Although large conferences in urban markets have been slow to return, meeting planners and buyers expect a full slate this year. Hotels big and small must be ready for the onslaught of RFPs coming their way, and they likely won’t have the staff go rifle through them to pick the right fit for their meeting spaces.
Vindow has created a solution that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline the RFP process for both hotels and meeting planners. Using a browser interface, planners can enter every detail of the meeting, from number of rooms needed to F&B requirements to special needs, etc., while hotel salespeople can use the AI tools to find the RFP that is perfect for their property, as well as see how their competitors fare against them in the competition for the event.
The RFP List window allows hotels to see where they are in the RFP process of those that have been submitted.
Vindow founder Ken Shanley said the traditional RFP process has been rife with issues on both sides of the meeting planning process.
“Even before COVID-19, there were significant challenges facing the travel industry; hotels were being flooded with poorly qualified RFPs, originating from multiple sources, with dismal sales conversion rates,” he said. “Overwhelmed hotel salespeople, with no centralized management solution for managing RFPs from different sources, made it difficult for smaller groups to get attention from their preferred hotels and get responses to their RFPs. In addition, hotels had limited insight into the buyers’ key decision drivers and no way to adjust their bids or influence the buyers’ decision-making, in real-time, to convert more sales.”
He added that buyers of group accommodations suffered from a lack of real-time intelligence when choosing between hotels, “making it much more difficult to compare properties according to their specific priorities. In addition, other sourcing platforms have promoted hotels based on advertising revenue and special interests, rather than providing hotel recommendations based on the buyers’ needs.”
Vindow, Shanley noted, has no skin in the RFP game and is just trying to speed the process along by giving both sides everything they need at their fingertips, “Vindow addresses a fundamental need in the travel industry for a sourcing solution that enables fast and transparent interactions, and that is transactionally neutral,” he said. “Vindow’s platform was developed based on the company’s mission to give all transactional parties unprecedented visibility into the prevailing market dynamics with software that is flexible, fast and intuitive. Vindow’s transparent platform levels the playing field for both parties because greater transparency between buyers and hotels leads to improved trust and better outcomes for all parties.”
The platform allows meeting planners to quickly and easily create an RFP that enables them to outline their exact specifications. “Once they have created the RFP, buyers can use our powerful filters to quickly search our database of hotels around the globe to find and compare the most appropriate venues for their group and invite the hotels of their choice to bid on the RFP,” said Shanley.
For hotels, Vindow allows them to bid for and contract on long-term contracts, corporate and meeting/events bookings. “Vindow’s platform is an integrated RFP fulfillment and sales management solution for hotels,” Shanley noted, “which enables properties to centrally manage all in-house RFPs, orchestrate their team’s workflow and maximize revenue opportunities.”
He added that, with Vindow’s AI and machine-learning platform, a hotel’s sales team can gain insights into buyers’ preferences and buying patterns in real-time, “making it possible to deliver targeted marketing messages that position the hotel in the most advantageous light to potential buyers.”
The platform’s proprietary Bid Intelligence feature enables hotels to more effectively assess and respond to new and upcoming opportunities, in real-time, and win more bids at optimal rates. “It instantly enables the sales department to see how its bid compares to that of relevant competitors,” said Shanley.
Vindow also has its own messaging section, Expert Village, where hotels can send buyers special offers in order to make their bid more attractive.
Shanley said the platform has more than 20,000 registered users globally “and this number continues to increase daily.” He added, “We have users from large corporations; a major airline; some of the world’s largest hotels and hotel management companies; one of the preeminent providers of group and crew accommodations; third parties; travel companies and independent agents currently using our platform. Also, we’ve signed with [hotel management company]Highgate, who will be using Vindow at more than 500 of their hotels.”
“Vindow has created extraordinary value for Highgate during COVID-19 by allowing us ability to access domestic RFPs in the short-term and support the long-term outlook with meaningful demand returning for 2022 and beyond,” said Ankur Randev, chief commercial officer, Highgate. “In the past, we would never have described RFP management as having speed-to-market, agility, automation and true insight, which makes us excited for this partnership. Vindow’s platform enables hoteliers to put their revenue needs first and drive demand when they need it the most, and allows me to provide my team with the tools to better manage all of our RFPs both for groups and long-term volume business.”
