Excel + PDF + scoring sheet — used by planners sourcing 4,763 European MICE hotels. No email gate, no signup, no upsell.
Most planners hit the same wall. Excel + 12 reply emails + a brief written in a hurry = lost weekend, missed dates, gut-feel decisions. The hotel asks for clarifications, you re-send, the proposal arrives 8 days later, and the dates have already shifted at the venue.
There is a structured way. The template on this page is the exact one Easy RFP planners use to source venues for European MICE events. Fill it once. Send the relevant sheets to each hotel. Get proposals back in 48 hours, not 8 days.
You will see (1) the brief, (2) the room block grid, (3) the meeting-space spec, (4) the F&B spread, (5) the AV checklist, (6) the contract clauses to insist on, (7) the scoring matrix that compares 17 dimensions side-by-side, and (8) the cover sheet you keep internal.
European MICE hotels see thousands of briefs per year. The ones that get answered fastest share one thing: they tell the hotel exactly what is being asked, in the same order, every time. Free-form emails get 8-day reply cycles because the hotel has to email back asking for the date, the attendee count, the meeting space, the F&B breakdown, the AV needs — and each of those reply cycles is at least a day lost.
A structured RFP template cuts reply time roughly in half because it answers all the hotel's clarifying questions upfront. It also gives you a like-for-like comparison set when proposals come back — the hotel either filled in your spec or did not, and the gaps become visible.
Here is the thing: writing the template from scratch the first time is the painful part. That is why you should not. Use this one.
The Excel file has 8 sheets. The PDF mirrors the same structure for printing or sending as a single attachment. Both are downloadable from the button at the top of this page.
For the planner who wants to read it before downloading, the PDF version opens in any browser. The Excel keeps the formulas live so the weighted scoring math runs automatically.
The Brief sheet is the only one you should write carefully — 5 minutes of clarity here saves 30 minutes of clarifying emails later. The other sheets fill in around it.
Write the event name, type (conference / offsite / incentive / gala / other), industry, and primary objective. Mark whether the event is public or under NDA — hotels respond differently to confidential briefs and you want them to know upfront.
Set the check-in / check-out, plus 1-2 alternative dates if you have flex. Flex on dates is the single biggest pricing lever. A hotel that cannot do your primary date will often offer 20-30% off for an alternative week. Tell them upfront if you can move.
Total attendees, room split (singles / doubles / suites), preferred city, acceptable alternatives, max distance from airport. If you have day-attendees who do not need rooms, list them separately — they affect F&B counts but not room-block math.
Set the total budget (inclusive of accommodation + F&B + AV + meeting space), the per-attendee ceiling, and the per-room/night hard cap. Mark whether figures are VAT-inclusive. Hotels respond more honestly when they know the budget bracket; if you hide it, they shoot high and you waste a round.
Set RFP issue date, responses due, site visits, BAFO round, final decision, contract signed. Hotels need to know the BAFO round is coming — it signals you are running a structured process and they will respond more competitively. Add your name, email, phone, and company.
Send the Brief, Room Block, Meeting Space, F&B, and AV sheets to each hotel. Keep the Contract Terms and Scoring Matrix internal. The hotel does not need to see your scoring weights or negotiation positions.
When proposals come back, the Scoring Matrix sheet does the hard work. It has 17 weighted dimensions. You score each proposal 1-5 per dimension. The sheet auto-calculates the weighted total.
The default weighting puts total cost at 20%, room-block availability at 10%, location and meeting-space fit at 8% each, and trails off through F&B quality, AV capability, cancellation terms, attrition terms, and brand reputation. The full weights are in the template; you can adjust them for your event type (an incentive prioritizes location and F&B; a conference prioritizes plenary space and AV).
Here is why the weighting matters: gut-feel comparisons are inconsistent. If you have 5 proposals and 3 colleagues all scoring them, the weighted matrix forces everyone to score the same 17 dimensions, then math takes over. Buyer's-remorse goes way down. Decision speed goes up.
For the deeper version of this approach — the TOPSIS scoring engine — Easy RFP automates the scoring with proper distance-from-ideal math across all 17 dimensions simultaneously. See how Easy RFP scores proposals for the technical breakdown.
"Get back to me when you can" gets you proposals 12 days later. Set a hard deadline (typically 7-10 days from RFP issue) in the Brief. Hotels with structured sales teams respond on deadline; ones that miss it self-select out of your shortlist.
"A room for 200 people" gets you anything. Specify capacity AND setup (theater / classroom / U-shape / banquet), AND whether you need natural light, AND whether breakouts must be adjacent. The Meeting Space sheet has all six fields.
"Breakfast and lunch for 200" gets a quote that may or may not include dietary, that may or may not include the coffee station, that may or may not include the breakfast — and the hotel's revised proposal will add €30 per attendee per day. List every meal, every break, every dietary requirement upfront.
BAFO (Best And Final Offer) is the negotiation round where you go back to your top 2-3 hotels and ask "what is your best price." It is standard practice in European procurement but often skipped in MICE sourcing. The savings are typically 8-15% on top of the first-pass proposal. See the BAFO savings benchmark report.
The hotel's default cancellation policy is written to protect the hotel. You start the negotiation by including your position in the Contract Terms sheet (typically a sliding scale: 100% refund at 120+ days, decreasing to 0% inside 30 days). The Contract Terms sheet has the negotiation positions ready — use them as your opening offer.
The template is enough if you run 1-3 hotel RFPs per year and you are sourcing in a single city you know well. It breaks down when:
That is what Easy RFP automates. Brief once, AI fills the template, sends to 50 hotels, scores proposals across 17 dimensions with TOPSIS math, runs the BAFO round, and outputs a decision document for your stakeholders. The free plan covers 1 RFP/month and 5 hotels — enough to try the workflow on a real event without a credit card.