Companies in China will find it easier and cheaper to book hotel rooms with the launch of a Germany-based hotel portal for the Chinese market. Online bookings can be processed through computers and mobile phones.

This reservation service offers more than 250,000 hotels in 180 countries for corporate customers and allows them to add their own partner hotels, according to Tobias Ragge, CEO of Hotel Reservation Service headquartered in Cologne, but with a Beijing office opened on July 2.

The program makes reservations easier, and is a time-saver, he added. It also offers companies additional services such as analytical statistics about how frequently their partner hotels are used or what their top destinations are, data that can help companies optimize travel budgets.

"It is already used in the European market and our experience shows that it could cut travel cost by over 10 percent."

The program was launched in Europe in 2010 and it has since attracted more than 100 multinational clients worldwide, including Siemens, Ikea, and Daimler.

For the Chinese market, HRS expects about 20 large companies to sign up the first year.

"By large companies, I mean those that book several hundred room nights each year," he said.

Ragge is confident business will grow in China, as currently "only 20 percent of Chinese corporations or multinationals on Chinese soil are booking their hotels online whereas more than 90 percent of such transactions in the US or Europe are done online."

Statistics from the World Travel and Tourism Council shows that business travel spending in China stood at 853.9 billion yuan in 2012 and the organization expects it to rise to 894 billion yuan in 2013 and 1817 billion in 2023.

"China is on the way to becoming the largest business travel market. It has tremendous potential, especially northern China. And that is why we establish a branch office in Beijing."

Jiang Jun, managing director of HRS's corporate solutions for China, said an indicator of the large potential is that 639 multinationals had established offices in Beijing by the end of June 2012. She said the company would also help Chinese companies get easy accommodation abroad now that their combined overseas investment has reached $77.2 billion in 2012.

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(China Daily 07/06/2013 page13)