Let’s face it: meetings and group bookings are a huge deal for hotels – more than a third (35 percent) of all hotel room nights, in fact. But despite their importance, the process of handling them has been stuck in time.

While the world around us is moving at the speed of light, hotel sales teams are bogged down by endless emails, RFPs, and hours spent drafting proposals. It’s manual, it’s tedious, and it’s costing hotels valuable time and revenue.

But artificial intelligence (AI) is the game-changer that’s supercharging meeting and group sales, cutting through the clutter and processing faster, smarter, and way more efficiently.

The struggle is real: how the proposal process holds hotels back

Let’s talk about the not-so-glamorous side of meetings and group sales. At a recent conference, Radisson Hotel Group shared that its average proposal creation time is 81 minutes once opened, which is similar to what we hear from other chains. For this reason, it can take hotels, on average, 48 hours to respond to an RFP once received. That’s a long time when you consider that a lot of bookings are won (or lost) based on speed.

In fact, same-day proposals convert 25–27% of the time—imagine the revenue potential if your hotel could respond faster!

Unfortunately, the reality is that sales teams are bogged down with manually reviewing RFPs, qualifying the lead, gathering information such as guestroom and meeting room availability, calculating costs and sending the proposal. It’s a labour-intensive, time-consuming process that puts hotels at risk of losing out to faster competitors.

Enter AI: your new best friend in meeting and group sales

AI has been making waves in the leisure travel space for years – think personalised travel recommendations, seamless booking systems, and chatbots helping travellers 24/7. Business travel, too, has seen its fair share of AI-driven innovations, from smarter expense management to enhanced itinerary planning.

But when it comes to meetings and group sales, AI has mostly been a quiet observer, until now. The problem is that it’s no longer a ‘nice to have’ – it’s the expected way of working. It’s transforming the way hotels do business, making them more agile and ready to meet the demands of today’s fast-paced market.

Case study: real results from AI integration

To put things into perspective, let’s look at one example of how Radisson Hotel Group is using AI to transform its approach to meeting and group sales. In partnership with hivr.ai, Radisson Hotel Group implemented several AI-driven tools to boost productivity, efficiency and ultimately, sales and revenue. ‘Alex’ is an AI-powered email agent that automatically handles incoming emails for meetings and group requests. She reads, extracts the important details, and updates your hotel’s system—all without you lifting a finger. Radisson recently reported that through Venue Directory, it’s been able to shift response time from two hours, 55 minutes, and 39 seconds when done manually, to just one hour, 37 minutes, and 58 seconds when using Alex. That’s more than an hour saved – time that Radisson can now spend on other tasks that truly drive results, like creating an unforgettable event experience. The impact? Radisson sends more proposals with less effort, 100% of the time.

In another example, ‘Mandy’, hivr.ai’s interactive AI phone agent for meetings and group sales, was such a no-brainer that Radisson recently launched as hivr.ai’s inaugural partner.

Mandy is available 24/7, handling inbound and outbound calls just like a human. Whether it’s answering routine questions or following up with clients, Mandy ensures that time is freed up for the Radisson team to focus on more strategic work, all while keeping hotel guests happy and engaged. Plus, with AI handling calls, stress on the team reduces and productivity increases – helping them close more deals and deliver a superior guest experience.

Why speed matters

In the meetings and groups world, speed is the secret sauce to success. Every minute spent drafting a proposal manually is a minute your competitors could be closing the deal. By automating the routine tasks, AI not only improves response times but also enhances overall sales efficiency. And as we saw in our case study, the faster you respond, the higher your chances of converting those proposals into actual bookings.

The bottom line: AI is a game-changer for meeting and group sales

In the competitive world of hotel sales, staying ahead of the curve is crucial. By embracing AI, hotels can unlock a whole new level of efficiency, improve their response times, and ultimately drive more revenue from meeting and group bookings. With tools like Alex and Mandy, the days of manual proposal processes and missed opportunities are behind us. It’s time to let AI do the heavy lifting so your sales team can focus on what really matters: winning more business and growing your revenue.