What is an RFP?

What is an RFP and how do you write one?

An RFP, or Request for Proposal, is a document you will send to venues/hotels you are interested in. It lists out your group’s requirements and asks the venues to let you know if they have availability for your group, and some initial pricing by sending back a proposal.

A good RFP should be easy to read with key items highlighted, not buried in a lot of text. You can create a template that you update for new meetings, keeping basic information the same.

  • Company Information

  • Contact Information

  • Name of Meeting/Event and a brief description

  • Dates – specify if these are firm dates, if you have alternate dates, or if you have any flexibility. Sometimes by changing your dates slightly you can get better rates.

  • Attendees – expected headcount, their relationship to your organization (staff, members, etc.)

  • Meeting space requirements – do you need one room, breakout spaces, etc. What is your capacity requirement for each room?

  • Guest room requirements – number of guest rooms for each night (for example if you have 50 people arriving Monday and an additional 25 arriving Tuesday, your room block would be 50 for Monday, 75 for Tuesday), are guest rooms single or double occupancy, do you need any suites or special request rooms (high floors, views), will you be sending a room list or will guests book directly or with a booking tool

  • Food & Beverage – what meals/breaks are you providing to your guests, will they be dining in the same room as the meeting or moving to a different location

  • AV requirements – screens, projectors, sound systems, lecterns, staging, etc.

  • Budget – if you have an estimated budget, you can supply this

  • Event History – if this is a repeat event, or you have hosted similar ones, you can list the meeting names/attendance/location, so the venue has an understanding of the types of locations you have booked before

  • Date proposals are due to you by

  • The date you expect to make a decision by

When you write your RFP, be honest and realistic about your requirements. Be courteous, and do not send your RFP to dozens of venues; do your homework and narrow it down to a handful that appear to best suit your needs. Most hotels and other venues have basic information on their websites about their meeting spaces, menus, and other amenities. If you need a room with a 400-person capacity, check that the venue has a space that large before sending your RFP.

Now that you have your RFP written, what do you do with it?

This can differ by venue. Some hotels have an online form for you to complete that includes much of the information above and allows you to send a PDF version of your document when you submit your request. Some hotels will provide you with an email address and you can send your PDF version of the RFP to them that way.

There are other options as well. If your destination city has a CVB (a convention and visitor bureau /local tourism marketing organization) they can be very helpful in helping you select the best venues, and some will even distribute your RFP for you!

There are also free online services like Cvent and SmartMeetings that will help you create an RFP and select venues to submit it to.