Five steps to …Running your 2027 hotel RFP

It’s that time of the year when many travel managers start work on their annual requests for proposal for their preferred hotel programme. Here are five key tips to keep in mind when putting together your RFP for 2027.

Step 1 – Understand your needs

Interrogate your data to to figure out in detail your buying strengths and weaknesses. Are there cities where you are booking more rooms than last year and may be able to negotiate a strong discount for the first time? Do you need to add a hotel in a different part of Paris because your key client, the reason  you travel there so much, has relcoated its office outside the city centre? Do you no longer need a hotel with parking facilities because a new rail link has opened locally?

This is also the time to connect with colleagues in your business to understand how their travel patterns might change in the year ahead. Is the company tightening budgets, in which case you may need to include some lower-grade properties? Or are there any major projects imminent which might lead to a spike in demand for certain locations?

Step 2 – Research the marketplace

Investigate the supply and demand dynamics which are likely to dictate pricing trends for 2027. You can expect more favourable pricing in cities where occupancy has been low during 2026, but may struggle to contain sharp rate rises in cities where demand has been very strong.

Hotel supply is also a key issue. If new properties have opened recently in a city, pricing may be softer, and you might be able to negotiate especially favourable rates with those new hotels. But hotels may have closed in other locations, which will create upward rate pressure.

Step 3 – Figure out your rate type strategy

Hotels continue to push dynamic rates – a discount off the best available rate – harder and harder. This creates budgeting uncertainty for buyers but may be worth agreeing in cities where you don’t have sufficiently strong buying power to negotiate a favourable fixed rate. It is also worth considering having no preferred rates in cities where, for example, there is plentiful supply but your annual room night total is low. Instead, impose a rate cap and allow travellers to book where they like as long as it falls below that cap.

Step 4 – Keep the process short

One very clear emerging trend is that hotels are becoming unwilling to participate in multiple rounds of negotiations before agreeing a rate for the year ahead. Aim to make it “one and done” for the first round of pricing offers.

Step 5 – Monitor rate loading

Don’t take your eye off the ball once you have finalised pricing. Whether accidentally or otherwise, hotels do not always load the rates  you have negotiated with them. Make spot-checks yourself or ask your TMC to audit rates, and contact the hotels if you spot anything missing.