eventru
What a venue RFP is for
A request for proposal (RFP) asks several venues the same set of questions so you can compare their answers and recommend one to your client or stakeholders. The comparison is the point. If each venue answers in its own format — a PDF brochure here, a paragraph in an email there — you end up rebuilding every quote into a spreadsheet before you can compare anything.
So the most useful thing an RFP can do is fix the shape of the reply. Ask for the same lines, in the same units, against the same assumptions.
What to include
Everything a venue needs to price the event accurately, and nothing it would have to guess:
- The event: name or working title, type (conference, awards dinner, offsite), and a two-line description of what success looks like.
- Dates: preferred dates, acceptable alternatives, and whether the dates or the venue matter more. Flexibility often wins a better rate.
- Numbers: expected delegates, and the minimum you would guarantee. Venues price against the guarantee, not the hope.
- Schedule: arrival and departure times, including access for set-up and the de-rig.
- Rooms: a plenary room with its layout (theatre, cabaret, classroom), breakouts and their sizes, and any exhibition or registration space.
- Bedrooms: how many, for which nights, and single or double occupancy.
- Catering: arrival refreshments, lunch, breaks, dinner, and dietary requirements you already know about.
- Technical: what the venue's in-house AV should cover, and whether you will bring your own production team.
- Budget: a range, or at least a per-delegate figure. Withholding it wastes everyone's time on proposals you cannot accept.
- Commercials: whether you expect commission, the deposit and cancellation terms you need, and the date the offer must be held until.
- Deadline: when you need the response, and who to send questions to.
Agenda
Accommodation
A/V requirements
Please include these in your quote. Quantities are the most needed at any one time.Ask for costs on fixed lines
This is the step most RFPs skip. Instead of "please send a proposal", list the cost lines you want back: day delegate rate, room hire, bedrooms per night, dinner per head, AV, and anything else the event needs. Ask whether each is inclusive or exclusive of VAT, and what is included in a package rate.
When every venue fills in the same lines, the comparison is a table you can read across, not an afternoon of reconciling different packages.
Your meeting spaces
Send it, then manage the replies
Send the same RFP to every shortlisted venue on the same day with the same deadline, so nobody has had longer to think about it. Keep a single record of who has replied, who has asked a question, and who has revised a figure. A revised quote that lives only in an inbox is how a client ends up seeing the old number.
When the replies are in, shortlist two or three and visit them before recommending one. Notes and photos from the visit belong with the venue's quote, not in a separate camera roll.
Common mistakes
The ones that cost the most time:
- No guaranteed minimum, so venues quote for a number you cannot commit to.
- Package rates accepted without asking what they include.
- Different deadlines for different venues.
- Quotes compared before the VAT basis is the same on all of them.
- No hold date, so the preferred venue releases the space while the client is deciding.
How eventru handles it
eventru sends every venue the same branded RFP form, with your cost lines already on it. Venues fill it in without needing an account, and their answers come back as structured costs you can compare side by side. Revisions update the comparison rather than arriving as a new email, and the shortlist feeds straight into the client proposal.
Questions
How many venues should I send an RFP to?
Usually three to six. Fewer gives the client too little choice and no price tension; more creates a comparison nobody has time to read properly, and venues respond less carefully when they suspect they are one of many.
How long should I give venues to respond?
Three to five working days is typical for a straightforward event. Give longer for complex residential or multi-room events, and say so in the RFP so everyone works to the same date.
Should I tell venues my budget?
Yes, as a range or a per-delegate figure. Venues that cannot meet it can decline early, and those that can will shape their proposal to it instead of sending their standard package.