First-party comparative benchmark across the European corporate MICE RFP lifecycle. n=2,400 RFPs · 18,932 hotel invitations · 7 countries · 4 pillars · CC-BY 4.0.
Easy RFP, the European MICE sourcing platform, today publishes the first first-party comparative benchmark of chain-owned versus independent hotel performance across the corporate RFP lifecycle in Europe. The dataset covers 2,400 corporate MICE RFPs and 18,932 hotel invitations sent through Easy RFP and comparable workflows between 1 January and 30 April 2026, across seven countries (DE, FR, UK, ES, IT, NL, CH).
Four pillars are measured: median business hours to first reply, win rate, rate competitiveness percentile, and abandonment rate. Headline findings: chain-owned properties reply faster only in tier-1 capitals (22 vs 33 business hours); independents reply 12 hours faster in tier-2 cities. Independents own a 5-point rate competitiveness advantage on average and an 8-point lower abandonment rate. Above 500 room nights, chains win 23.7 percent versus 11.2 percent for independents. A hybrid sourcing mix (preferred chains + 3 independents per city) outperformed both pure strategies at 21.0 percent win rate.
The full anonymised dataset, methodology and embeddable charts are available without an email gate.
"The chain-versus-independent debate has been settled on opinion for fifteen years. With 2,400 corporate RFPs and 18,932 invitations, we can finally answer it on data — and the honest answer is: neither, blended is." — Easy RFP Research, May 2026
All files released under CC-BY 4.0. Attribution: "Easy RFP, Chain vs Independent RFP Benchmark Europe 2026."
4-pillar metrics × city tier × RFP size × country. Imputed cells flagged.
All four pillars, hybrid-strategy comparison, implications for buyers and hotels.
Press-ready brief: summary, pull-quote, chart PNGs, methodology. Save as PDF in your browser.
Headline chart preview for Twitter, LinkedIn, embeds.