In the tangle of threads that make up the web of corporate travel negotiations, the Request for Proposal (RFP) process is often a knot that takes months to unravel—costly in time, resources, and revenue. The hospitality industry's sales teams are all too familiar with the annual RFP season, a time-consuming, complex challenge that can lead to missed opportunities and, sometimes, less-than-ideal outcomes.
This annual Corporate Travel RFP nightmare is not just avoidable but can be turned into a competitive edge that benefits not only hotels but also corporate sales teams, owners, and the clients you serve.
Revenue vs Sales: A Tale of Two Strategies
When you centralize corporate travel RFP negotiations, you're sewing efficiency into the service fabric. For each major stakeholder group involved—hotels, corporate sales, owners, and accounts—the benefits are clear.
Hotels: From Extension to Excellence
For hotels, a centralized RFP negotiation process means that the central team becomes a strategic extension of their business. This team serves as a catalyst for an analytical, objective approach that drives market-appropriate rate growth without the potential compromise of on-property emotional decision-making.
By streamlining the RFP process, the on-property teams can focus their time on high-value backyard selling activities, cultivating relationships that translate into sustainable revenue growth.
Corporate Sales: Time and Focus Reallocation
A single point of contact for RFPs, as opposed to multiple contacts across various hotels, is a luxury that corporate sales teams rarely experience. This arrangement frees up valuable time that would have been lost to the labyrinthine RFP process, enabling sales employees to concentrate on crucial strategic account growth.
A faster response rate also positions sales teams to nimbly capture emerging business opportunities, which might have been lost in the back-and-forth shuffle of individual hotel negotiations.
Owners and Accounts: Enhanced Performance and Ease of Business
Owners benefit from a centralized RFP process through the improved rate performance and greater efficiencies that naturally arise from a streamlined approach. This strategy allows for a heightened focus on high-value revenue opportunities, ultimately reinforcing the hotel's value proposition to owners.
Corporate accounts receive the hotel's best and final rate faster, reducing complexity for an easier buying experience and ensuring a consistent approach and response across the entire hotel chain.
The Case for Centralized RFP Management
The benefits of centralized RFP management are not only immediate but also serve as a foundation for long-term success.
- Give back time to salespeople to focus on high value sales opportunities with new and existing customers, above and on property.
- Drive your revenue management strategy without the potential compromise of emotional decision making on-property.
- Centralized services remove the complexity of the RFP process from revenue management and sales.
- Cost avoidance associated with hiring and managing labor and workforce management.
- Enhance your company value proposition to owners – never missing a corporate travel RFP opportunity.
- Enhance rate strategy discussions with elevated RFP performance reporting.
Owners and Accounts: Enhanced Performance and Ease of Business
While technology is an invaluable tool, it is the combination of technology and human expertise that produces the most potent results. An all-digital approach to RFPs might seem expedient, but it overlooks the personal aspect of business interactions that build trust and loyalty. We champion a hybrid model that leverages technology to enhance the human connection, creating a seamless and personalized experience for our corporate partners and their travelers.
It’s not revolutionary—it’s evolutionary.
Why You Should Centralize Your Corporate Travel RFP Process with MODIV.