Standardizing Formats

E-RFPs may involve more personal communication in the coming years, but they are definitely not going away. One of the biggest issues for the industry is agreeing on a standard format that will allow planners to provide comprehensive information about their meetings and hotels to be more efficient in their responses.

StarCite, for one, is aggressively developing its back-end supplier response center capabilities. “We want to have all of that lead activity standardized and organized in a consistent manner,” Bennett says, “and then give the hotels the ability to manage and respond online.”

The Convention Industry Council's Accepted Practices Exchange initiative has been working for years to develop such RFP standards (as well as standards for event specifications, registration forms, and other meeting documents). The templates are available on the CIC Web site, www.conventionindustry.org.

The APEX vision goes beyond getting the industry to agree on the elements and format of an RFP to building the electronic documents that can pass between planner and supplier, eliminating re-keying and adding real efficiencies.

How to Get a Better Response with E-RFP's

Two out of three electronic requests for proposal go un-answered when planners draft the documents themselves, experts say. An e-RFP that comes in a standard format through a familiar channel will be addressed first, while mystery leads that take more attention will be addressed later — or not at all. Combine an overworked hotel sales staff with a seller's market, and meeting planners are even less likely to get adequate offers for their business.

If you choose to develop your own e-RFP template, here are some tips on how to get a response accurately and quickly.

BE SPECIFIC — The more information you can give to hotels, the better the response will be.

“If you send an RFP to a hotel that doesn't know who you are or how much business you have in their city, then they're likely to ignore it or just give you the standard rate,” says Jo Ann Baynes, president of Reston, Va.-based Uversa International Inc. Planners should specify how many hotels they will select for the event and what concessions (such as free Internet or room upgrades) are most important to them, she says.

But information overload can also sink a strategic bid process, says Rodman Marymor, CEO of Berkeley, Calif.-based Cardinal Communications. Hoteliers discovered this developing their own e-RFP forms. “The more complex the form became, the less useful it was. They were asking for too much,” he says. “Pretty soon all you're doing is filling out forms.”

BE ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE — Consider what audience your e-RFP is reaching. Your process should allow you to send event leads to a multitude of facilities, independent hotels, and conference centers.

BE PRECISE — Don't assume that the hotel sales staff is familiar with the format of your e-RFP. Double-check the hotels' bids to make sure that properties haven't left anything out.

BE COMMUNICATIVE — Hoteliers' biggest frustrations with e-RFPs are the limitations the format puts on them and the inability to speak directly with potential customers. Use an e-RFP to narrow your selection of properties, and then pick up the phone.

BE CONSISTENT — Standardization is the key to comparable data. Once you find a successful template or format for your organization, stick with it, say experts. Your hotel partners will appreciate it.

BE ALERT FOR TRENDS — Start building a history, says Bob Bennett, senior vice president, supplier market, for Philadelphia-based StarCite Inc. E-RFPs are a cornerstone of strategic meetings management.

Collect data on the leads you send out, the response time, the destination, and the changes that you made. Then analyze the data for trends you can use to build your RFPs — and your budget — in the future.

Where to Find Help

You don't have to start from scratch when developing an e-RFP template. Here are sites with industry-accepted RFP templates:

• Convention Industry Council's Accepted Practices Exchange initiative, www.conventionindustry.org

• National Business Travel Association's Groups and Meetings Committee, www.nbta.org

• Corbin Ball, meetings technology consultant, www.corbinball.com