RFP Season – Setting yourself up for a successful 2025

Every year in late August/early September Request for Proposals will start rolling through. Here we share what you can do to prepare.

It’s that time of year, mid-Q3 when hotel sales teams start gearing up for Corporate and Consortia RFPs (Request for Proposals) to come through. So what does that mean for you? Let’s take it from the top.

Travel Managers, Event Planners, and Agencies send out RFPs to hotels they wish to obtain bids from for rates for the following year to two years for their clients. This usually starts in late August/early September and negotiations can continue well into the next year, in some cases well into February. The bulk however want to contract by the end of the year to avoid any issues with their guests and maintain a streamlined booking process.

There are several platforms that can assist with making the daunting task of keeping track and responding to bids a lot less painful. A couple of these platforms that we’ve worked with and recommend are CVent and Lanyon. Both provide event and meeting planners a marketplace, if you will, to source hotels that may suit their needs best and easily reach out for more information.

Getting Started

New to RFP Platforms? Here’s what you do:

If you’re just getting started with an RFP platform, you must complete your hotel profile in full. This kind of information may include, address, phone number, sales contact, photos of the property, miles from the airport, if the hotel provides transportation, number of meeting spaces and guest rooms, amenities offered, and more. 

Allow your team some time to collect and input this information as Travel Managers, Event Planners, and Agencies vet your hotel based on the criteria filled in. This will also make the RFP process run smoother and give new users the chance to familiarize themselves with the tool. Most RFP platforms allow you to create templates and pull profile information making it a more efficient process in answering commonly asked questions.

Using RFPs just need a refresher?

Things change! Whether it’s staff, hotel amenities, processes, marketing, or the like, you’ll want to go through your profile to ensure all information is filled in and accurate. You may be surprised at what you find however best case scenario you don’t and you have your ducks in a row. Now it’s time to get those RFPs rolling through the door.

Receiving an RFP

There is a lot more to an RFP than just filling in the details and submitting your bid. 

Firstly, you need to build a business case with the decision-makers in the property. The business case is the foundation of the relationship and proves to the agency that you know what is at stake and you did your homework. There are a number of factors that need to be considered by your team when putting this case together, this includes Location, Comp Set, Year-to-date production, Rate, Company information, and does the local office support your hotel?

Once you have reviewed the business case with the decision makers in the property it’s time to submit your bid. It is essential that the RFPs are completed within the timelines provided by the agency. They are usually quite generous and give you 5-10 days to complete however, if you feel you have not been given adequate time to complete the bid then you must let the agency know immediately.

Tips to completing RFPS

• Make sure you include all information requested the first time.
• Give serious consideration to offering added extras as they are becoming just as important as having an LRA (Last Room Available) rate.
• Do not change the format of the RFP when submitting (if applicable)
• Use the comments section of the RFP to explain the reason(s) for your offer.
  • If your rate went up 5% explain why.
  • If you’re flat Year Over Year, explain that this is a courtesy to them as a valued client.
  • This is the only place in the RFP to SELL your offer; use it.
• These travel managers, agencies, consultants, and planners are reviewing hundreds of offers. The more straightforward yours is, the better response you will get.
• Pay special attention to “Custom Question” fields as these are written in by the client (not auto-populated), and often represent very important decision factors for the client.

Important: some RFP negotiations can take months, therefore to prevent any booking gap for your existing Corporate accounts and Consortia partners in Q1–you should request an extension and load rate until the end of Q1.  

Accepted Bids, Loading Rates, and Content Optimization

So, you have been accepted, what’s next?

Travel Managers should always confirm in writing if a submission has been successful or not. If you are successful, they will send you the terms of the agreement. For rates which are to be loaded on to the GDS, make sure that you receive the correct loading instructions. This information will be required by your loading teams so they can map the correct rates between your CRS and the GDS platforms.   

Something to remember is that it’s not just about the rate being on the GDS, optimization of rate content in the GDS can also make a huge difference in improving booking conversion in this very specific channel. Your hotel may not be the only one in the area that has been chosen, so you need to make sure you stand out from the crowd and make sure your content is presented in a way that can reach the largest target audience.

When referring to content optimization, there are different aspects within the GDS you need to look at. For example, are your images giving the guest the best view of the hotel? Are there enough of each room type and hotel amenity to give them a taste of what to expect when staying at your hotel?

Descriptions and key attributes also play a big part in this, for example, has the hotel completed all information fields to give the agent the information they require without having to call the hotel for more details. Is the Wi-Fi complimentary or do you have room service for the guest who arrives on a late-night flight?

These may seem like basics but you will be surprised how many hotels neglect their content and miss out on that traveler who can see that everything they require is provided by the hotel next door who has updated content.

Something to also bear in mind is that the GDS not only feeds information to the Travel Agency community, they also feed into numerous online booking tools targeting business and corporate travelers, thus information must be clear and optimized keeping these targets in mind.

Our industry is constantly evolving, and distribution channel optimization has become vital to successful operations for all hotels. We, at Premiere Advisory Group, have access to the GDS platforms and can provide you with a fully comprehensive GDS audit that takes a deep dive into all things content and includes looking at ways we can optimize the content currently visible for your hotel. Within the audit, we will provide recommendations and best practices to help you achieve the highest standards and stand out amongst the rest!

Interested in related content? If you liked this post, we suggest:
Can Your GDS Content Be Doing More Harm Than Good to Your Hotel?
How to Shift Market Share During Need Periods Using GDS
Performance and Growth: The GDS Audit