Hotel RFP Guide for Executive Assistants: Quick-Start Edition

You Have Been Asked to Book a Hotel for an Event. Now What?

First, get clear answers to five questions from whoever asked you: exact dates (or a range), how many people, do they need meeting space, what is the budget, and when does the decision need to be made. Write these down. Everything else flows from these five answers.

How to Find the Right Hotels

Search for conference hotels in your target city. Look for properties with meeting rooms that fit your group size, enough guest rooms for your block, and good transport links. Use Google Maps, Cvent Supplier Network, or a tool like Easy RFP to filter by capacity and location. Pick 5-8 hotels that look like a fit.

How to Write Your First Hotel RFP

Use a template. Include: event name and company, dates, number of rooms per night, meeting space requirements (size, setup, AV), food and beverage needs, your budget range, and your deadline for proposals (give them 7-10 business days). Keep it factual and specific. Hotels respond better to clear requirements than to vague requests.

How to Read and Compare Hotel Proposals

When proposals come back, put the key numbers in a simple spreadsheet: room rate per night, meeting room cost, F&B per person, AV cost, and total estimated spend. Add service charges and taxes. Highlight the 2-3 that fit your budget and requirements, then present options to your stakeholder with a brief recommendation.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid on Your First RFP

Do not accept the first offer without negotiating — hotels expect you to push back on at least the room rate and F&B. Do not book without a written contract. Do not forget to ask about cancellation terms. And do not be afraid to ask the hotel questions — their sales team wants your business and will guide you through their process.

Getting Internal Sign-Off on the Shortlist

One of the most underestimated challenges for executive assistants managing hotel RFPs is internal approval. You may have done the sourcing work, evaluated the proposals carefully, and identified a strong recommendation, only to find that the executive or committee you are supporting wants to revisit the shortlist or ask for additional options. This is normal, but it is much easier to manage when you present your recommendation with clear supporting data rather than a single choice.

Present your shortlist as a comparison: three hotels with their key attributes side by side, a clear recommendation with reasons, and the trade-offs of each alternative. This format gives your approver enough context to agree with confidence rather than asking questions that send you back to research. It also positions you as having done thorough work, not just picked the first option that looked reasonable.

Staying Organised Across Multiple Proposals

Managing multiple hotel proposals in email threads is one of the easiest ways to lose track of details. Proposals arrive in different formats, at different times, and with different levels of completeness. Create a simple tracking document from the moment you send your RFP: one row per hotel, with columns for response received, key rates, meeting room availability, any outstanding questions, and the follow-up status.

Keep all proposal documents in a single folder, named consistently so you can find them quickly when your executive asks for a specific number mid-meeting. The five minutes it takes to set up this system at the start of the process saves far more time later, particularly when you are managing sourcing for multiple events simultaneously. Organised documentation also makes it straightforward to hand the process to a colleague if your schedule changes unexpectedly.