Hotel transient rate programme

A hotel transient programme is a set of hotels your company's travellers use all year, at rates you agree in advance. Each year you send hotels a request for proposal, compare the rates and terms they offer, and choose which hotels join the programme. HAPR runs this in three screens. Set up the program holds your company, your locations and the questions hotels answer. Solicitation list holds the hotels you invite. Sourcing decision is where you compare bids and decide.

Open the programme and move through setup#

1. 1
   On the hub, press Manage RFP on the Corporate hotel program card.
2. 2
   Open a programme, or create one.
3. 3
   Choose Set up the program in the left rail.

Setup has three tabs. Basics, Location & opportunity and Questionnaire. Each tab shows To do until it is complete, then Done. It takes about 10 minutes.

app.thehapr.com/sourcing/…/setup

1. 1Basics, your company and the programme.
2. 2Locations and the demand they create.
3. 3The questionnaire hotels answer.

Fill in the basics#

1. 1
   Enter the RFP name and the Company the programme is for.
2. 2
   Press Select date range to set the Program period.
3. 3
   Choose the Reporting currency. It is used for totals and roll-ups. Hotels still quote in their own currency.
4. 4
   Enter how many rounds of negotiation you expect, from 1 to 5. This is a ceiling. The programme will not open a round past it.
5. 5
   Under Important dates, pick a date and time for each deadline. Dates are named for your rounds, for example Initial bid deadline, Negotiation Round 2 deadline, Final offer deadline and Award date. Press Add a date for anything else, such as a site visit.
6. 6
   Choose the Program scope. It is Global, Regional or National.
7. 7
   Write About your company and Your hotel program. Both are required. You only need to list the key points. Press AI and the assistant offers a clearer version. Press Use this to keep it, Regenerate for another try or Discard to keep your own words.
8. 8
   Add your Company website, press Upload logo if you want one, and press Add information for extra details hotels should know.
9. 9
   Enter your Industry / business type. Pick from the list or type your own.
10. 10
    Add at least one Primary sourcing contacts entry with a name, role and email. Press Add a contact for more.
11. 11
    Optionally add your TMC or travel agency and Online booking tool, and switch on Strategic relationship opportunity to describe other markets or volume.
12. 12
    Press Save, or Save and continue to move to the next tab.

Save stays greyed out until the RFP name, both descriptions, the industry and one contact are filled in.

Each date has a padlock. Locked means hotel forms close on that date. Unlocked makes the date informational only. The award date must be after the closing date.

Add your locations#

Locations are the places that create hotel demand, such as offices, project sites, plants or client sites. Hotels use them to price your markets.

1. 1
   Open Location & opportunity.
2. 2
   Press Add manually or Import CSV.
3. 3
   For a single site, fill in the form and press Add to list. City, Spend and Room nights are required, and the spend currency must be set. Optional fields are the location name, type, address, country, postal code, Radius and Program year.
4. 4
   Add as many sites as you like, then press Add followed by the number of sites and to program.
5. 5
   For a file, drop a CSV on the import window. HAPR matches each column to the closest field. Check the matching, fix any column, and press Import followed by the number of locations. City, country, spend, room nights and spend currency must all be matched. Download template gives you the format.
6. 6
   Press Save and continue.

The table shows Program total spend, Total room nights and Average room rate for all sites. To change several sites at once, tick them and set the type, radius, program year or currency, then press Apply. Delete removes the ticked sites after you confirm.

Choose the questionnaire#

The questionnaire is built on the GBTA Global Hotel RFP standard, simplified into about 60 practical questions across seven modules.

1. 1
   Open Questionnaire.
2. 2
   Choose a preset. Essential is for small businesses, Standard for mid-market, Comprehensive for global enterprises, Meetings & Groups for event-heavy programmes and Extended Stay for long stays. Each preset switches modules on or off and sets sensible limits.
3. 3
   Or press Create custom template to start from everything, or clone a preset and adjust it.
4. 4
   Work through the module tabs. The modules are Property Basics, Client rates & terms, Safety & Security, Blackout / Fair dates, Group & Meetings, Sustainability and Extended Stay. Property Basics and Client rates & terms are always on.
5. 5
   In each module, press Include all or Exclude all, or tick questions one by one.
6. 6
   For each question, set Requirement to Req or Opt, and set Scoring.
7. 7
   In Client rates & terms, set the number of seasons (up to 5) and room types (up to 3). In Blackout / Fair dates, set the number of blackout periods (up to 10).
8. 8
   To ask something of your own, type it under Your custom questions, choose an Answer type and press Add question.

Every extra season and room type is more work for every invited hotel, so ask only for what you will use.

The panel on the right counts the questions suppliers will answer, how many are required, how many are must-haves and how many carry weighted points. Press View all selected questions to read the full list.

To reuse your setup, press Save this configuration as a reusable template, name it and press Save template. Saved templates appear beside the presets. Use Delete template to remove one.

How scoring works#

Every question does one of two jobs, never both.

• A Must have question is a pass or fail gate. A hotel that fails one is out, whatever its price. A must-have is always required.
• Other questions add weighted points to a hotel's fit score. Very important is worth 5, Important 3 and Good to have 1. Not scored questions are kept for reference only.

The fit score is the points a hotel earns divided by the most it could earn, shown as a number out of 100. Questions you switch off do not count, so every hotel is compared on the same total.

For example, say fire safety is a Must have, and cancellation terms, breakfast and an on-site gym are weighted 5, 3 and 1. A hotel that fails fire safety is out. The others are ranked by the points they score out of 9. Program fit, sustainability and guest rating stay as separate columns and are never merged into one number.

Press How scoring works on the Questionnaire tab for the same explanation on screen.

Confirm the questionnaire#

1. 1
   Tick I've reviewed the questionnaire.
2. 2
   Press Save, or Save & continue to Solicitation list.

The continue button stays greyed out until you tick the box.

Add hotels to the solicitation list#

Open Solicitation list in the left rail. If setup is not finished, a notice names what is still to do. You can keep building the list, but setup must be complete before invitations can be sent.

Press the plus icon Add hotels (or Add hotel, Open map or Upload CSV on an empty list) and choose how.

• Add manually searches for a hotel by name or address. Address, city, country and currency fill in for you. Enter at least a hotel name or city. You can add the current corporate rate as Static, LRA or NLRA, and a Dynamic rate (%). Press Add to list for each hotel, then Done.
• Add via map searches a place and shows hotels around it. Pick the pins you want and press Add followed by the number of hotels and to list.
• Import CSV uploads a list. Check the column matching, then press Import followed by the number of hotels. Hotel name, city, country, sales email, spend, spend currency and room nights are required. Download template gives you the format. When it finishes, Import complete shows how many were added, updated or unchanged.

app.thehapr.com/sourcing/…/solicitation

1. 1Add hotels.
2. 2Polls, which are coming soon.
3. 3Filter the list.
4. 4Mark this hotel as ready to invite.
5. 5Show the hotel on the map.

app.thehapr.com/sourcing/…/solicitation

1. 1Search a hotel or address.
2. 2Pick hotels on a map.
3. 3Upload a CSV file.

The list is grouped by city. The tiles at the top count Hotels on the list, To invite, Invitation sent and Shortlisted. Use the search box to find a hotel. Press Filter hotels to narrow the list by country, city, hotel, solicitation status, preferred status, star rating, guest rating, distance to site, Breakfast and Wi-Fi. Clear all removes the filters. Hotels with no measured distance are left out once you set a distance range.

Prepare each hotel#

1. 1
   Press Edit hotel (the pencil) on a row.
2. 2
   Check the hotel's details, grouped as Identity, Location, Current programme, Rates & terms and Amenities & terms.
3. 3
   Under Hotel contact, add a name, role and email. Choose one Main contact. Tick Include on emails for anyone else who should also receive invitations. The invitation needs at least one contact.
4. 4
   If the hotel needs a different number of rate seasons from the rest of the programme, choose it under Rate seasons for this hotel. Other hotels are not affected.
5. 5
   Press Save changes.

The drawer also shows read-only figures, such as the average book rate in your reporting currency and in the hotel's local currency. The average book rate is your current spend with the hotel divided by your room nights there. If you type an average book rate yourself, the table uses what you typed. It is what the decision screen compares hotel offers against.

Press Comments on a row to open the hotel's comments and to-dos. Press Show on map to see where it is.

To fill in online rates, nearby transport and guest ratings, press More actions on a row then Get insights. For several hotels, tick them and press Get insights. Insights are limited to 100 hotels at a time on the free plan.

Invite hotels#

1. 1
   Press the paper plane Invite hotel on each hotel you want to invite. Its status becomes Ready to invite. Press it again to clear. Shortlist marks a hotel you are still considering.
2. 2
   Or tick several hotels, choose Set status, and press Apply.
3. 3
   Tick the hotels to invite and press Send email, then Send invite. For one hotel, press More actions then Send invite.
4. 4
   A window shows how many hotels will be emailed. Hotels are skipped, with the reason shown, if they are not marked Ready to invite, have no contact email, have already responded, or are not saved yet.
5. 5
   For a first invitation, the window shows what it costs. Hotels already paid for this programme year are free, and some are covered by your plan's allowance. If you need more credits, the send button says how many.
6. 6
   To chase later, leave Also schedule a reminder ticked. Choose when (In 24 hours, In 48 hours, In 3 days, In 7 days or Custom...) and who it is for. This adds a to-do to each invited hotel. It does not send an email.
7. 7
   Press Send followed by the number of emails.

An email goes to each hotel's main contact, with everyone ticked Include on emails copied in. A contact who looks after several hotels gets one email. Once an invitation is sent, the hotel's status is locked and the row shows Invitation sent.

Chase hotels that have not answered#

1. 1
   Tick the hotels, press Send email then Send reminder.
2. 2
   Check the numbers in the window and press Send.

Reminders skip hotels with no invitation yet and hotels that have already responded. Reminders are free.

Read the bids#

Open Sourcing decision in the left rail. The tiles at the top count the hotels that are Invited, Submitted, Negotiation requested, Negotiation received, Declined to participate, Accepted and Offer declined. Potential savings compares the offers with what the programme pays today.

Each hotel has a row, grouped by city. Use Search keywords, Filter and Sort to find hotels. Sort can group by city or order by savings.

• Programme volume is your current spend and room nights with the hotel.
• Avg book rate is what you pay now. Offered rate is the hotel's bid. The offered rate is the entry-level room, averaged across seasons by how long each lasts. It is shown against the average book rate, with the indicative public rate (IPR) below.
• Dynamic offer is a discount off the best available rate, shown once per period.
• Potential savings is the yearly saving across the room nights placed with the hotel.
• Program fit is the score out of 100, with how many must-haves are met. It reads Scores on submit until the hotel submits. Press the score to see how it was calculated.
• The other columns show distance, amenities, in-room amenities, cancellation and the sustainability band.

Press a hotel's rate to open Offered rate detail. It lists every season and room type, LRA and NLRA rates for single and double occupancy, the round each rate belongs to, and any Blackout / fair dates under their own heading. LRA means last room availability. NLRA does not carry that guarantee. Rates quoted in the hotel's own currency are never mixed with another hotel's.

app.thehapr.com/sourcing/…/suppliers

1. 1Put selected hotels side by side.

Compare bids#

1. 1
   Tick two to five hotels that have quoted and are in the same city.
2. 2
   Press Compare bids.

The comparison puts hotels across the top and one attribute down each row, including status, rates, terms and fit. Hotels that have not quoted are listed as not shown. Press Back to decision to return.

app.thehapr.com/sourcing/…/compare

Decide on each hotel#

For each hotel with a bid waiting on you, choose a decision.

1. 1
   Choose a decision on the hotel's row, or tick several hotels and press Provisional decision. Choose Buyer decision or Consultant recommendation under Set as, then choose Accept, Negotiate or Decline.
2. 2
   A consultant can record a recommendation first. A recommendation is advice, so only the consultant writes it. A consultant can also record the buyer's decision on their behalf.
3. 3
   When you are ready, tick the hotels and press Confirm decision.
4. 4
   Check the counts in Confirm decisions and press Confirm.

Each hotel receives an email using your RFP email templates. Once sent, the emails cannot be recalled. Rates are not in the email. Hotels see the agreed rates on their response form. Only a buyer can confirm.

Hotels that are still answering, have not started, or are being re-quoted have no bid waiting, so a decision is not recorded for them.

Counter a rate#

1. 1
   Open Offered rate detail for a hotel that has submitted.
2. 2
   Type your target over any rate you want to change.
3. 3
   Press Save counter-offer.

This saves the target for the next round and records a Negotiate decision. Nothing reaches the hotel until you confirm the buyer decision on the sourcing decision screen.

Work in a spreadsheet#

You can download the rates and terms, change them in a spreadsheet, and upload the file again.

1. 1
   Press Download and choose Rates or Terms. Rates has every rate on the table, season and blackout. Terms has inclusions, fees and commercial terms.
2. 2
   Edit the file. Each hotel has one row, matched by its Solicitation ID. For a rates file, fill in the Decision column as Accept, Negotiate or Decline.
3. 3
   Press Upload, and choose Rates negotiation upload or Terms negotiation upload.
4. 4
   Check how HAPR matched your columns and press Continue.

A rates upload stages your changed rates for the next round and records a provisional decision for each hotel. A terms upload records what you are asking for and sends nothing. For a hotel whose round is already with the hotel, tick Amend the round already sent to record the change against that round. The email has already gone, so raise it with the hotel directly.

Press Download template for an empty file with the programme's columns.

Email hotels from the decision screen#

Tick hotels and press Send email. Choose from Response reminder, Invitation to participate, Acceptance notice, Renegotiation notice, Rejection notice or Custom email.... The acceptance, renegotiation and rejection options are resends and record nothing. A custom email goes once to each hotel, to every contact on file. You can use the placeholders shown on screen for the hotel name, contact name, RFP name and response link.

Give hotels more time#

1. 1
   Tick the hotels that are still open.
2. 2
   Press Extend deadline.
3. 3
   Pick a date and time, and a time zone.
4. 4
   Press Extend deadline again.

Hotels that already submitted or closed are not affected. A hotel that has not opened its form yet has nothing to extend.

Good to know#

• Each hotel invited to a programme counts once per programme year against your plan's quota. The first invitation of the year also counts one Hotel program RFP. Reminders, later rounds and re-invites are free. See Quotas and credits.
• Searching an area with Add via map counts one unit when it finds hotels. Searching the same area again in the same visit is free, and a search that finds nothing is not charged.
• Rate lookups have a daily limit for your account. They reset the next day.
• Polls shows a Coming soon notice. It does not send polls yet.
• Reminders scheduled when you invite are to-dos only. HAPR does not send them for you.
• The government and military rates question is off by default and only available under some presets.
• A custom email from the solicitation list is not available yet. Use the decision screen instead.

If something looks wrong#

• Award / notification of results must fall after the closing date. Change the award date so it is later than the final deadline.
• Choose an image file. The logo must be an image, and under 1 MB.
• Could not save. Check your connection and press Save again.
• Select at least one hotel. Tick a hotel before you send.
• Could not check the hotels just now. Please try again. Press Send again in a moment.
• Custom messages aren’t available yet. Use Send invite or Send reminder for now. Use the decision screen for a custom email.
• Rate lookups have reached today’s limit for your account. They reset tomorrow. Try again tomorrow.
• Select at least two hotels that have quoted. Compare needs two bids.
• None of the selected hotels has quoted yet, so there is nothing to compare. Wait for bids, or choose different hotels.
• Could not save that decision. Choose the decision again.
• Could not confirm that decision. Press Confirm again.
• Could not extend the deadline. Try again.
• Choose a CSV file first. Pick a file before you press Continue.
• Nothing in that file asks for a change. Type over a term to ask for it. The terms file you uploaded has no changes.
• That looks like the terms template, not the rates file. Choose Terms above, or upload the rates file. Choose the matching upload type, or the right file.

If the compare screen says a selection cannot be compared, it names the reason. Compare hotels in one city at a time, because rates are quoted in each city's own currency, and compare no more than five.