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Amex axing fixed rates: instituting flexible and channelwide hotel consortia pricing.

Article Excerpt
American Express on Jan. 1 will replace its fixed-rate hotel consortia program with a flexible system intended to provide corporate clients with hotels' best, unrestricted rates available through may channel. In response, a second mega agency, TQ3 Travel Solutions, said it expects this month to add flexible rates to its consortia program, while retaining a fixed-rate component.

The impact of the Amex move on travel buyers with large programs mostly depends on the direction hotel rates take in the coming months, since these buyers typically use consortia rates to benchmark negotiated rates and to fill in rates in destinations where they may not have sufficient volume to warrant negotiated rates. Buyers who manage small to midsize programs have more at stake in the move to a floating system since they are more likely to rely on consortia versus negotiated rates.

"The prior program was created at a time when there wasn't a lot of volatility in the market," said Andrea Levine, vice president of strategic resources management at American Express Corporate Travel. "By...

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