HyperGuest & Compass Tours Incoming

CTI, a division of Kater MICE & Tours GmbH, has been engineering complex group and incentive itineraries across Germany and Austria long enough to know exactly where legacy distribution systems fall short.

As a full-service destination management company specialising in FIT, group, MICE, and incentive travel, CTI combines deep local expertise with a sharp eye for operational efficiency. They don't just move groups, they build experiences. And increasingly, that means demanding better tools at every supplier touchpoint.

We conducted a mini-interview with David Fyans, Executive Destination Manager at CTI, to hear how direct hotel connectivity is changing the game for DMCs operating at scale.

The Vision

The MICE and incentive sector moves fast. How is direct hotel connectivity changing the way you build programmes for corporate clients?

"Clients now expect near real-time confirmations, transparent pricing, and the flexibility to adapt itinerary flows quickly as attendee numbers or routing change. Direct connectivity allows us to work with live inventory and more immediate pricing visibility, helping us react faster and make better operational decisions during both the proposal and delivery phases of an itinerary. For corporate clients, this translates into greater transparency, quicker turnaround times, and ultimately more confidence that the itinerary being proposed can actually be delivered smoothly at scale."

The Challenge

What does operational friction actually look like when you're coordinating hotels across multiple German cities for a single group?

"An itinerary may involve different hotel partners in Munich, Berlin, Hamburg, Frankfurt, or the Alps, each with different systems, response times, contracting methods, and release policies. Our operations team often has to manually compare rates, chase availability updates, manage changing rooming lists, and re-enter information into internal systems. Even a last-minute room adjustment can require multiple emails and manual checks across several stakeholders. Time spent managing fragmented booking processes is time that cannot be spent enhancing the client experience, and it increases the risk of discrepancies during high-demand periods like Oktoberfest or major trade fairs."

The Partnership

How does direct-to-hotel connectivity through HyperGuest support CTI's ability to deliver the seamless programmes your clients expect?

"Direct-to-hotel connectivity is ultimately the goal of any successful DMC. Faster access to contracted rates and live availability allows our team to build offers more dynamically and respond to clients with greater speed and confidence. It also helps strengthen relationships with hotel partners by reducing dependency on intermediary layers and improving communication efficiency, particularly valuable for complex itineraries where flexibility, responsiveness, and consistency across multiple destinations are essential."

The direction is clear. For DMCs like CTI, the old model of fragmented channels, manual rate chasing, and inbox-driven decision-making is simply incompatible with what modern corporate clients expect. Direct connectivity isn't a nice-to-have; it's the operational backbone of a high-performing destination programme. We're proud to be part of CTI's journey toward faster, smarter, and more transparent hotel partnerships across Germany and beyond.