Group requests are an important source of revenue for many hotels. One request can result in several rooms, often for several nights and sometimes combined with meetings or events.
Yet many hoteliers find that in practice, group requests are less manageable than individual reservations. Whereas individual bookings are tightly tracked through the PMS and channel managers, the process around group requests often remains fragmented.
Many hotels know how many groups end up staying. But what happens between the initial request and the final booking is often less clear.
How many requests are confirmed? How many are rejected? And how many disappear somewhere in the process with no clear outcome? Looking more closely at that reveals an interesting picture of how group bookings develop in practice.
What research says about group bookings in hotels
Much research on group bookings focuses on requests sent through meeting and event platforms. In that model, planners often send one request at a time to multiple hotels.
Analyses by M1Intel and Event Temple show that the average win rate of such hotel RFPs is around 5-7%. Groups360 research also describes that hotels often have only a small chance of winning a meeting RFP when planners approach multiple hotels at once.
Sources:
- M1Intel - Ultimate Guide to RFP Data Analytics for Hotels.
- Event Temple - How to Write High-Value Hotel Proposals That Convert
- Groups360 - Why Hotels Should Respond to Every RFP.
These numbers mostly provide insight into planners' sourcing process. But they tell less about what happens to group requests that come directly to hotels. There is remarkably little structured research available for that specific process. Most insights come from practical experiences: interviews with hoteliers, observations in hotel processes and analyses of group requests within sales and reservation teams.
And that is precisely what makes the topic interesting. Although group bookings are an important source of revenue for many hotels, there is surprisingly little insight into exactly what happens between request and outcome.
How group requests play out in practice
In many hotels, a group request roughly follows these steps:
- Request
The group sends a request via e-mail, Web site or phone. - Quote
The hotel prepares a proposal with room rates and terms. - Follow-up
Sales or reservations follows up on the quote via email or phone. - Decision
The group confirms the booking, chooses another hotel or no longer responds. - Operational preparation
Name lists, changes and room assignments are processed.
The category where many group requests disappear
In many hotels, a significant proportion of group requests end up without a clear decision. This can have several causes. Sometimes the booker does not respond after receiving an offer. Sometimes the group has since booked elsewhere without providing feedback. And sometimes the request simply gets out of the picture in the daily hustle and bustle.
For sales and reservation teams, this is a recognizable pattern:
- An offer is sent out.
- Maybe a reminder follows.
- And then it remains silent.
When the process is spread across e-mails, Excel overviews and different systems, it also becomes difficult to keep track of the status of each request.
When a request does come to a decision
An interesting insight from analyses of group requests is that when a request does actually come to a clear decision, the likelihood of a booking is often surprisingly high. In other words, the problem is usually not in closing the deal, but in the process around it.
In many hotels, requests are lost not because the group does not want to book, but because follow-up, oversight and communication are inadequately secured. Consider, for example:
- following up on offers
- keeping track of current requests
- communication with the booker
- processing changes
- managing lists of names
When these steps are spread across multiple tools and mailboxes, it becomes difficult to oversee the entire process.
Why hotels often have little insight into group requests
Many hotels still work with a combination of:
- Excel summary
- notes in the PMS
- separate documents
As a result, information gets scattered quickly.
When a colleague takes over a group request, it often takes time to retrieve all communication. And when you want to analyze afterwards how many requests were won or lost, it turns out that this information is often not fully available. The result: many hotels don't have clear answers to questions such as:
- how many group requests are received
- how many quotations are sent
- How many requests actually book
- How many requests disappear without response
- Where in the process requests get lost
That very insight can be valuable for sales, revenue management and capacity planning.
Why group requests often stay under the radar
For many hotel managers, transient reservationsmake up the bulk of occupancy. As a result, the focus of analytics and reporting is often on individual bookings, pricing strategy and distribution channels.
As a result, group requests receive less attention. Not because they are unimportant, but because the process around them is often less visible and less measurable. Many hotels know exactly how many groups end up staying. But far fewer hotels know:
- how many requests preceded it
- how many offers were sent
- How many requests eventually disappear without a result.
And that's exactly where an interesting question arises. Do we actually have full insight into our group requests?
Group bookings as a process, not as individual requests
Hotels that get a better handle on group bookings look not only at individual requests, but at the entire group process.
A number of factors play an important role here:
- a clear and structured group process
- central storage of information
- overview of all current requests
- transparent communication within the team
When requests, quotations, communications and changes are managed in one place, there is automatically more insight into the entire pipeline.
This makes it easier to:
- actively follow up on quotations
- keep track of changes
- improve collaboration between departments
Why more and more hotels are organizing their group process differently
More and more hotels are choosing to move their group process away from loose emails, Excel files and individual mailboxes. Instead, they are organizing the process more centrally. This involves managing the entire process - from request to arrival - in a single environment.
Quotations, communications, lists of names and changes are no longer stored scattered around, but captured centrally. As a result:
- all employees work with the same information
- follow-up is simplified
- there is better insight into current requests
Once requests and communication are visible in one place, there is automatically more grip on the process.
With Groupz, hotels organize their group process centrally. Requests, offers, communication and name lists are managed in one environment, making the process less dependent on separate mailboxes and manual overviews.
That doesn't mean the work disappears. But it does make the process clearer and more predictable. Teams therefore spend less time on administration and more time on what ultimately remains most important: personal contact and hospitality.
Conclusion
Group requests are a valuable source of revenue for many hotels. Yet the process surrounding it often remains less insightful than thought. Precisely because there is little research and hard data available on this topic, many hotels do not have a complete picture of what happens between request and booking.
By looking more closely at that process, a more realistic picture of how group bookings develop emerges. For many hoteliers, that's where an interesting exploration begins. Not just into how many groups end up staying. But especially what happens to all the group requests along the way.
The question, therefore, is not just how many groups end up booking. The real question is: Do we have insight into all the requests that precede them?
And that very insight is often the basis for a calmer, more efficient and better organized group process.
Experience firsthand how insight into group requests works
For many hotels, insight into group requests starts with one simple question: what does our process really look like?
In practice, many hotels only really gain insight into their group process when requests, quotations and communication come together in one place. Then it quickly becomes clear where requests get stuck, which offers still need follow-up and what the entire group pipeline looks like.
With the Groupz Proof of Value Pilot, hotels can experience this in practice. During this pilot, you temporarily set up the group process within Groupz and gain immediate insight into how requests, quotes and communication move through the process.
The goal of the pilot is simple: to show what changes when group requests are no longer scattered across mailboxes, Excel files and separate systems.
For example, you'll discover:
- how many group requests actually come in
- Where requests get stuck in the process
- which quotes still need follow-up
- how much time teams spend on administration
Hotels can first test Groupz in practice before deciding whether they want to organize their group process structurally differently.
More information about the pilot can be found here: https://groupz.now/proof-of-value-pilot
What is a group request in a hotel?
A group request in a hotel is a reservation request for multiple rooms that is usually handled manually by sales or reservation teams. The process often consists of a request, a quote, communication with the booker and finally a confirmation or rejection of the group.
