If you’ve spent much time booking hotels for corporate and group events, you have likely experienced the frustrating reality of low response rates to your Requests for Proposals (RFPs). Sending out RFPs may be a critical part of group travel planning. Yet, many event organizers find themselves frustrated by slow response times or not getting a response at all.
According to industry analysis, hotel response rates to RFPs average only around 45%. So, why is getting hotel representatives to respond to your RFPs so difficult?
Groups360 VPs Kristi White and Ryan Morris discuss this industry opportunity in a recent webinar, and we’ve outlined their thoughts in the article below.
Why Don’t Hotels Respond to RFPs?
The problem is there are many reasons your RFPs may get ignored. You may be unintentionally setting yourself up for low response rates. The good news is many of the bad RFP habits you may be guilty of are easy to fix. A few small changes in what you include in your RFP can lead to a significant increase in responses.
Sometimes, you’ll send out a perfect RFP, and it will be ignored. The fault may not lie with the RFP but with the hotel’s processes and priorities. Small adjustments in your RFP protocols will help you as you enter the next season of event planning.
Before diving into strategies, it’s important to understand some of the reasons hotels don’t respond to RFPs in the first place. According to insights from our recent Groups360 webinar, there are several common reasons:
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- Your event is too big: The hotel doesn’t have enough rooms or appropriate meeting spaces to accommodate your group.
- Your event is too small: The potential revenue doesn’t justify the time investment for the sales team to process your RFP and prepare a detailed response.
- Not the right fit: Your event type doesn’t align with the hotel’s target market, available dates, or business strategy.
- Volume overload: Hotels receive too many RFPs to process them all, especially during busy periods.
- Peak season constraints: Staff are too busy during high-demand periods to respond to all inquiries.
- Waitlisting: Your RFP has been deprioritized by sales or revenue management teams.
- Information challenges: Either too much information (overwhelming attachments) or too little information to formulate a proper response.
- Timing issues: Request came with too short notice, or the hotel believes they’ve missed their chance if they didn’t respond immediately.
Understanding these challenges is the first step toward crafting RFPs that generate responses. Once you understand why your RFPs get ignored, you can start solving the problem.
Know Your Event’s Value—And Communicate It
Understanding your event’s true value to hotels is fundamental to receiving prompt responses. Hotels prioritize RFPs based on potential revenue and fit for their property. You know how your event benefits you, but how does it benefit the hotel?
Here are some key strategies to improve your RFPs by communicating the value of your event:
Highlight the complete value proposition
Don’t just focus on room nights. Instead, share comprehensive information about your F&B spend, especially if your event exceeds typical numbers. By giving more details on F&B that hotels can count as guaranteed revenue, you increase the overall value of your event, giving hoteliers greater reason to work with you.
RIGHT SIZE YOUR GROUP TO THE HOTEL
Just like Goldilocks searching for the porridge that was “just right,” hotels are looking for events that fit neatly into their ideal criteria. Sometimes your RFP feels too big—taking up valuable space for smaller, easier-to-manage groups. Other times, it’s too small—not impactful enough for peak dates or premium event space. If your group doesn’t clearly fit into the hotel’s “sweet spot,” your RFP might quietly get pushed aside while hotels prioritize bookings perceived as safer or more lucrative bets. Make sure the size of your event is in line with the size of the hotel you select.
Be transparent about your budget
Providing realistic budget expectations helps hotels determine if they can meet your needs, saving time for everyone. Take the guesswork out of the hotel rep’s response; tell them a realistic budget range so they know if you should continue the discussion.
Highlight the importance of partnering with your organization
If your organization books multiple events annually or represents a growing partnership opportunity, make this clear to emphasize long-term value.
Be Flexible and Consider the Best Time to Send Your RFP
Strategic timing can significantly impact response rates and accuracy. Sending RFPs too early or too late, relative to the size of your event, almost guarantees your RFP will end up in the neglected pile. Balancing this effectively will get your RFP out of the neglected pile and into the attractive response pile.
Research seasonal impacts
During peak times, hotels are much more cautious about what business they accept. They balance the demand against what is most profitable for their property. Understanding peak seasons in your target destinations, when hotels may be pickier about group business opportunities, will make you seem more knowledgeable and easier to work with for hotels. Additionally, know that your RFP needs to be exceptional to secure prime dates during high-demand periods. Your needs must align with theirs during peak periods. Provide as much detail as possible for these RFPs so you stand out from the pack.
Offer flexibility
Proposing alternate dates significantly improves your chance of getting responses, especially during busy periods. This flexibility signals to hotels you’re willing to work with them. If you have the option to be flexible, communicate that in the RFP. This will allow the hotel sales representative, who is likely working with an incredibly complex event schedule, to provide you with an even more comprehensive proposal.
Craft Clear and Effective RFPs
The quality of information in your RFP directly impacts the response rate and speed. On average, hotel sourcing for an event can take an organizer up to three months to locate a venue and sign a contract, but with proper RFP construction, this timeline can be significantly reduced.
Here are some best practices for clarity and precision in your RFP:
Be clear and concise
Put simply, clarity leads to better responses. Avoid overwhelming hotels with excessive information while still providing all essential details. It’s a skill to provide enough information to make decisions without creating information overload. Find the sweet spot between comprehensive and overwhelming.
Prioritize “must-haves” over “nice-to-haves”
Make your non-negotiable requirements immediately apparent so hotels can quickly determine if they can accommodate your essential needs.
Answer questions before they’re asked
Anticipate what information hotels will need and include it upfront to prevent delays caused by back-and-forth communication.
Target the Right Properties
Sending RFPs to properties that aren’t a good fit wastes everyone’s time and dilutes your efforts. A targeted approach yields better results than broad distribution.
Here is some advice for targeting the right properties:
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- Know the profile of the hotel (both the location and the brand)
- Send fewer RFPs to better matches rather than blanketing numerous properties
- Pre-screen properties to make sure they have the physical capacity for your event
- Consider hotels that specialize in your event type (corporate meetings, association conventions, retreats, etc.)
Follow Up
A well-timed follow-up can make the difference between being overlooked and getting a response. When you follow up with hotels you’ve sent RFPs to, you may be able to get your RFP out of the waitlist pile and back into consideration.
Make sure that your follow-ups are:
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- Personal
- Timely
- Courteous
They should also contain reminders of what you have already sent, so the hotel doesn’t need to go searching for information they may have missed.
Leverage Technology for the Most Efficient Approach to RFPs
Modern tools can dramatically improve the RFP process, making it more efficient for both planners and hotels. The traditional RFP process has remained largely unchanged for over 50 years, creating information imbalances that disadvantage planners.
Here’s what today’s RFP technology tools can do for you:
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- Standardize your submissions
- Give you access to real-time data
- Provide you with targeted matches that meet your needs
- Explore instant booking options for smaller, simpler events
Learn More About the GroupSync Advantage
GroupSync™ transforms the RFP process through innovation and efficiency, designed specifically to address the challenges of low response rates. GroupSync from Groups360, is an exciting technology solution that can make booking group hotels for meetings and events far easier!
Key benefits of GroupSync include:
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- Higher conversion rates: Most hotels convert only 3% of the RFPs they receive to booked business. The quality RFPs sent through GroupSync convert at approximately 20% due to the ease and completeness of the information provided.
- Targeted matching: GroupSync’s hotel search capability provides qualified search results of venues matching your specific criteria without paid placements that might skew results.
- Comparison tools: After submitting RFPs, GroupSync allows you to share hotel responses with decision-makers by exporting key metrics into Excel or comparing responses in an RFP comparison table that can be shared as a PDF.
Don’t let your RFPs get lost in the crowd. With access to hundreds of thousands of properties worldwide and growing instant booking capabilities, GroupSync puts you in control of your group travel planning journey.
Ready to experience the difference? Create your free GroupSync account at groups360.com today and join the event planners who saw improved RFPs and faster booking times.
