Inquiries
You just answered the phone and the caller is looking for a group of rooms for their sports team. They don't want a proposal or contract yet—they're still shopping. What do you do? Don't touch that paper! Come to this page and click + Inquiry.
Think of this as your new lead sheet. Instead of writing a group's information down on a piece of paper that might get lost or soak up your spilled coffee, get into the habit of entering it straight into the sales and events system. It's much easier than trying to read your handwriting later, and the information can easily be copied to a booking if the group decides to book.
Here on the search page there are several quick ways to find an existing inquiry.
If you have access to more than one property, make sure you have the property you want selected in the page header.
My Open Inquiries displays a list of inquiries at this property where you are listed as the owner and the status of the inquiry is Open—meaning a response hasn't yet been provided to the customer.
All Open Inquiries displays all open inquiries regardless of owner. This is a great option for those of you who share the responsibility of responding and managing inquiries for your property.
All RFP Inquiries displays inquiries that were created from MeetingBroker RFPs.
Learn more about MeetingBroker inquiries
When you receive an RFP from MeetingBroker, an inquiry is automatically created and assigned to a Sales Manager based on the assignment rules set up in MeetingBroker. If your administrator hasn't configured assignment rules, it will be assigned to the user listed in the Default Lead Coordinator field on the Property Details page.
When you're assigned a new RFP inquiry, you'll receive an email notification. Note that the link in the email message opens MeetingBroker, which you don't need to do. Just come here and open the inquiry by doing one of the following:
- Click the All RFP Inquiries tab and find the inquiry that matches the name of the company in your email message and has a status of Open.
- Change the search filter to RFP ID and then enter the MeetingBroker RFP ID referenced in the email message.
To find inquiries with a status of Qualified, Turndown, or Lost, change the search filter and try searching by the Account, Contact, Inquiry Name, Arrival Date, Status, RFP ID or RFP Reference #.
If you have Manager access to the property, you can see all of the property's inquiries, but you can only make changes to inquiries you own. If you have Property Administrator access you can make changes to all inquiries.
Everyone asks "when should I create an inquiry instead of a booking?"
Create an inquiry when:
- The customer might have requested specific dates, rates, and space but isn't ready for a proposal or contract.
- You don't want the group's request to display on the Availability page quite yet.
- You learned about a group at a trade show or Chamber of Commerce meeting that you want to pursue, but you don't have specific dates.
- You know immediately that you need to turn the customer down—however, you want to capture the opportunity for future prospecting.
Create a booking when:
- The customer requests a proposal or contract for specific dates, rates, and space.
- It's a repeat booking. In this case, open the group's previous booking and copy it to the new dates.
- You want the group to display on the Availability page so everyone can see the demand for that time period.