Venue sourcing

Venue sourcing is for planners who need to find a place for a meeting, event or meal. You write down what you need once, invite the venues on your shortlist, and their proposals arrive on one bid board where you compare them side by side. The shortlist comes from Explore or from venues you add by hand.

A venue RFP can also ask for guest rooms and catering, from the same property or from different ones. See Room block sourcing for the rooms.

Set up the requirements#

Open the workspace and choose Set up RFP requirements in the side menu. The page shows how many parts are done. Suppliers cannot be invited until every part is.

app.thehapr.com/sourcing/…/requirements

1. 1Basics, the details venues read first.
2. 2Property profile questions.
3. 3Venue requirements.
4. 4Catering requirements.
5. 5Save your changes.

1. 1
   Open Basics. Fill in Event name, Company, Event dates, Spend currency, the planned city and Industry.
2. 2
   Under Supplier to source, switch on what this RFP asks for. You can ask for a venue, a room block, catering, or a mix. Catering needs a venue or a room block first. Each choice adds its own tab.
3. 3
   Under Deadlines, set the Bid deadline and the Award notification date. The bid deadline closes the venue's form. The award date is your own target and does not stop a venue answering.
4. 4
   Under What venues are told, write About your organisation and About the event. Add a Website or Logo if you want venues to see them.
5. 5
   Under Who venues hear from, add the people on your team who receive replies and requests. Add at least one, or those emails reach nobody.
6. 6
   Press Save.
7. 7
   Open Property Profile and answer what you want to know about the property itself.
8. 8
   Open Venue for the spaces, capacity, floor area and room layouts you need. Open Room Block if you also need guest rooms, and Catering for the meals.
9. 9
   On each tab press Save questions. Save & Next on the bar below saves and moves to the next tab, and the last tab shows Save & Review.

Press Check the form at any time. It lists the required answers still to go, and pressing one jumps to it. Venues are invited against what is saved, so save before you invite.

Set what matters most#

On the question tabs you decide how bids are judged. Each question can be switched on or off, and each scored question has these settings.

• Event fit gives the question a weight. Choose Must have, Very important, Important or Good to have. Questions that only identify the venue are shown as Not scored.
• Threshold / your ask sets a rule an answer must pass, such as At least, At most, Is, Must be yes or Must be no. It is offered only on questions where a rule makes sense.

Start from a preset switches on a ready-made set of questions. It sets which questions are asked. Your weights and thresholds stay yours. Press Add your own question at the foot of a section to ask something that is not in the list.

If you change the questions after venues have been invited, a notice says Requirements changed after suppliers were invited. Saving does not change what invited venues see. Press Reissue to the number of venues shown to give venues who have not yet submitted the current questions. No email is sent. Bids already submitted stay as they were, so use negotiation to ask for more.

Invite venues#

1. 1
   Open Bid board in the side menu. Venues you shortlisted in Explore are already there.
2. 2
   To add another venue, press Search venues to go to Explore, or press Add manually. Type or search for Property name, check the address, city and country, add a contact if you have one, and press Add venue.
3. 3
   Check each venue has a contact. A venue without one shows No contact person and Required to send RFP invite. Press it, then press Add contact and fill in the name and email. The primary contact receives the invitation. Choose Set as primary to change who that is, and Add to CC for anyone else who should be copied.
4. 4
   Press Save contacts.
5. 5
   Tick the box on each venue card, or tick the box above the board that reads Select all and the number ready to invite. A bar shows how many are selected.
6. 6
   Press Send RFP invite to the number selected. The Send the RFP invite window shows how many emails will go out. Choose a date under Chase anyone who hasn’t replied by if you want an automatic reminder, then press Send invite.

Each venue gets an email with its own link to answer. When the emails are sent, the window shows how many went out. If any did not, those venues are unchanged and can be sent again.

To invite one venue, press the paper plane on its card and choose Send RFP invite.

Chase and write to venues#

The paper plane on a card opens a menu for that venue.

• Send reminder chases a venue that has been invited and has not replied. It is greyed out until the venue has been invited. Chase the number already invited above the board chases all of them at once.
• Resend invitation gives a venue a fresh link. The previous link stops working. Anything the venue already answered is kept.
• Custom email sends a one-off message. Write a Subject and a Message. It goes from the RFP address with your branding and does not change anyone's stage.

On an invited venue, the speech bubble opens Notes and messages for that venue, and the clock gives it more time.

Give a venue more time#

1. 1
   Press the clock on the venue's card.
2. 2
   Choose a date and time under Open until.
3. 3
   Press Grant the extension.

Only that venue's form stays open until the date you set. Every other venue keeps the programme deadline.

Compare proposals#

When a venue submits, its card fills in with its offer. The status on the card moves from Not started and In progress to Submitted. A card can show these sections.

• The photo, with a gallery and a map pin when the venue has a place on the map.
• The hold, if the venue offered one.
• Fits the spec with the fit percentage, the must-haves answered and each threshold.
• Accessibility / nearby places, with the nearest metro or rail station, bus stop and number of places to eat.
• Total offer amount and the Cost breakdown line by line.
• Concessions, such as complimentary upgrades or waived fees.
• The actions and contact.

app.thehapr.com/sourcing/…/board

1. 1Choose which sections the cards show.
2. 2Compare the rate sheets of several venues.
3. 3Add a venue by hand.
4. 4Open a venue's full proposal.

• Press View bid details on a card to read the full proposal. It opens read-only.
• Press Compare rate sheets to see several venues side by side. Use the tabs Function spaces, Catering & meals, Accommodation or All sections.
• A venue that misses one of your thresholds stays on the board. Its card is dimmed and says how many thresholds it is under. That is often the thing worth negotiating.
• A venue that meets all of them shows Meets every threshold.

The fit percentage shows how much of what you weighted the venue answered, not how good the venue is. Must-haves are counted separately, for example 3 of 4 must-haves answered. They do not add to the percentage.

If a venue and a hotel bid from the same property, the card shows one combined proposal. It shows the venue, the room block and any package saving. The combined total is ranked only when every part is priced, otherwise it shows Not ranked with the reason.

Choose what each card shows#

Press View Filter to open Customise Card Sections. Tick or untick the sections you want on the cards. They are Photo & Media, Hold Status, Total Offer Amount, Concessions, Actions & Contact, Fits the Spec & Gates, Transit & Nearby Places and Cost Breakdown Stack. Press Reset to return to the default view. Your choice changes the board only, not the proposals.

app.thehapr.com/sourcing/…/board

Negotiate or decide#

A venue can be decided once it has submitted, or once it has sent back a revised proposal. Its card then shows Accept, Negotiate and Decline.

Ask for a better offer#

1. 1
   Press Negotiate, or press a figure on the card to ask about that line.
2. 2
   In the window, type what you want in the You want column next to what they quoted. Movement shows the difference. You can leave lines blank.
3. 3
   Write What are you asking for?
4. 4
   Choose a date and time under Revised proposal due. This is required.
5. 5
   Press Send the request.

The venue is emailed and its form opens again until the date you set. The email does not carry your figures. The venue sees your request next to each line when it opens the form. While you wait, the card shows Negotiation sent, and the status reads Negotiation requested. You cannot accept or decline until the venue answers. Press Withdraw the request if you change your mind. When the venue answers, the card shows Negotiation received with the revised figures.

Accept a proposal#

1. 1
   Press Accept.
2. 2
   Check the window, which is headed Accept proposal from the venue's name.
3. 3
   If both a venue and a hotel quoted catering, choose under Which property provides the catering?
4. 4
   Press Confirm and accept.

The venue's sales contact is told by email, and the card shows Offer Accepted. If the proposal is a combined one, you award the whole proposal, the venue and the room block together, and any package saving applies. This does not decline the other properties.

Decline a proposal#

1. 1
   Press Decline.
2. 2
   Press Confirm and decline.

The venue's sales contact is told by email, and the card shows Declined.

Holds#

A venue can offer to hold your dates for a time while you decide. The hold shows on its card when Hold Status is switched on. The card shows the type, which is First option, Second option, Tentative or Definite, the date it runs to and the days left. A card with no offer says No hold placed.

A hold is Held, Expiring when seven days or fewer remain, or Lapsed when its date has passed. Holds run on the venue's clock, not yours.

1. 1
   Press the hold on the card.
2. 2
   Check the type and the Expires date.
3. 3
   Press Confirm hold to keep it, or Release to let it go.

Deciding here records your decision. It does not tell the venue, because you will usually talk to them first. A lapsed hold can still be confirmed. Once a hold is Confirmed or Released, the window shows who decided and when, and Undo this decision takes the decision back.

Remove a venue#

Before a venue is invited, a bin icon appears on its card. Press it and confirm with Remove venue to take it off this RFP's shortlist. After the invitation goes out, the venue can no longer be removed.

Hand the winner to your event#

When you have accepted a venue, a Hand over to an event button appears above the board. Tick the awarded venues, or use Only awarded properties in View Filter to show only those, then press Hand over to carry them into an event in the hub. See Handover to your event.

Good to know#

• Each property invited to a venue or room block RFP counts once against your plan's quota. The invitation window shows the price of each. Reminders and resends to the same contact do not count again. See Quotas and credits.
• If your plan has no invitations left, the invitation is refused and a message explains how to get more.
• Sending a fresh link to a venue makes the previous link stop working. Anything they already answered is kept.
• Accepting or declining sends an email straight away. There is no separate step to confirm the email.
• When the RFP asks for both a venue and a room block, a Venue and Room block switch appears at the top of the bid board. Venues and hotels are invited separately because they receive different letters.
• A card in the map view shows the venue and what is around it. Press the map pin on the card to open it.

If something looks wrong#

• Please complete the RFP setup first before sending invitations. The requirements are not finished. The board lists what is still to do. Press Complete RFP set up and finish those parts.
• Choose which property should quote the catering (on the Property Profile tab of the requirements) before inviting suppliers. Open Property Profile, choose who quotes catering and confirm it.
• None of those venues has a contact address. Add a contact to the venue before you send a custom email.
• A subject and a message are both needed. Fill in both boxes in the custom email window.
• Please choose a revised proposal deadline. Pick a date and time under Revised proposal due before you send a negotiation request.
• Both properties quoted catering. Choose which one provides it before awarding. Choose the property that provides the catering in the accept window.
• The bid is accepted, but who provides the catering was not saved. Accept the other property again to choose. The acceptance stands. Accept the other property to be asked again.
• That venue has not opened its form yet, so there is nothing to extend. The venue has not opened its invitation, so it cannot be given more time. Send a reminder instead.
• A venue card shows Nothing priced yet. The venue has not entered any prices.
• The paper plane is greyed out with the tip about adding a contact. The venue has no contact. Add one first.