3. Improve hotel lead management.
Today, planners can submit RFPs with just a few clicks. In just five years, the industry has seen a 300% increase in RFP leads from planners.
With growing demand and more RFPs, properties could be swimming in a sea of never-ending RFPs. And because 75% of proposals are won by the first five properties to respond, you need to manage those leads well.
As a result, hotels that want to succeed in their group sales have to optimize their RFP management in three main areas.
Speed up RFP response.
Technology may be creating the problem, but it’s also solving it. These days, response times to RFPs have dropped from 2+ weeks to under 24 hours. A 24-hour turnaround has becoming the new standard at some leading hotels and chains.
In large part, this is because of automatic lead scoring and RFP response templates. These tools drastically cut down on the work it takes to respond.
A quick response not only gets a proposal in front of planners before competitors, but it also communicates that your hotel prioritizes their business and communicates efficiently. After all, there’s no second chance at a first impression.
Fine tune your lead scoring.
The more leads you have, the more important it is to pinpoint the most promising inquiries. Even with an influx of RFPs, opportunity is lost without a smart lead scoring system in place.
To make it happen, take a second look at your internal processes. Technology is again playing a huge role, with new systems that automatically score leads as they come in.
These tools can work well if you set smart parameters. Today hotel CRMs need detailed RFP management frameworks to score incoming leads. That means you need to develop the strategy to weed out leads and highlight the best opportunities.
Segment your group business.
No hotel can be everything to every customer. Hotels and chains have to be realistic about what they can do well. Just as importantly, they need to pinpoint the right customers to target with those offerings.
Give your hotel sales strategy a more targeted approach. Identify the broad groups you want to attract (say, weddings). Then, divide those groups into segments (perhaps traditional weddings, or weddings of a particular size).
Different groups have different needs, different acquisition costs, different timelines, and different profitability. You need to market and sell to them accordingly for more effective hotel sales.
