A group RFP is a request for proposal that an agency sends to one or more hotels setting out a group's dates, room needs, meeting space and terms, so that each hotel can reply with an offer the agency can compare.
How does a group RFP work in practice?
The group RFP is the first document in a group booking. An agency sends it to a shortlist of hotels once the client has confirmed dates, numbers and destination. It sets out arrival and departure dates, rooms per night, the split between single and double occupancy, meeting space, food and beverage, and the rate basis the agency expects, such as a net rate or a commissionable one.
Hotels reply with proposals. The proposal you pick becomes the offer you accept and then the contract you sign, so gaps in the RFP get expensive. Leave out the room block per night, the attrition allowance you will accept or the cutoff date you need, and each hotel fills the gap with its own standard terms. You end up comparing offers that don't line up, and terms you never asked about can carry through into the contract.
Buyers outside agencies rely on formal RFPs too. GBTA reports that 63% of the hotel and meetings sourcing programs it surveyed run formal RFPs, and 47% negotiate only through them.
What should you watch in a group RFP?
We think the reply deadline matters as much as the content. Send a group RFP with no response date and hotels send late, partial answers that you then chase across email. RFP software vendors design around the same problem. Gitnux notes that several tools emphasise "controlled RFP intake fields and bid calendar deadline enforcement to reduce email forwarding during bid solicitation".
For how those tools compare from an agency's side, see best hotel RFP software for agencies. If you still run RFPs from a spreadsheet, read when spreadsheets stop working.
Sources
- Hotel and Meetings Sourcing Enters a New Era with RFPs Driving Value Beyond Cost Savings, Global Business Travel Association (GBTA)
- Best Hotel Rfp Software | 2026 Verified Rankings, Gitnux