How to Get Hotels to Actually Respond to Your RFP

Why Hotels Ignore RFPs

Hotels receive dozens of RFPs weekly. Sales teams triage based on three factors: fit (does the event match their property?), probability of winning (is this a serious enquiry or a budget fishing exercise?), and effort required (is the RFP clear enough to quote quickly?). If your RFP fails any of these filters, it goes to the bottom of the pile.

How to Signal That Your RFP Is Serious

Include specific dates, confirmed attendee count, a realistic budget range, and your decision timeline. Mention that you are sending to a shortlist of 5-8 hotels (not 50). Name your company and your role. Generic RFPs from anonymous senders with no budget and no timeline signal a low-probability lead that is not worth the hotel's time.

How to Make Your RFP Easy to Quote

Use a structured template with clear sections, not a wall of text in an email. Pre-fill your requirements so the hotel only needs to add their pricing. Specify exactly what you need quoted (room rate, F&B per person, AV package, meeting room rental). The less work the hotel has to do to create a proposal, the faster you get a response.

The Follow-Up That Gets Responses

Send one follow-up at the halfway point of your response deadline. Keep it brief: confirm receipt, restate the deadline, and offer to answer questions. A single well-timed follow-up can lift your response rate by 20-30%. Do not follow up more than once — it signals desperation and reduces your negotiating position.

What Response Rate Should You Expect?

A well-written RFP sent to a targeted shortlist should achieve 70-85% response rate. If you are getting below 50%, the problem is almost always one of: wrong hotels (your event does not fit their property), missing budget (they cannot assess fit), or poor formatting (too much work to parse).

What a Good Hotel Response Actually Looks Like

A response rate metric only tells you how many hotels replied, not whether the replies were useful. A good hotel response addresses every field in your RFP directly, provides a room rate, confirms meeting room capacity and setup, gives a clear F&B proposal with pricing, and names a specific contact person for follow-up. A response that says rates are available on request, or that more details are needed before a proposal can be provided, is not a response. It is a request to do more work before the hotel will engage.

Set the expectation in your RFP cover note that you expect a complete proposal, not an expression of interest. Tell hotels explicitly that incomplete responses will not be evaluated. This filters out hotels that are not genuinely available or not genuinely interested, which saves you time and gives a cleaner shortlist to evaluate.

Following Up Without Being Annoying

One follow-up after the response deadline is appropriate. Send it on the deadline date, not before. Keep it short: note that your deadline has passed, confirm you are still interested in their response, and give a final extension of 24 to 48 hours. If they do not respond within that window, move on. Multiple follow-ups after a missed deadline rarely produce a substantive response and consume time you could spend evaluating the proposals you already have.

If a hotel responds after your deadline with an apology and a strong proposal, use your judgment. If you have not yet shortlisted, including a late but strong proposal is reasonable. If you are already in final negotiations with two other hotels, a late entry rarely justifies reopening the process. Thank them and tell them you will keep them in mind for future events, which is honest and leaves the relationship intact.