The Hidden Costs of Booking Hotels for Your Team

When comparing accommodation options, most procurement teams look at the nightly room rate. But the room rate is only 40-50% of the true cost. Here's what gets missed.

Meals are the biggest hidden cost. With no kitchen, your team eats out for every meal. Breakfast: £8-12. Lunch: £8-15. Dinner: £15-25. That's £31-52 per person per day on top of the room rate.

Parking charges in city centre hotels range from £10-25 per night per vehicle. If your team has work vans, some hotels won't accommodate them at all.

Laundry services at hotels cost £3-5 per item. A construction worker generating dirty work clothes daily can easily spend £15-20 per week on hotel laundry.

Admin processing time is invisible but real. Each team member submitting individual expense claims, each hotel booking needing separate confirmation. Multiply this across a team of 8-10 people over 12 weeks and you're looking at 20-30 hours of admin time.

Cancellation and amendment fees catch companies out regularly. Hotels charge full rates for late cancellations, and changing booking dates often incurs penalties.

When you add all of these together, a £90/night hotel room actually costs £140-180 per person per night. A managed house at £28/night all-inclusive is exactly that — all inclusive.