CMP SERIES CERTIFICATION MADE POSSIBLE Robert Gilbert

RFP spam is particularly a problem for independent properties, ‘because they have got to juggle manpower at the individual-unit level.’

Nostrand said. “Customers feel that if they source more hotels, it will improve their RFP response rate. This practice can sometimes actually delay response times.” Not that those customers always realize RFP spam is an issue. Elite Meetings brought together planners and hotel sales professionals at its Elite Meetings Alliance program at Revel in Atlantic City last August. One of the sessions was a panel discussion on “RFP Process & Volume.” “The panel was about RFP spam, period,” said Kelly Foy, Elite’s CEO. “The amazing thing was that about 65 percent of the planner attendees had no idea that was a problem. And every hotelier in the room knew it was a problem.” For at least one planner, the problem with

eRFPs goes beyond how many of them pile up in someone’s inbox. “I definitely see [RFP spam] as a legitimate problem,” said Larissa Schultz, CMP, owner of LJS Meeting Strategies, “but I think we need to take a step back and realize this system that we’ve created in our industry to have every- thing go electronically may be be broken. And it was a great concept and a great theory, but in prac- tice what you’re seeing is, meeting planners can’t precisely figure out what their unique needs are, so they ship something out to everybody and hope somebody responds back.” But not everyone — not even every hotelier

Test Time Once you finish reading this CMP Series article, read or

watch the following material:

› “Choosing a Housing Provider,” on pp. 380–385 of Chapter 25 of Professional Meeting Management, Fifth Edition, available at convn.org/pmm5-housing.

› “Indecent Proposals: Has It Become Too Easy for Companies to Send an RFP?,” a video interview between International Meetings Review’s James Latham and Stephen Powell, senior vice president of worldwide sales for InterContinental Hotel Group, at convn.org/imr-rfp.

To earn one hour of CEU credit, visit pcma.org/ convenecmp to answer questions about the information contained in this CMP Series article and the additional material.

The Certified Meeting Professional (CMP) is a registered trademark of the Convention Industry Council.

— thinks RFP spam is a problem. Michael Domin- guez, senior vice president of corporate hotel sales for MGM Resorts International and the self- admitted “contrarian in the room,” simply sees it as part of life and business in the 21st century. “I’m a firm believer that we live in an on-demand soci- ety,” Dominguez said. “We’ve trained the customer and the consumer to be able to get what they want, where they want it, and how they want it. For us as an industry to dig in and think that we’re going to be able to change the way our customer wants to buy from us is a little bit of an unrealistic view of the process.”

THE HUMAN TOUCH But, like Dominguez says, that’s something of a minority view. RFP spam is especially problematic for independent properties, Gilbert said, “because they have got to juggle manpower at the individual- unit level, where at least the brands can redirect or reallocate some of their national or global sales teams to deal with some of the traffic.”

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