This is a guest post from Michael J Holden, Head of Bookings at Meetingsbooker.com, the free venue finding portal giving you access to over 70,000 spaces worldwide.

When an enquiry is sent out to a hotel, its important to understand the sales process in place with the venue.

Most hotels / venues have the same process to qualify and prioritise enquiries. With increased competition and growth in the MICE industry, sales managers have now gotten very good at picking and choosing what piece of business they want to quote for and which ones they would rather pass on.

You may be shocked to know that not all pieces of business are looked at in the same light!

With a little knowledge and insider information you can be sure to get a great proposal and a quick response from the venues you are interested in.

What top venues look for

All sales departments within hotels will look at a piece of business individually. The key areas would be the accommodation, food & beverage and meeting room hire.

Each has a particular weight on how valuable a piece of business is. Sales Managers are accountable to internal stakeholders to ensure that the piece of business is a good fit and will deliver on the revenue goals set out by the decision makers. These would include the Revenue Director and also the General Manager.

It’s a great position to be in when a venue can pick and choose what piece of business they will work with. This practice is very common in all the major global meeting & event cities such as London, Paris and Barcelona. Knowing what they are looking for will increase your response rates.

Guest rooms, food & beverage and room hire budgets are a huge consideration when determining a great piece of business. Hotels will always want to know what does the overall piece of business look like?

The more information, the better, as clients can think they are doing themselves a favour in withholding information on the belief they will get a better deal. This is a double edge sword as some genuine pieces of business do not get the attention they deserve due to the lack of information associated with it.

Be transparent

Withholding the budget and other such key information does not serve any purpose. If the venue knows your budget your proposals will be realistic and worth the review. If you require accommodation, regardless of who has responsibility of payment, it is always advisable to attach it to the enquiry. Many venues won’t offer event space without accommodation.

If some information is hard to confirm, go and see where and when you’ve held this meeting before, and how many guest rooms you occupied. When you provide the venues with this information, you create instant credibility and trust for your event.

What if you have never held the meeting before? … Well that’s O.K. too… the key for the hotels is to know that it is a “qualified” enquiry. They would be delighted to assist you once they know someone is engaging with them and giving timely feedback on offers.

They will need to know what stage you are at in the planning process, when you can make a decision etc. This is all very fair and expected as if they are holding space for you, they will be turning away other enquiries.

Flexibility can be rewarding

One last piece of advice I would give to any planner is “be flexible”. I’ve seen some incredible deals made for groups that are willing to fit the hotel’s proposed dates.

If you have zero flexibility you will be much more likely to get a higher number of turndowns. You also limit yourself on receiving some great offers / deals. If you fit into the hotels requirements to fill space, there is the opportunity to save a substantial amount of money.

Yes, I know – sometimes you’re really not flexible on dates. But why not let the hotels show you what they’re willing to offer ? It can be very useful when presenting information in the decision making process.

In summary

So in summary, my three tips would be

1. Be Flexible – Be willing to be flexible on dates / set up and you will get faster responses to your meeting RFPs not to mention some great offers.

2. Be Selective – every hotel / venue knows you are looking at other options. If you send your meeting request to fewer than eight hotels, you’ll send a strong signal to the venues / hotels they have a real shot at confirming your business.

3. Be Transparent – Commit to budget and a decision date. The more details the better. Engagement is key.

Found the perfect venue? Download your free venue inspection checklist to be sure it ticks all your requirements.