When a client emails "can we do a party for 50 people next month?", reply with one link. They fill in budget, dates, F&B, AV. You get a structured brief in 5–10 minutes — not three days of email back-and-forth.
You receive an inquiry like:
To quote accurately you need at least 8 missing pieces of information: exact dates, date flexibility, attendee mix (overnight vs day delegates), meeting space requirements, F&B preferences, AV needs, budget range, and the decision deadline.
The traditional reply is to write a long email back asking 8 questions, sometimes 12 if you want to be thorough on contract terms. Average response time across European MICE hotels for this kind of clarification round-trip is 3.4 days based on our reachability benchmark of 38,000 properties — and 41% of inquiries simply die in the back-and-forth before a quote is ever sent.
Below is the field structure we recommend. Each field maps to a specific decision the client has to make, which forces the inquiry to mature from "maybe a party" to "actual brief".
Conference / Corporate meeting / Incentive trip / Board retreat / Product launch / Gala dinner / Wedding / Training / Other. This determines whether you need plenary space, breakout rooms, banquet seating, or specialty setup. Without it you're guessing.
Specific dates, plus an "is this flexible?" checkbox with 3 options: rigid (only this date), flexible ±1 week, or flexible ±1 month. Flexibility is hugely valuable for hotels with off-peak inventory.
Total attendees and how many need rooms. A 50-person day event is very different from 50 overnight delegates needing 25 double rooms.
Plenary capacity, breakout count, banquet seating capacity, classroom vs theatre vs U-shape. Most clients don't know the technical terms — give them a simple visual picker (we use icons).
Coffee breaks (morning/afternoon), lunch (buffet/plated/working), dinner (3-course/buffet/gala), dietary requirements (vegan/vegetarian/halal/kosher/gluten-free counts), bar (open/cash/none).
Microphones (handheld/lapel/headset), screens (number and size), live streaming, hybrid setup, simultaneous translation booths, recording. AV is where 30% of contract surprises happen — capturing it upfront saves disputes later.
Per-person daily delegate rate range AND total event budget. Some clients only know one or the other. Give them both fields with explanatory copy ("if you only know one, that's fine").
When do they need a final quote? When do they decide? Who's the decision maker (procurement, executive assistant, founder, agency)? This last field is critical for your sales prioritisation.
Industry research and our own customer pilots consistently show that hotels using a structured intake form vs free-form email see:
The form does the work of three sales emails in one client interaction.
Building an intake form yourself takes a developer 2–3 weeks. Easy RFP gives you the same form, hosted, branded, multi-language, GDPR-compliant, in 5 minutes. You get:
/h/yourhotel/brief you can email to clients or paste in your auto-repliesYes. The intake form template + your personal /h/yourhotel/brief link are free for hotels — always. No credit card required. We monetize the planner side (organizers pay €45/month for Pro features), not the hotel side.
Every form has a free-text "anything else we should know?" field at the end. Clients use this for "we need a piano" or "the CEO is allergic to peanuts" or "we want to surprise the team — keep it confidential." Specific enough to be useful, structured enough to not become essay-mode.
Only if you (and the client) opt in. By default, when a client fills out your /h/yourhotel/brief link, the brief comes to you only. You can choose to enable "broadcast to my network" for inquiries you cannot fulfill (wrong dates, oversold) — useful for maintaining client relationships when you have to decline.
The form auto-detects browser language and switches to DE/ES/FR/IT/PT. The brief comes to you in your chosen language regardless of what the client filled in.
Cvent and similar large platforms charge enterprise contracts (specific pricing not published by vendor; see G2 reviews for market signals) and require the planner-side workflow. Easy RFP is hotel-side first — you can use just the intake form without the planner needing to be on our platform. Different angle, complementary tools.
Add your hotel name, get /h/yourhotel/brief, paste it in your auto-replies. Done.
Get my link