NBTA Revises Hotel RFP - 2001-02-26

<B>NBTA Revises Hotel RFP</B>

By Bruce Serlen

The National Business Travel Association this month released a long-awaited revision of its electronic hotel RFP form that is intended to make the bidding process simpler and more flexible for both travel managers and hotels.

"As its name suggests, the new 'NBTA Modular Hotel RFP' form uses a modular approach that travel buyers can employ as best suits their needs," said Wendy Nathan, chairman of the NBTA hotel committee that developed the form.

The program is composed of a main component, called the "Core RFP Module," and six optional components. "The core module is a two-and-a-half page document that involves fewer than 255 fields of information. It contains all the pricing info that is essential to the annual negotiation process that determines rates for the coming year," Nathan said.

While the previous version of the RFP form contained 420 fields of information, each of the new modules contains fewer than 255 fields. Consequently, the data can be imported and viewed easily on common Microsoft Office desktop applications, such as Excel and Access.

"Because the old form was lengthier, it was necessary to break up the data when importing it," said Shelley Hanson, co-chair of the hotel committee's RFP subcommittee. "This proved to be too time-consuming for many users. With the new approach, this will no longer be the case."

Each of the modules is self-contained. "Regarding the core module, which we expect will be used most often, this was meant for the benefit of travel managers who only want to use the RFP for pricing," said Nathan, who is also manager of travel services for Johnson & Johnson.

The six optional modules basically contain the static hotel information, which is less likely to change year-to-year. They're intended to supplement the core component. Five of the six modules were included in the rollout of the form this month. The five are devoted to: the hotels' services and amenities, communications and technology, safety and security, geography and transportation and a user-defined field.

"The user-defined module allows travel buyers to ask up to 20 questions of the property that aren't covered elsewhere on the form," Nathan said. "Essentially, it allows them to customize the form to meet the particular needs of their own company."

Previously, this kind of information was added onto the RFP form in the form of addenda that many in the industry thought had become cumbersome (BTN, Nov. 13, 2000).

The sixth optional module, which still is being worked on, is an extended stay module and is intended for companies that have an extended stay program. "The requests for information here get very specific, regarding things like dishes and cutlery provided in the in-room kitchen," said Hanson, who is also senior director for marketing and new product development at JBH Travel Audit, which works with travel buyers and hotels to facilitate the RFP process.

The average number of fields in the optional modules is 16.5. "We were careful to restrict the questions to the really critical issues, assuming travel managers would use the user-defined module to request information that wasn't covered elsewhere," Hanson said.

The way the form is structured, travel managers can't pick and choose among the questions within a module. "Once you request a module, it's the module in its entirety," Hanson said.

Since the original e-version of the form was released in the mid-1990s, it has become the industry standard. Nathan and Hanson said they hoped most users would adopt the new form. "It's unrealistic to assume everyone will drop the old system immediately," Hanson said. "In many cases, it's taken years of work to gather the static information, but that effort will hardly be for naught."

Most of the data, in fact, can be transferred from the old system to the new. "There's a method in place of mapping the data electronically that's on both forms," Nathan said.

The 17 members of the hotel committee, which includes buyers, suppliers, third-party vendors and travel management companies, spent 18 months developing the new form. "We held face-to-face meetings and conducted written interviews worldwide to ensure we had everyone's best ideas," she said. "We believe it's a huge step forward both technologically and in providing global content as well."

From the hotels' point of view, the electronic RFP has become a critical part of their marketing approach to the corporate market. Yet, they agree that streamlining the form will make the system even more beneficial. "The number of accounts and number of rates involved makes the electronic process indispensable," said Paul van Wijk, general manager of The Warwick New York, which is part of Warwick Hotels, a midsize chain. "As an individual property, we get RFPs from locally based clients as well as those referred to us as part of a national accounts program."

For non-U.S.-based hotel companies, complying with electronic RFPs is a way of building their visibility. "So many of our U.S.-based clients used the electronic RFP this year, that it's become the expected way of doing business," said Grant Hearn, managing director of Hilton International for the United Kingdom and Ireland. "In a market with extremely high demand like London, for example, where we have 12 hotels and two more about to open, using the electronic RFP brings clarity to what could be a very complicated process."

The ability to leverage a large hotel company's track record with e-RFPs even has become a factor in recent hotel strategic alliances. Hilton Hotels Corp.'s success in this area, for example, was one of the reasons Mexico's Camino Real Hotels & Resorts last month said it was affiliating with them. "They're access to the largest American accounts was just so much larger than ours," said Thierry Baurez, international sales manager for Camino Real's flagship property in Mexico City.

The NBTA Modular Hotel RFP for 2002 is available on the NBTA Web site, www.nbta.org. "The Web site also includes a list of the hotel committee's members, who can provide additional information," Nathan said.