Insider: It’s RFP Season: Are you ready? Twelve ways to be sure
By John Manderfeld, President, Marin Management, Inc.
Mr. John Manderfeld
Often I am asked to visit hotels that are not performing as well as their competitors or others within the same brand. I have seen beautiful new hotels and recently renovated hotels with occupancy ten and 20 points below hotels of lesser quality and poorer locations. Over time, I noticed that one of the most common differences between successful hotels and struggling hotels is how they manage the process of soliciting, receiving, responding to and following up on requests for proposals (RFPs).
Some hotels rely on the franchiser or national sales offices to do everything. Some don’t understand the process, and some hotels use few of the RFP resources available to them. Some break the rules resulting in aggravating their clients and prospective clients. Believe it or not, some hotels do not even reply to RFPs. Others never get any RFPs and never find out why they don’t.
Not having an effective RFP process will reduce your sold room nights in the important group, corporate, government and incentive market segments. My article in the Hotel Business Review, “It’s RFP season: Are you ready? Twelve ways to be sure”, defines just what you need to do to be successful in the market segments most affected by your hotel’s RFP process. Implementing these 12 actions now will gain greater revenues for 2009.
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Sincerely,
John Manderfeld
President
Marin Management, Inc.
jmanderfeld@hotelpros.biz
