GMC Hotel Programme 2015

Transcription

1 4 November 2014 Performance and Resources Board 17 To note GMC Hotel Programme 2015 Issue 1 The 2014 Preferred Hotel Programme expires on 31 December This report provides an update on the proposed 2015 Hotel Programme. Recommendation 2 The Performance and Resources Board is asked to note the proposed 2015 Hotel Programme.

2 GMC Hotel Programme 2015 Issue 3 The proposed GMC Hotel Programme 2015 is set out below. London Hotel GMC rate per night Melia White House, London NW1 155 Ambassador Bloomsbury, London 145 Grange Langham Court, London W Manchester Hotel GMC rate per night Novotel Manchester City Centre, Manchester 88 Radisson Blu Edwardian Manchester, 100 Midland, Manchester 100 Renaissance Manchester City Centre Hotel, 86 Doubletree by Hilton Manchester, Manchester 96 Macdonald Townhouse Hotel, Manchester 86 Mercure Manchester Piccadilly Hotel, 81 Innside by Melia Manchester (From May 2015) 100 Apartments GMC rate per night Atrium Apartments, Manchester 72 SACO Apartments, Manchester Buying travel and hotels 4 The GMC preferred hotel programme is renegotiated annually to ensure that the availability of rooms meets our needs, at the best overall price and at a reasonable standard. We take into account: a Quality. b Feedback from users (including associates). c The availability of rooms at the agreed rate. d Cancellation policy. e Hotel facilities. 2

3 f Location. g Price. Current position 5 In 2014, our forecast expenditure on hotels is 1.5m. This is around 400,000 less than the best commercially available rates at the time of bookings. 6 In terms of booking numbers, we estimate around 15,000 room nights in Manchester, 1,500 in London, and 800 across other UK locations. 7 The GMC expenses policy sets the rate cap at: a London Bed and Breakfast. b Manchester Bed and Breakfast. c Other Locations Bed and Breakfast. 8 We recently carried out an online survey of associates and staff who regularly use hotels. 86% of respondents rated the programme as good or excellent. 9 We have recently completed a review of four and five star hotels in the centre of Manchester and within a close proximity of the London office, to generate a suitable hotel programme for The programme does not extend beyond Manchester and London, due to insufficient demand in other locations to allow for negotiated rates lower than the best available commercial rate. Summary of proposed changes from 2014 hotel programme 10 The 2015 programme will allow us to: a Maintain rates within the existing expenses policy. b Increase the allocation of rooms per night in Manchester from 14 in 2014 to 30 in 2015 and in London from three in 2014 to five in This will increase the surety that staff and associates will be able to be accommodated within hotels on the programme. c Although previously available, apartments were not widely advertised as part of the programme but feedback from the recent survey confirmed there is demand for this type of accommodation from people on extended stays, so these will be more widely advertised in future. 3

4 Hotels to be added to the programme Manchester 11 Renaissance Hotel this hotel was previously on the GMC Hotel Programme until the end of It was removed from the programme due to concerns about quality and price. A refit of the hotel has now been completed, and their proposed rate for 2015 shows a reduction of 14% (to 86 per night) from the previous rate paid. This demonstrates the benefit of us adopting a robust negotiating position with the hotels. 12 Doubletree by Hilton this four star hotel is situated near Piccadilly station and has offered the GMC a rate of 96 with five rooms allocated each night. 13 Innside by Melia this is a new four star property that opens in May We have been offered an opening rate of 100, and three rooms allocated each night. London 14 Grange Langham Court this four star hotel is close to the London office and has recently been refitted. Hotels to be removed from the programme Manchester 15 Hilton Deansgate despite us booking a projected 4,000 rooms at this hotel in 2014, the hotel is changing its corporate policy and will only offer rooms to us at 105 per night, which is outside our expenses policy. Changing the expenses policy is not attractive as other hotels in Manchester, including the Midland and Radisson Blu Edwardian, have indicated that they would seek to renegotiate their rates if the GMC expenses policy changed. Furthermore, a significant number of high end hotels are under construction in Manchester, resulting in an increase in the supply of hotel rooms that will depress prices in subsequent years, so an ongoing rate increase is unnecessary. 16 The Palace Hotel a number of complaints were made on the hotel programme survey regarding the quality of service and rooms at the Palace Hotel. This has resulted in limited demand for staff or associates to stay at this hotel. As a separate issue, the Palace is nominated as the MPTS business continuity site, so alternative arrangements will be put in place with an alternative hotel on the 2015 programme. London 17 Radisson Blu Edwardian Grafton the Radisson has increased their rate for 2015 to 175 which is outside of our expenses policy. 4

5 18 Holiday Inn Regents Park in 2014 the Holiday Inn offered us a rate which, while within policy in theory, was seldom available resulting in only six bookings being made. The 2015 rate is outside our expenses policy, and has no greater assurance of availability. Next steps 19 We will meet with the hotels and our travel management company, Capita Travel and Events, to put the new arrangements in place. 20 We know from past experience that changes to the hotel programme can lead to some resistance, particularly from associates. This year we have embarked on an inclusive exercise to seek views from hotel users making changes to the programme. We will work with colleagues in Strategy and Communication directorate to make sure that the changes to the 2015 programme are fully justified and communicated to all users. 5

6 Supporting information How this issue relates to the corporate strategy and business plan 21 The annual renegotiation of the GMC Hotel Programme aligns with our commitment within the Corporate Strategy to make the best use of our resources. If you have any questions about this paper please contact: Gordon Duffus, Head of Procurement,