The RFP playbook everyone's sharing assumes you got invited

Amadeus's 2026 RFP playbook says 63% of hotels struggle to find qualified leads, then spends the rest fixing the game for the hotels already invited to bid

Driving the news. Yesterday, Amadeus's EVP of hospitality commercial published the 2026 RFP playbook — target the right accounts with data, build visibility before the season, manage the contract after you sign. Clear, capable advice.

It's written for people already in the room. Read the three moves in order. Target accounts. Build pre-season visibility. Manage the relationship after signing. Each one assumes you're bidding. The playbook names it plainly: corporate buyers won't consider hotels they haven't already heard of. And it opens on a concession from Amadeus's own research — 63% of hotels struggle to find qualified leads — then treats that jammed funnel as a targeting problem to fix with better tools.

And the room keeps shrinking. Here's what the advice steps around. Programs are consolidating into fewer preferred hotels, and the volume behind the big contracts has flattened — Phocuswright has large corporate bookings stalled. The shortlist gets shorter every cycle, and an independent with no existing relationship isn't on it. Its RFP response was never weak. It was never requested.

What it means for hotels. The playbook is expert advice for a table that seats fewer hotels every year. For a property off the shortlist, a sharper bid changes nothing — the bid isn't what it's missing. The corporate stays it can still win land somewhere else entirely: in the everyday booking flow, long after the negotiated deals are signed. The season everyone's prepping for was settled months ago, for a guest list that keeps getting shorter.

Enjoying this analysis? Hospitality.today delivers daily insights on hotel distribution, AI trends, and travel commerce — straight to your inbox. Subscribe for free at Hospitality.today →