Recently, I participated in a panel with three other intermediaries before a group of hospitality industry sales leaders in my local destination. We covered a lot of ground; RFPs, site visits, decision process, contracting and the levels of service being delivered today. We ended with a segment on what clients can do to make their RFP stand out from the others when the hotel is doing its evaluation process.

It is important to understand that hotel salespeople often do an ‘internal sell’ prior to bidding on the RFP. They meet with their leadership, such as a Director of Sales or Revenue Management, to talk about the meeting and what makes sense for the hotel. For these discussions, it is important for clients and intermediaries to provide our sales contact with the right information and tools so they can navigate the ‘internal sell’.

The following are a few of the best practices that were shared:

1. Provide background information on the organization, mission, core values and the purpose of the meeting.
2. Share historical data – sleeping room pick-up, F&B and AV spend.
3. Be flexible with dates and day of week patterns.
4. Be open to considering alternate / creative offers from the hotel.
5. When negotiating, share why the request is important (tying back to the organization or purpose of the meeting).

The consensus from all on the panel and in the room, we need to work together to set our hotel salespeople up for success to receive the best overall offer for our clients. Do you need more tips? Please reach out to me.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dougbaarman/

Blog: https://hospitalitylifestyles.com/

Blog: https://meetingplannerplaybook.com/

Email: doug.baarman@conferencedirect.com