Running a corporate hotel RFP

Hotel terms vary. The programs and terms quoted on this page are examples from the published sources listed at the end, not industry rules. Read each hotel's written agreement before you sign it.

When a hotel RFP is worth running

A hotel request for proposal (RFP) asks a set of hotels to bid for your company's stays: a rate, the terms that come with it, and what's included. It's worth the effort where many of your nights go to the same few places, such as the city of a second office, a client site your consultants visit every week, or a plant your engineers keep returning to. There, a negotiated rate is used often enough to matter, and the hotel has a reason to offer one.

Concentration helps on both sides. One travel manager, writing for the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), found that reducing the number of hotels in her program in one area strengthened those partnerships and allowed better rate negotiation, and sometimes last room availability.^[2] The same logic works at a smaller scale: concentrating your nights on two or three preferred hotels near an office gives each of them more reason to offer a good rate than spreading them across ten.

The University of Colorado's local hotel program is one example of the shape this can take: preferred hotels around its campuses, each listing its rates by season and what's included, bookable through the university's booking tool, the hotel's own page for the university or by phone.^[5]

A hotel RFP is less useful when your stays are spread thinly across many cities. Then it usually makes more sense to set a cap for each city, ask whoever books your travel which rates it can already book for you, and negotiate only where a pattern appears. If you're also choosing a travel management company, keep the two processes separate: the TMC guide's RFP section and question bank cover that one.

Start from your own stays

Bids are only comparable when every hotel prices the same picture of your demand. Before you contact anyone, pull a year of hotel stays from your travel provider, card data or expense reports, and list for each city or area:

• Nights, in total and by month, so you can see seasons and peaks.
• The hotels used and the nights at each, including stays booked outside the program if you can find them.
• The average rate paid, and how often it went over your cap.
• Where travelers actually need to be: the office, client or site address, not just the city.
• Who stays: a few frequent travelers, or many occasional ones, and whether some stays run for weeks.

GBTA's hotel RFP toolkit puts analyzing spend, setting city caps and benchmarking rates first, before any hotel is approached.^[1] For US cities, our hotel rate benchmarks look up the federal lodging rate for any city and turn it into a cap at a multiple you choose. Set the caps before the bids arrive, so you compare every bid with a number you chose in advance rather than with the other bids.

A timeline

Start from the date your new rates should take effect and work backward. GBTA's toolkit breaks a hotel RFP into five phases, from preparation two to three months before launch to loading the rates within 90 days of the award.^[1] For a small program the work in each phase is lighter, but the waiting isn't: hotels need time to answer, and rates need time to load.

The same toolkit quotes Cvent data that the average program takes about 78 days from launch to acceptance, before rate loading and auditing, and that the average for companies running their own RFPs fell from 87.2 days in 2023 to 64.9 in 2025, while programs run by a travel management company took 78.8.^[1] GSA's FedRooms program, the US government's own hotel program, works in multi-year periods: interest forms for its 2027-2028 period open to hotels in January and February 2027.^[4] You don't need a cycle that long, but you do need a start date everyone works to.

Fixed rates, dynamic discounts and LRA

Two decisions shape every bid: whether the rate is fixed or dynamic, and whether it stays open when the hotel is nearly full.

Fixed rates and dynamic discounts

A fixed (or static) rate is a set price per night for the agreement, often with different prices by season. A dynamic rate is a percentage off the hotel's best available rate (BAR), its public price on the day, so the price moves with demand. If you aren't sure which suits a city, ask the hotel to quote both.

One GBTA board member and travel manager expected companies to test dynamic rates especially in secondary markets, where room night volumes aren't critical, and noted that dynamic pricing may be the only way to secure last room availability.^[2] A mix often makes sense: fixed rates where you have volume and need a predictable price, dynamic discounts elsewhere. If you accept a dynamic rate, ask for a ceiling, so the discounted rate can't climb past your cap on the busiest nights.

Last room availability (LRA)

With last room availability, your rate stays bookable as long as the hotel has a room to sell in the category the rate covers. Without it, the hotel can close your rate when it expects to sell rooms for more, which is exactly when a negotiated rate saves most. The University of Colorado's program marks hotels that guarantee its rate if a room is available.^[5] The same travel manager's GBTA post warned buyers to expect pressure to move from LRA to non-LRA rates, from 24-hour cancellation to longer periods, and toward new destination or city fees.^[2] Ask every hotel the question directly, and treat an LRA rate and a non-LRA rate as different offers.

Cancellation and fees

FedRooms shows what a large buyer can ask for: rates at or below the federal per diem, cancellation until 4 p.m. on the day of arrival in the US and 24 hours before arrival abroad, no deposits, no early departure, resort or booking fees, and free guest room internet.^[3][4] Your company won't have the government's volume, but the list is a useful checklist of terms to ask for.

Ask each hotel to list every mandatory fee in its bid. In the US, a federal rule requires businesses that offer or advertise hotel rooms to consumers to show a total price that includes mandatory fees, though government charges such as taxes can be left out of that total, as long as they're disclosed before the consumer pays.^[7] A rate in a negotiated agreement may still be quoted without them, so get them in writing.

Chains, brands and independents

In most cities you'll choose between chain hotels and independents. The chain question matters more than it looks, because one company's hotels span very different price points. Marriott, for example, groups its own brands as Luxury (such as The Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis), Premium (such as Sheraton and Westin), Select (such as Courtyard and Fairfield by Marriott), Longer Stays (such as Residence Inn) and Collections.^[6]

• Decide which tiers fit your policy first. Your city caps and policy decide whether travelers stay at premium or select-service hotels. Shortlist hotels in the tiers that fit, rather than asking every hotel in town to bid.
• A chain-wide agreement and property agreements do different jobs. Where you have volume at one hotel, negotiate with that hotel. Where your nights are spread across a chain's hotels in many cities, ask the chain what discount it offers across properties, and which brands and countries it covers.
• Independents compete on location. An independent hotel next to your office may beat any chain on the total cost of a trip once taxis are counted. Ask the same questions, and remember that travelers may lose the loyalty points a chain would give them.
• Long stays need their own rate. Projects that keep people in one place for weeks suit extended-stay hotels and a separate rate. FedRooms added an extended-stay option in 2026 for stays of over 30 consecutive nights.^[3]
• Travelers keep their points. Hotels in a chain's loyalty program are easier to sell to frequent travelers, and FedRooms lists loyalty points among its benefits.^[3] A program travelers like is a program they book.

What to ask hotels

Send every hotel the same questions, in the same spreadsheet, with a column for its answers. The question set below has 26 questions in 8 groups, each with why it matters. Cut it to the questions you'll actually score and mark your must-haves before you send it: long questionnaires get long, generic answers.

Rates

• What rate do you offer for a standard room in each season of the program year? A hotel may price by season, and one headline number can hide a higher rate in your busiest months.
• Is the rate fixed, or a percentage off your best available rate (BAR) on the day? If it's a discount, is there a ceiling? A dynamic discount moves with the hotel's public price. A ceiling limits how far it can rise.
• Which dates are blacked out or excluded from the rate? Citywide events and peak weeks are when travelers most need the rate.
• What volume of room nights is the rate based on, and what happens if we book more or fewer? Tells you whether the rate depends on a commitment, and how it will be reviewed.
• Is the rate net or commissionable? A commissionable rate pays a commission to the booking agency. Know who receives it.

Availability

• Is the rate available up to the last room you sell (last room availability, LRA)? If not, when do you close it? A rate that closes on busy nights saves nothing on the nights that cost most.
• Does the rate apply to every standard room type, or one category? Availability can depend on the room category the rate is tied to.
• Will reservations staff and the front desk honor the rate when it's requested by phone? Travelers who call need the same rate as those who book online.

Cancellation and guarantees

• What is the cancellation deadline: the day of arrival, 24 hours before, or longer? A longer deadline costs you a night each time a trip changes late.
• Do you charge for early departure or a no-show, and how much? Plans change mid-trip; know the cost before they do.
• Do you require a deposit or prepayment on this rate? A prepaid rate can be nonrefundable, which makes every change cost more.

Fees, taxes and billing

• List every mandatory fee per night (resort, destination, facility or service) and the taxes that apply. The rate in an agreement may leave them out, and they change the cost you compare.
• What do parking and Wi-Fi cost if they aren't included? Extras your travelers expense are part of the real cost of a night.
• Can you bill the company directly, and which payment methods do you accept? Decides whether stays go on corporate cards, a virtual card or an invoice.

What's included

• What does the rate include: breakfast, Wi-Fi, parking, fitness, early check-in or late checkout? An included breakfast or parking space is worth money you'd otherwise reimburse.
• Do travelers earn loyalty points and status on this rate? Travelers book the program more readily when they keep their points.

Location, safety and accessibility

• How far is the hotel from our office or site, and is there a shuttle or public transit? A cheaper hotel a taxi ride away may cost more per trip.
• Which accessible rooms and features do you have, and how are they reserved? Travelers with a disability need the same access to the rate as everyone else.
• Which fire and life-safety certifications does the property hold? Part of your duty of care to travelers staying there.
• What security is on site at night, and what is your procedure in an emergency? Who your travelers can turn to, and what happens next.

Booking, loading and reporting

• Under which rate code and chain code will the rate be loaded, and in which channels: the GDS, booking tools, your website? A rate travelers and agents can't find is a rate nobody books.
• By what date will the rate be loaded and bookable? Your program can't start until the rates are live.
• Can you report our room nights and spend each month or quarter? Lets you check your own booking data against the hotel's, and review the rate with evidence.

Sustainability and terms

• What environmental information can you share, such as energy use or a certification? For companies that report travel emissions or have sustainability goals.
• How long does the agreement run, and when can either side review or end it? A review point lets you adjust if volumes or prices move.
• Can group rates, meeting space or extended stays be added to the agreement? Saves a second negotiation when an offsite or a long project comes up.

FedRooms asks its hotels to be FEMA certified and ADA compliant, to book its rate when it's requested by phone and to report room nights and revenue each month.^[4] The list above covers safety, phone bookings and reporting too. The same GBTA post notes that travel managers are adding detailed sustainability questions to hotel RFPs to set a baseline,^[2] so include one if your company reports emissions. The duty of care guide covers what to check for travelers' safety.

Comparing the bids

Compare bids city by city, against the cap you set before they arrived, on the cost of a night as your company will actually pay it. That's the rate, plus mandatory fees per night, plus the extras your travelers would otherwise expense, such as breakfast or parking. For a dynamic discount, work it out at a few BAR levels: a quiet night and a busy one.

In this example, Hotel B's discount is cheaper on quiet nights ($222 against $229) and more expensive on busy ones ($290). Which is cheaper over the year depends on how many of your nights fall on busy dates, which is what your own stay data shows. Then score the terms that don't show up in the price:

• Score each answer from 0 to 3 on your own before comparing notes, and rule out any hotel that fails a must-have, such as LRA in a city where you need it, or a cancellation deadline your trips can't meet.
• Weigh location and travel time, not just the rate: a cheaper hotel farther away may cost more per trip.
• Keep two or three hotels per city or area, in different tiers or locations, so travelers have a choice when one is full.
• Negotiate once, properly. GBTA's toolkit, citing Cvent, says over 60% of RFPs had at least one negotiation in 2025, with 2 to 3 rounds typical, and that some buyers aim for a single comprehensive negotiation.^[1] Send each hotel one clear counter-offer: the rate, the terms and the inclusions you need.

Tell hotels whether they won, including the ones that didn't. GBTA's toolkit notes that buyers who debrief hotels after the award, accepted or rejected, build the trust that leads to better offers in later rounds.^[1]

After the award

A negotiated rate saves nothing until travelers can book it. GBTA's toolkit puts it plainly: a rate that is never loaded correctly delivers zero value, and buyers should audit the GDS and the online booking tool after the award.^[1]

• Send the agreed rates to whoever books your travel, with each hotel's rate code, chain code, seasons, blackout dates and terms.
• Test-book each rate in every channel your travelers use, including a phone booking, before the program starts.
• Tell travelers which hotels are preferred in each city, and why.
• Check every month or quarter: nights at each hotel against what you expected, the rates actually charged against the agreement, and stays booked elsewhere in those cities.
• Review at the midpoint with the hotels' own reports, and bring that data to the next round.

If silentVIP books your travel, tell us your corporate airline and hotel agreements and we apply them on every eligible booking; see Inventory & rates.

The question set

The question set has every question on this page, with columns for each hotel's answer, a must-have flag, a 0 to 3 score and notes, plus a comparison sheet with one row per hotel and the effective cost per night. It opens in any spreadsheet.

Questions

Sources

General and third-party statements on this page come from these public sources, each checked on Oct 22, 2026. A hotel company's or buyer's program is that organization's own and is shown as an example.

1. Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), Accommodations toolkit: best practices by phase and industry data. GBTA's quick reference for hotel RFPs. Five phases with timings: pre-RFP preparation 2 to 3 months before; communication 4 to 6 weeks before; launch with a 3-week response window; evaluations of 3 or more weeks per round; post-award within 90 days, then ongoing. Buyer actions include analyzing spend, setting city caps and benchmarking rates before launch, and auditing the GDS and online booking tool after the award. Its industry data, attributed to Cvent: the average program takes about 78 days from launch to acceptance, before rate loading and auditing (self-managed buyers: 87.2 days in 2023, 72.7 in 2024 and 64.9 in 2025; TMC-managed programs: 78.8 in 2025); over 60% of RFPs had at least one negotiation in 2025, and 2 to 3 rounds is typical, with some buyers targeting a single comprehensive negotiation. The page is undated (copyright 2026). https://community.gbta.org/browse/toolkits/accommodations/additional-content (checked Oct 22, 2026)
2. GBTA blog, Looking Ahead: How Travel Managers Can Navigate 2025 Hotel RFP Season (Nov 19, 2024). A guest post by Liz Oliveira, Global Travel Manager at OMERS and a GBTA board member: one travel manager's view. She writes that corporations are likely to test dynamic rates in secondary markets where room night volumes aren't critical, that dynamic pricing may be the only way to secure last room availability (LRA), that reducing the number of hotels in one area allowed better rate negotiation and sometimes LRA, and that buyers should be ready for shifts from fixed to dynamic rates, from LRA to non-LRA, from 24-hour cancellation to longer periods, and new destination or city fees. She adds that travel managers are putting detailed sustainability questions into their RFPs. https://gbta.org/looking-ahead-how-travel-managers-can-navigate-2025-hotel-rfp-season/ (checked Oct 22, 2026)
3. US General Services Administration (GSA), FedRooms. The US government's own hotel program for federal travelers: rates always at or below per diem; cancellation by 4 p.m. on the day of arrival in the US and 24 hours before arrival for international bookings; no early departure, resort or booking fees; loyalty points at the traveler's hotel brands. It says there are over 12,000 FedRooms properties in more than 3,000 markets in 2026, and adds FedRooms Extended Stay for stays of over 30 consecutive nights. https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-a-trip/lodging/fedrooms (checked Oct 22, 2026)
4. GSA, FedRooms program for Hoteliers. What the program asks of hotels: FEMA certified and ADA compliant; rates at or below per diem; cancellation at least until 4 p.m. on the day of arrival for domestic stays and 24 hours ahead for international; no deposits or early departure fees; free guest room internet; the FedRooms rate booked when it's requested by telephone; monthly room night and revenue reports. Hotels pay a 2.25% participation fee in 2026. Interest forms for 2027-2028 open in January and February 2027. https://www.gsa.gov/travel/plan-a-trip/lodging/fedrooms/hoteliers (checked Oct 22, 2026)
5. University of Colorado Procurement Service Center, Preferred Hotel Program (Local). One university's local hotel program for Boulder, the Denver area and Colorado Springs. It lists each hotel's 2026 rates by season, with icons for what's included (parking, breakfast, fitness center, Wi-Fi, shuttle) and for "Guaranteed rate if room is available". Travelers book in Concur, on the hotel's CU web page or by phone, mentioning the university's special rate. It notes that group rates at the same hotels may differ. https://www.cu.edu/psc/travel/preferred-hotel-program (checked Oct 22, 2026)
6. Marriott Bonvoy, hotel brands. Marriott's own grouping of its brands: Luxury (for example The Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis and JW Marriott), Premium (for example Marriott Hotels, Sheraton and Westin), Select (for example Courtyard, Four Points, SpringHill Suites and Fairfield by Marriott), Longer Stays (for example Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites) and Collections (for example Autograph Collection). https://www.marriott.com/marriott-brands.mi (checked Oct 22, 2026)
7. 16 CFR Part 464, Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees (eCFR). US Federal Trade Commission rule covering live-event tickets and short-term lodging, including hotels. A business that offers, displays or advertises a price must disclose the total price clearly and conspicuously: every fee or charge a consumer must pay, including mandatory ancillary goods or services. Government charges, shipping charges and optional extras may be left out of the total price, but any charge left out, and the final amount, must be disclosed clearly before the consumer agrees to pay. https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-16/chapter-I/subchapter-D/part-464 (checked Oct 22, 2026)

Last reviewed: Oct 22, 2026. Spotted something out of date? Email support@silentvip.com.

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