VenueQuest utilizes an electronic RFP sourcing tool for each client’s event. We take great pride in fully qualifying a clients meeting and providing as much pertinent information as we can before asking a hotel to prepare a proposal. We are careful to prepare custom questions for each booking so that we fully understand your offer.
Tip 1:
Completely fill out every requested field in the response section of the RFP. We put the questions there because the answers are important to our Client. And if you leave large parts of parts of the response blank, your proposal will look very bad when presented in our side-by-side comparison for a Client. On that comparison, it becomes obvious at a glance who is a thorough and thoughtful sales representative and who is not.
Tip 2:
Respond quickly. We provide a Deadline for Responses with every RFP. It is rare for us to require proposals within 24 hours, but it is extremely helpful if your response does come back quickly. Now on the flip side of this recommendation, if you find that the deadline for a particular RFP has already passed, yet you still want to bid on the booking, we encourage you to contact the VenueQuest representative managing the booking and ask if they are still accepting new offers. Very often, you will still be able to send your proposal.
Tip 3:
ALWAYS send your proposal response through the electronic sourcing tool first. That is our primary tool for evaluating and comparing offers, and we cannot load your proposal from the planner side of the utility. If, after completing the electronic proposal, you still want to email or regular mail a formal written proposal, you are welcome to do so. However, please don’t assume you can only email us a rate and be considered for award of a contract.
Tip 4:
Contact us in response to every RFP, whether you are available or not. When processing each RFP it helps to have a response from every hotel we solicit. At a minimum, please e-mail us to let us know you received our request. If you did receive it, but have not responded in a timely manner or cannot participate – please let us know why. For example, you are waiting for additional information or are sold out. It is important to keep up this consistent communication to help build relationships and be able to depend on one another.
Tip 5:
Work with us to plan a hotel site visit to your property with accommodations for one night. Many clients utilize our hotel site visit services. When evaluating a property for a client we can do the most thorough job by staying for a full night. Once we have stayed at a property we can accurately describe it to our clients, and recommend it when suitable. When asked to evaluate two hotels, we may be able to justify the cost of one over another based on our own experience.
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