Challenge

• Client had a fragmented process for purchasing congress accommodation, and a high volume of internal administration, particularly financial.

• Grass Roots was challenged to:
  • Drive bottom line cost reduction
  • Provide live spend reporting (historic / future)
  • Reduce use of internal client resources
  • Reduce use of internal client resources
  • Generate direct hotel bookings
  • Reduce cancellation fees
  • Devise and implement a VAT re-claim policy.

Solution

• A new process was developed, and relevant bookers were trained
• A service level agreement was developed for the new process
• Finance processes were developed to outsource this complicated element
• Clear key performance indicators were developed and agreed
• An E-tool was created to support and match the new process.

Results

• Annual spend with consolidator booking agencies was reduced from 20% to 10% – saving €433k
• Cancellation fees against total annual spend were reduced by 5% in year one – saving €1.15m
• Commission share generated from booking directly – saved €132k
• VAT reclaim – saved €119k
• 77% reduction in purchase orders equal to one third redeployed headcount.