Choosing a revenue management system (RMS) is one of the most critical tech decisions revenue leaders can make.
Get it right, and you unlock pricing precision, better forecasting, and real-time market responsiveness.
Get it wrong, and you risk clunky integrations, pricing blind spots, and low adoption by your team.
But how do you evaluate your options in a way that’s objective and aligned with your hotel’s goals?
The answer: having a solid request for proposal (RFP) process in place.
To help you navigate this complex decision, we’ve put together a step-by-step RFP guide, with templates to make the process smoother and more efficient.
What’s an RFP?
An RFP is a structured process that allows hotels to evaluate vendors in a fair, consistent, and data-driven way.
In simple terms, an RFP outlines your business requirements and invites vendors to respond with how they meet those needs. It’s a structured, multi-step questionnaire that gathers details from several competing vendors, followed by a methodical evaluation.
Why shouldn’t you skip the RFP process?
With dozens of RMS providers offering different pricing models, feature sets, and levels of support, relying on sales pitches or surface-level research often leads to costly misalignment. A structured RFP process helps you:
- Define your must-haves and avoid shiny-but-irrelevant features. Without a clear set of requirements, it’s easy to get sidetracked by flashy features you don’t actually need. An RFP forces you to articulate your must-haves, nice-to-haves, and non-negotiable
- Involve the right stakeholders early in the decision. From revenue managers to IT and operations, involving key stakeholders from the beginning ensures better adoption and smoother implementation down the line.
- Create a clear scoring system to compare vendors side by side. By using a clear scoring matrix, you can evaluate vendors side by side based on facts rather than sales pitches. This reduces the risk of bias or decision fatigue.
- Avoid hidden costs and integration headaches later on. An RFP gives you the chance to ask detailed questions about pricing models, support, integrations, and scalability, areas where surprises can quickly derail a project.
- Align tech choices with business goals. Ultimately, it forces you to think strategically about how the RMS will support your business goals, whether that’s boosting RevPAR, reducing manual work, or improving forecasting accuracy.
6 steps for a strong RFP process for choosing an RMS
Here’s a simple yet powerful step-by-step framework to guide your selection process:
1. Assess your current setup
Start by examining what’s working and what’s not. Identify integration gaps, workflow inefficiencies, and features you’re missing in your current RMS (or manual setup).
2. Define your requirements
Group features into must-have, should-have, and could-have categories.
Consider integration with PMS, scalability, pricing by segment, forecasting capabilities, and support.
3. Build your RFP questionnaire
Ask targeted questions that go beyond “do you have this feature?”
Instead, focus on how the feature works, how it’s supported, and how the vendor measures success.
Use our editable RFP sample questions template.
4. Shortlist vendors and distribute
Identify 5–8 vendors using platforms like HotelTechReport or industry referrals.
Send them the RFP and give them time to respond and be ready to answer clarification questions.
5. Score and compare
Use a weighted scoring system to evaluate responses. Score each answer from 0 to 5, assign weights based on importance, and calculate total scores.
Use our RMS comparison matrix.
6. Final selection and implementation planning
Bring top-scoring vendors in for demos, involve your internal team, and finalize your decision. Use the RFP responses as the foundation for onboarding, KPIs, and contract terms.
RFP process example: How it pays off
Imagine a hotel group with 6 luxury properties across Europe. They needed an RMS that could automate dynamic pricing across multiple regions while integrating with their PMS.
By running a structured RFP:
- They shortlisted 6 vendors
- Used a weighted scoring matrix to rank them
- Chose the solution that offered the best balance of functionality, integration, and future scalability.
The result? Within six months, they moved from manual rate updates to dynamic and optimized pricing, all because they chose the right partner, not just the flashiest solution.
Why an RFP process matters more than ever
Choosing an RMS isn’t just a technology decision, it’s a decision that can shape your hotel’s commercial strategy, profitability, and long-term success.
Without a clear and structured RFP process, hotels often end up overpaying for features they don’t use, implementing systems that teams struggle to adopt, or facing costly integration challenges that delay or derail the project entirely.
Taking the time to follow an RFP process may feel like extra work in the short term, but it saves time, money, and frustration in the long run.
It ensures that the system you choose not only meets your current needs but also supports your future growth and evolving revenue strategy.
That’s exactly why we’ve created the RMS RFP toolkit to help you cut through the complexity and make a decision you can stand behind with confidence.
The toolkit includes an editable RFP questionnaire, a side-by-side vendor comparison matrix, and a step-by-step guide to walk you through the process from start to finish.
If you’re ready to make your next RMS selection informed, strategic, and stress-free, be sure to download our toolkit.
