Room block sourcing

A room block is a set of hotel rooms held for your group over set nights, usually around an event. You say how many rooms of each type you need each night and the terms you want. Hotels answer with a rate per room per night and their own terms. You compare the offers on the hotel bid board and award the block to the hotel you choose.

A room block is part of a sourcing workspace, so you set it up in the same place as the venue. See Sourcing workspaces and RFP emails to create one and Venue sourcing for the venue side.

Switch the room block on#

1. 1
   Open the workspace and go to Set up RFP requirements.
2. 2
   On the Basics tab, under Supplier to source, switch on Room block / Accommodation. A Room Block tab appears.
3. 3
   Fill in the Event dates. The block covers every night from the first date up to the night before the last date, because the last date is check-out.
4. 4
   Set the Bid deadline and the Award notification date.
5. 5
   If you also source a venue, choose under How will they be sourced? between One property for both and Different properties. With One property for both, each property is invited once from the venue bid board and answers for the space and the rooms together.

app.thehapr.com/sourcing/…/requirements

1. 1The details of the event.
2. 2Choose what this RFP sources. Switch on Room block / Accommodation here.
3. 3The deadlines for bids and for the award.
4. 4Save the requirements.

Set out the block#

Open the Room Block tab. The grid is headed Required room nights per day. It shows the nights, the total room nights, the Peak night and an indicative Est. budget.

1. 1
   Press + Room type to add a row for each kind of room. A new type is called "Room type 1", "Room type 2" and so on. Type a better name in its label box, such as Single, Double or Twin. A block can have up to 12 room types.
2. 2
   Type the number of Rooms you need on each night. To repeat one number across every night of a type, open the cell and press Apply to all dates.
3. 3
   Optionally type a Requested Rate for each night, the price you hope for. Use Apply to all dates here too. Hotels are still asked for their own rate.
4. 4
   Press the Date buttons at either end of the grid to add a night before the first night or after the last night, or the minus buttons to take one away.
5. 5
   To build the grid in a spreadsheet, use the download and upload icons above the grid. Leave the rate column blank while hotels are still quoting.
6. 6
   Set the terms you want. Further down the tab, the questions for the hotel cover attrition, cut-off, complimentary rooms, rooming list due date, deposit, cancellation and any food and beverage minimum. Fill in the figure you want in each.
7. 7
   Choose the amenities you need at the foot of the tab.
8. 8
   Press Save requirements.

The terms mean the following.

• Attrition. The share of the block you may release without paying for it. At 20% you are committed to 80%.
• Cut-off. How many days before arrival the unsold rooms go back to the hotel.
• Complimentary rooms. One free room for every set number of paid rooms, such as 1 per 40.
• Rooming list due. How many days before arrival the hotel needs the guest names.
• Deposit. The share of the block value payable up front, if any.
• Cancellation. What happens if the event moves or is called off. Written in your own words.
• Food and beverage minimum. Any food and beverage spend the block depends on. Leave it blank if there is none.

Attrition, cut-off, complimentary rooms, rooming list due date and deposit must all be filled in before hotels can be invited, unless you switch one off. Cancellation and the food and beverage minimum are optional.

A line above the questions, Still needed to finish Room Block, lists what is missing. Rates are never required.

Invite hotels#

1. 1
   Open the Bid board and choose the hotel view.
2. 2
   Add hotels to the shortlist. Press Search hotels to find them in Explore, or Add manually to type a property name, address, contact and a note.
3. 3
   Make sure each hotel has a contact. Type a Contact Name and Contact Email on its card, or use the change contacts icon.
4. 4
   Tick the hotels you want, then press Send RFP invite to and the number you ticked. You can also open the menu on one card and choose Send RFP invite.

app.thehapr.com/sourcing/…/board

1. 1Finish the RFP set-up first.
2. 2Search for a venue or a hotel.
3. 3Add one by hand.

1. 5
   In the dialog, optionally choose Chase anyone who hasn’t replied by and a date, so a reminder goes out automatically. Press Send invite.

The dialog first tells you how many emails will go and to how many hotels. A contact who holds more than one hotel gets a single email covering all of theirs. Hotels with no contact or at the wrong stage are skipped and counted.

Every hotel gets its own link to answer. Invite hotels and venues in separate sends, because they get different letters.

Chase and support hotels#

• Open the menu on a card and choose Send reminder to chase a hotel that has not answered. Reminders only work once the hotel has been invited.
• Choose Resend invitation to send a fresh link. The earlier link stops working and anything already answered is kept.
• Choose Custom email to write a one-off message.
• Press the speech bubble icon to open notes and messages for that hotel.
• Press the clock icon, Give this hotel more time, and choose a date under Open until to let a hotel answer after the bid deadline.
• To take a hotel off the shortlist, press the bin icon. It shows only until the hotel has been invited or has answered.

Compare offers#

Each hotel's card fills in as it answers. Use View Filter to choose which sections the cards show. Cards are sorted with complete, comparable offers first.

• Total. The card shows the total including service charge and tax, worked out from what the hotel stated. Service charge is worked out on the room rates, and tax on the room rates plus any service charge. When the hotel has not stated its charges, or its rates are incomplete, the card says Rooms only and the offer is marked as not ranked. The lowest total is marked lowest total and the others show how much more they cost.
• Rate per night. One line for each of your room types. Press Full sheet to see every night. A hotel that cannot hold a type is marked as such on its card.
• Terms. Each term you asked for, with a tick where the hotel accepts it and the hotel's own figure shown against yours where it proposes something different. A counter offer is normal and does not put a hotel out of the running.
• Amenities. For each amenity the hotel says Included, Costs extra or no.
• Rate basis. Whether the rate is net or carries a commission, plus the service charge and tax. Commission is shown but is not added to the total.

Press View bid details to read one offer in full. Press Read their answers to see the hotel's answers to your other questions, its extra benefits and its attachments.

Press Compare rate sheets to compare hotels night by night. There is one table for each room type, with hotels down the side and nights across. The lowest rate on each night is highlighted. The average shows how many nights were priced, for example 4/5.

Negotiate or award#

A hotel can be acted on once it has submitted its offer.

1. 1
   Press Accept to choose the hotel, Negotiate to ask for a revised offer, or Decline to turn the offer down. The hotel is emailed about the decision when it has a contact on file.
2. 2
   If you press Negotiate, a panel opens headed with the hotel's name. Under Negotiate nightly rate, type the rate you want against any night in the new round. Type one figure in All nights to fill the whole row. You can also press Download to ask in a spreadsheet and Upload to bring it back.
3. 3
   Under Negotiate other requirements, type what you want changed against any term or question.
4. 4
   Add a Note to the hotel for anything that does not belong against one line.
5. 5
   Choose the date the revised offer is due, then press Send the request. The date is required.

The hotel's form opens again until that date. It sees what you asked for beside each line. When the hotel answers, its card shows the new offer and you can decide again. After a revision is requested, the card shows Change it if you want to alter your request.

Once there is more than one round, How the answers moved shows each question with a column for every round. Answers repeated from the round before are greyed, so what is in black is what changed.

When you have accepted a hotel, hand its block to your event. See Handover to your event.

Good to know#

• Each hotel invited counts once against your plan's quota. Reminders and later rounds are free. If your plan has no room left, the invitation is refused and nothing is sent.
• Once hotels have been invited and are quoting, the nights and room types are fixed. The + Room type and Date buttons are switched off, and pointing at one shows the reason.
• If a hotel already holds a committed rate against your nights, the nights and room types stay fixed. Speak to that hotel before changing the block.
• Hotels answer a term with We accept this or We propose something different.
• If the block came from a plan, its rooms and nights are kept with the plan, and the grid says so when it has no nights yet.
• The block you ask for is a request. Nothing in the grid is a booking until you award and hand over.

If something looks wrong#

• Please complete the RFP setup first before sending invitations. The workspace is not ready. The board lists what is still to do, such as Basics, RFP questions or the room block terms. Press Complete RFP set up and finish those tabs.
• A line about contacts says some hotels have nobody to write to. Add a contact to each hotel before you invite it.
• Not invited yet. Send them the RFP from the room block list to ask for a quote. This shows on a card in place of the buttons until the hotel has been invited and has answered.
• This venue has not submitted a bid yet. The hotel has been invited but has not sent an offer, so there is nothing to accept or decline.
• This bid has already been declined. You have already turned this offer down.
• The nights and room types are fixed while they quote. Hotels are already working on your block. Pointing at a switched-off button shows this message in full.
• Reload to see the block as it stands. You are looking at an older view of the block. Reload the page.
• A hotel marked as unable to hold a room type is not offering that type. Compare its other room types or negotiate.
• If the invitation says some emails went out and others did not, the ones that failed can be sent again. The hotels they covered are unchanged.