One of the key roles we have as a meeting and event planner is to generate effective RFP’s that ‘sell’ the value of our meeting to the applicable destinations and hotels. The better information we provide, the better our initial proposal will be…which ultimately will help save us both time and money.
As we begin sourcing and working on new opportunities, we want to share best practices that will help ensure a smooth and successful process. The following are 11 categories we suggest you should include in your RFP’s:
- Overview of organization and the business objectives of the meeting
- Dates (and alternate dates / pattern if possible)
- Hotel sleeping room needs
- Outline your sleeping room needs by day and by room types required (i.e. single, double, suites, staff, etc.)
- Meeting room needs
- Outline all of your meeting space requirements (general session, breakouts, exhibits, office, etc.). Also, offer any flexibility that you have with room sets.
- Food & Beverage requirements
- Spell out your meal functions and potential total F&B expenditures.
- Budget
- It is important to offer this information, even if it is a range, as it enables the venue to present their best offer up front.
- Concessions
- List of all of your concession requirements. It is even better if you can break them into ‘must have’ and ‘wish list’.
- History
- It is important to provide a minimum of three years of history. Venues are most interested in the sleeping room block, pick up, rates and F&B spend from previous meetings.
- Competition
- List any other destinations or venues that are being considered.
- Decision process / timing
- Provide clear expectations on response deadline, site inspection timeline and expected decision date.
- Add a section with key questions that need to be answered (this should be specific to the needs of the organization and event). In addition, I would suggest you include new questions related to:
- Cleaning and safety protocols
- Spacing and social distancing
- Contract clauses related to attrition, food and beverage minimums, force majeure, and impossibility.
If you include the information in these 12 categories, you will get a quick and thorough response – providing your organization or client with the best available offers up front and saving a lot of time in the process.
Do you currently include this information in your RFP’s?