Siemens Targets More efficency, use of AI in global travel tech extension with HRS

Siemens Extends Global Travel & Technology Services Agreement with HRS; Targets Efficiency and Increased Use of Sustainable Hotels

Innovative Program Seeks to Enhance Traveler Convenience While Driving More Sustainable Travel

Berlin, Germany – 4 March 2024 – HRS, the leading global corporate lodging and meeting technology platform, today announced the signing of a multi-year contract extension with Siemens AG, a leading global technology company. HRS and Siemens have worked together on their global managed travel program for more than five years, refining a shared mindset towards enhancing managed travel via technology and creative expertise. Cumulatively, Siemens accounts for more than two million corporate room nights annually across multiple continents.

HRS made the announcement today at its Corporate Lodging Forum in Berlin, one of Germany’s premier annual gatherings of corporate hotel procurement leaders, meeting planners, hotel executives and travel technology influencers.

Optimizing Hotel Procurement via Platform Technology, Scenario-Modeling and AI

Siemens and HRS share a commitment to leading with technology to drive new frontiers in procurement, everyday travel, multiple lodging categories and digital payment. The company uses HRS’ Lodging-as-a-Service (LaaS) platform to efficiently manage the full range of lodging-related services for its travelers, from procurement to expense. This includes initial procurement, accurate rate loading, hotel shopping and booking, and near-term priorities including payment, reconciliation and VAT reclaim.  

In 2023, even as corporate hotel programs averaged double-digit percentage increases, partnering with HRS enabled Siemens to measurably reduce their negotiated lodging rates in most of its key destinations. In 2024, Siemens is leveraging HRS’ AI-informed automation to trial multiple procurement options in all regions. The automation models scenarios to determine the priorities and tactics for select locations – all aligned with program objectives – while delivering superior services to Siemens travelers. Automation enables Siemens to weigh safety, satisfaction, savings, security, and sustainability as appropriate for all procurement exercises.

Building Upon Proven Green Hotel Technology on the Road to Net Zero

Working in collaboration with HRS’ groundbreaking Green Stay Initiative, Siemens’ pioneering decision in October 2022 to mandate the reporting of sustainability information in the lodging procurement process set a new global industry standard. And with the Green Stay Initiative integrated into both the procurement and shopping elements of the LaaS platform, Siemens and its sustainable hotel partners gain from new technological enhancements HRS is adding to refine any corporation and/or hotel’s capability to reduce emissions via new automation.

In 2023, Siemens travelers cumulatively accounted for more than one million room nights at hotels participating in the Green Stay Initiative worldwide. The company is on target to have nearly 90 percent of its preferred hotel supplier inventory contracted in 2024 at hotels participating in the Green Stay Initiative, highlighted by almost 100 percent in Germany. These noteworthy results led Business Travel News to feature Siemens among the most accomplished managed travel programs in the industry in 2023.

Looking Ahead: Enabling Program Performance Beyond Savings

Beyond sustainability, Siemens will leverage HRS’ LaaS platform to continue driving seamless traveler experiences, uniform processes across continents, and the solving of previously challenging scenarios to reduce costs. Areas of collaboration and focus over the years ahead include:

• Travel tied to specific projects with pre-determined lengths, teams, and allocated budgets;
• New efficiencies via automation to manage multiple lodging categories, with gains from streamlined procurement processes, the resulting cost savings, and better experiences for attendees;
• Unmatched real-time analysis of data and recommendations to address fast-evolving local market scenarios with decision-making and potential policy changes as appropriate; and
• Full transparency about the entire Siemens lodging spend consolidated from different, AI-infused data sources. This will help the company maximize its buying power and facilitate better-informed management decisions on vital topics such as hotel leakage reduction and total cost of trip.

“HRS’ approach – blending innovative technology, sustainability, cost savings and transparency – aligns with numerous goals we have for our global travel management program,” said Thorsten Eicke, Vice President of Global Mobility for Siemens. “Our collaboration with HRS consistently sets a new standard for sustainability, automation and process efficiency that benefits our global procurement teams and traveling people. Looking forward, as we progress to a new level of multi-dimensional optimization, HRS is a vital partner as we advance from aspiration to everyday reality.”

“Siemens is a recognized catalyst when it comes to disrupting legacy scenarios and elevating the impact of everyday travel management and traveler satisfaction to the C-Suite,” said HRS CEO Tobias Ragge. “Our shared approach towards digitization and data optimization drives superior lodging and meetings program management while blazing new trails for our industry. We’re pleased to know that we’ll continue collaborating on new innovations with Siemens for years to come.”

About Siemens AG

Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a leading technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, transport, and healthcare. From more resource-efficient factories, resilient supply chains, and smarter buildings and grids, to cleaner and more comfortable transportation as well as advanced healthcare, the company creates technology with purpose adding real value for customers. By combining the real and the digital worlds, Siemens empowers its customers to transform their industries and markets, helping them to transform the everyday for billions of people. Siemens also owns a majority stake in the publicly listed company Siemens Healthineers, a globally leading medical technology provider shaping the future of healthcare.

In fiscal 2023, which ended on September 30, 2023, the Siemens Group generated revenue of €77.8 billion and net income of €8.5 billion. As of September 30, 2023, the company employed around 320,000 people worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.

About HRS 

HRS is a global technology company focused on leveraging Artificial Intelligence to create fully-digital, no-touch lodging and meetings experiences for corporations and their travelers. The company’s groundbreaking Lodging as a Service platform helps clients maximize the value of corporate travel costs, enhancing the impact of real-time, data-driven insights while mitigating risk on a worldwide scale. HRS’ innovative Meetings as a Service solution simplifies corporate event planning, offering companies newfound efficiencies and savings. The company’s award-winning Green Stay Initiative powers sustainable lodging procurement and booking activities in 170+ countries. Founded in 1972, HRS works with 35 percent of the global Fortune 500 and the world’s leading hotel chains. The company has an unsurpassed network of ecosystem relationships, with secure API integrations to a growing array of lodging and meetings suppliers, digital payment facilitators, and online booking solutions. More information at www.hrs.com/enterprise and follow HRS on LinkedIn.