service." Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:00:00 GMT http://bit.ly/9fCTR4 http://bit.ly/9fCTR4 The real-time, online traveller tracking tool from Inntel Inntel's innovative new i-Care online tool allows its clients to track their travelling employees, something which could prove invaluable in the event of an international incident or personal emergency. "In today's environment, duty of care to employees is taken very seriously and the risk of terrorist incidents is, inevitably, high on everyone's list of concerns," said Douglas O'Neill, Managing Director of Inntel, one of the UKs leading specialist providers of venue and travel solutions to the corporate market. "It's not easy to fulfill duty of care responsibilities to travelling employees, especially when travel is so frequently disrupted by unforeseeable incidents. Inntel's own experience of a live emergency situation - the London bombings of July 2007 - reinforced the fact that when such an event occurs, there's no time to waste. Being able to locate travellers quickly can help put everyone's minds at rest and hasten repatriation or any other action needed. That's why Inntel has developed this system: to help our clients look after their employees." i-Care consolidates the data from all of Inntel's booking systems and maps the location of each client's travelling employees. The client's travel manager accesses the system online, using a secure login, and views the locations of all their travellers, including those who might be in the air/on the train. This web-based application requires no software to be installed, and gives 24/7 access, 365 days a year. Interactive maps provide an intuitive method of tracking individuals who may be affected by an incident, and pin icons identify locations with multiple bookings/staff members. The i-Care user can drill down into the detail of each location, see the names of staff and their travelling companions, and view a list of all staff along with the details of their journey or accommodation booking. By clicking on each booking they can review the reservation confirmation to obtain hotel contact details and the staff list can be downloaded into Excel with the travellers' mobile phone numbers and email addresses, so they can quickly contact them if necessary. They also have the facility to send SMS messages to mobile devices, giving them the chance to communicate with staff almost immediately. i-Care is already receiving critical acclaim - as a result of its launch, Inntel has just been confirmed as a finalist in the Innovation category of the Essex Business Excellence Awards. "Our job is to make our clients' lives - and that of their travellers - a little easier. We are proud that our in-house IT team has devised an innovative online tool which, in the most difficult of situations, could prove exceptionally useful. Initial feedback from clients assessing a prototype i-Care system has been very good and we are now rolling it out across our client base," Douglas O'Neill concluded. Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:00:00 GMT http://bit.ly/cnM8Qf http://bit.ly/cnM8Qf Inntel has been retained to provide conference and group accommodation services to RWE npower for a further five years. The energy company cited Inntel's service quality, technological innovation and strategic thinking as its reasons for re-awarding the contract after what was described as a 'robust competitive tender'. "We're really excited about working with Inntel on the bigger picture, the strategic side of their offering," said RWE npower Group Travel Manager, Jo Fildew. "Inntel is very cost focused without compromising quality, which is very important, particularly in the current economic climate. But it goes beyond that. Extensive MI helps us work more strategically, and we plan to introduce a number of technological advances. For example, Inntel's i-Conference is a good online management tool for our bookers - who currently use an internal intranet form - and we're also interested in exploring how the new traveller tracking product could work for conference delegates." "Inntel's account management is strong strategically, but it's also very personal, with a lot of time taken to develop good relationships with our bookers. Obviously we couldn't allow our previous experience to colour the procurement process, but, moving forward, there are strong foundations to build on." Commenting on the re-award of the contract which, in 2008 was worth £3.5 million, Douglas O'Neill, Managing Director of Inntel, said, "We've worked with RWE npower for five years and are delighted to have been awarded the contract for another five. Renewed contracts are very rewarding, because they are the ultimate proof of the quality of our service, and we look forward to continuing to develop our professional partnership with RWE npower." Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:00:00 GMT http://bit.ly/99uA8o http://bit.ly/99uA8o