According to the 2014 PricewaterhouseCoopers ’ study “ The Economic Significance of Meetings to the U . S . Economy ,” meetings annually account for the direct spending of $ 280 billion , including $ 39 billion on accommodations , $ 30 billion on food and beverage and $ 10 billion on venue rental . When compared to five years ago , hotels have seen a 300 % increase in RFP leads from meeting planners . As a hotel , how do you handle the onslaught on these incoming requests ? Do you hire an army of sales managers or do you miss out on the opportunity to increase yield and RevPAR ? Ideally , you won ’ t have to deal with either of those scenarios . The advance of electronic RFP technology has finally given hotels the ability to streamline , automate , curate RFP responses , giving each request the attention and personalization it requires to secure that business .

42 ILHA