What Common Challenges Do Companies Face During the Hotel RFP Season?

September 8, 2025 1pm Joseph Friedmann

Every year, corporate travel managers, procurement leaders, and TMCs face the daunting task of negotiating hotel programs. The annual hotel RFP season is notorious for its long hours, endless spreadsheets, and high stakes. Despite the time and resources invested, many organizations still struggle to secure the best deals. This is why forward-thinking companies are adopting modern technology like a hotel rfp tool to simplify the process. With the best hotel rfp solution for corporate travel management, travel managers can reduce friction, overcome challenges, and deliver real savings.

Why the Hotel RFP Season Is So Complex

The traditional hotel RFP process is full of moving parts: sourcing hotel contacts, managing hundreds of proposals, consolidating inconsistent data, and negotiating across global markets. Without automation, it often turns into a painful, months-long ordeal.

Let’s break down the most common challenges.

1. Manual and Time-Consuming Workflows

Sending emails one by one.
Copying and pasting data into Excel.
Following up with hotels who don’t respond.

The sheer manual workload wastes time and increases the likelihood of mistakes.

Solution: Adopting a hotel rfp software automates distribution, reminders, and follow-ups, ensuring hotels respond on time.

2. Lack of Standardization

Hotels often send back proposals in different formats. Some reply in Word, others in Excel, and many respond late. This inconsistency makes it nearly impossible to compare rates fairly.

Solution: Using standardized templates within a hotel rfp solution ensures every hotel provides comparable data.

3. Negotiation Challenges

Without visibility into competitive bids, procurement teams lack leverage. Hotels may inflate rates or offer limited concessions.

Solution: Platforms that allow hotels to bid on hotels foster a competitive environment, driving down costs and improving value-added amenities.

4. Rate Leakage and Non-Compliance

Even after contracts are signed, many organizations face leakage - when hotels don’t load the negotiated rates into the GDS or when travelers book outside policy.

Solution: Rate auditing features within a hotel procurement tool automatically monitor compliance, ensuring savings aren’t lost.

5. Limited Visibility Across Regions

Global companies often run sourcing separately by region, leading to duplication and inconsistent savings.

Solution: A centralized hotel sourcing tool consolidates data across markets, giving procurement leaders complete visibility.

6. Traveler Experience vs. Cost Pressures

Procurement teams are under pressure to deliver cost savings, while HR and travel leaders want to prioritize traveler comfort. Balancing both is tough.

Solution: Modern platforms let companies collect traveler feedback and integrate it into sourcing decisions, aligning corporate travel management with employee satisfaction.

7. Outdated Technology and High Fees

Legacy RFP providers often charge per-event fees, restrict the number of RFPs, or require long-term contracts. These limitations make it difficult for mid-market companies to run effective sourcing programs.

Solution: ReadyBid eliminates these barriers with unlimited RFPs, month-to-month terms, and a verified hotel database - making it the best hotel rfp tool for organizations that demand flexibility.

Why Automation Is the Answer

When travel managers switch to platforms like ReadyBid, they:

Reduce RFP cycle times by up to 70%.
Eliminate the need for manual spreadsheets.
Ensure data accuracy and transparency.
Empower hotels to compete more aggressively.

This leads to both time savings and cost savings, two critical outcomes every procurement team measures.

Beyond RFP Season: Continuous Improvement

The annual RFP season may be the peak of activity, but challenges like rate compliance, traveler satisfaction, and ongoing sourcing never end. That’s why many organizations adopt tools that support year-round business travel management.

By keeping the process continuous rather than seasonal, travel managers can secure better partnerships and long-term results.

Additional Challenges That Travel Managers Mention

Data Overload: Too much unstructured information to analyze.
Limited Supplier Engagement: Hotels get overwhelmed by massive RFPs and disengage.
Missed Savings: Without auditing tools, negotiated rates may not be applied.