National Account Manager (NAM) Tutorial IntroductionNAM Tutorial Page 1 of 14 National Account Manager (NAM) Tutorial Introduction This document is intended for National Account Manager

Sabre Hotel RFP 26 MAR 2014

NAM Tutorial Page 1 of 14

National Account Manager (NAM) Tutorial

Introduction

This document is intended for National Account Manager (NAM) users within a Brand/Chain that have oversight to multiple properties within the chain. The processes described detail the steps involved in responding to an RFP received for the chain. The NAM user will log in to Sabre Hotel RFP using NAM credentials for the chain to review the RFP and either respond on behalf of the property or forward to a property (properties) for response. Many of our chain partners use their own process to manage the RFPs in their systems and then upload the appropriate response in our tool. The steps described in this document are for the purpose of resolving the request in Sabre Hotel RFP for our Corporate and Agency customers.

1 Quick Reference Guide for NAM Response

Use the following Quick Reference as a step-by-step description of the process to upload a NAM response file to a bid received via Sabre Hotel RFP. The following process assumes that the NAM is responding on behalf of the hotel(s) selected by uploading a response file in an acceptable format. NOTE: For additional details about each of the steps described below, please refer to the full version of the Training Documentation that begins in section 2 below.

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STEP 1: Email Notification

Login credentials provided on the email notification received when new business presented to the Chain for review / response

STEP 2: Review RFP Details

Navigate to the “Bids” tab and click the “Client Name” listed to go to the RFP specific to that customer

Click the “View RFP” option from the action drop down list on the right to carefully review the cover letter looking for keys on how to win the business as identified by the customer

STEP 3: Select Property / Properties

Use the “View” options to arrange the hotels by status or use the “Group by” options as needed to further narrow the list of properties displayed (you can upload a response for hotels in “Received Bids” status only)

Click the box to the left of each property name to select that hotel for the file upload (you can also click the box at the top of the header to select ALL hotels listed on the RFP)

STEP 4:

Upload Response File & SEND

Choose the batch action “Upload RFP Response” from the bottom left of the “Bids” tab

Choose the option for identifying the properties for which you want to upload responses



The following sections are the full version of the user documentation with descriptions, definitions and screenshots specific to the NAM Response process for each of the response path options.

2 Access RFP from Email Notification – Invitation to the Bid The email notification is sent to the account owner for the chain as identified by the customer when sending the RFP. The email notification will include login credentials for the NAM user. Those with “user manager” access in the tool have the ability to update account ownership for NAM users within the chain. Please contact your “user manager” to have ownership updated as necessary (our Support Team can help you identify that individual from the Chain is necessary – please use “Request Help” to open a ticket for assistance).

Click “Choose Files” to navigate to your saved response file(s) on your computer and select

Once all files have been added, choose the appropriate path for handling the response – choose either:

o Send my Responses Automatically when the upload

completes (if successful upload processed, the system will send the response immediately and update the status of the RFP)

o Do not send – I will send manually later (this provides you the flexibility to send the response at a later time if needed – you will receive a notification when the upload is complete so you can determine when to send the response)

Click the “Start Upload” button to process the response file

STEP 5 OPTIONAL: Send Response Manually

If you chose the option “Do Not Send – I will send later” during the upload process, you will receive an email notification once the upload is successfully processed.

Navigate back to the appropriate “Bids” tab

Select the properties you would like to send Responses to by clicking the box to the left of the hotel name. To select all listed, you can click the box in the title line.

Choose the batch action option for “Send RFP Responses” to have the responses entered (or uploaded) sent to the bids tab of the Travel Buyer for review

Note: The email notification will be sent to the user logged in to advise if the upload was successful, or if it failed for any reason and will provide the specific reason(s). We also present updates in the system, but they could take up to 15 minutes to process. If your chain uses a data services or admin team to upload responses on behalf of the NAM, please review the “NAM Response Upload (Third Party)” documentation available on our support site.

http://support.sabrehotelrfp.com/entries/21711101-nam-response-upload-third-party



Note: Customers have the ability to overwrite the suggested NAM contact we have on file for a particular account, but the ownership structure in Sabre Hotel RFP will ensure that the bid is visible to the account owner even if the RFP is sent to another NAM. It is recommended that NAM users login in weekly during the RFP season to ensure that no RFP deadlines are missed in the event email delivery is delayed or in error.

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Sample email Notification

The email notification will have the subject line of “RFP for National Account Manager” and will include the following information to help you identify the customer and the type of opportunity presented:

1. The Travel Buyer logo and client/corporation name will be listed 2. The RFP Due Date expected by the Travel Buyer is clearly

indicated 3. Information such as the Travel Destination, Hotels selected by the

Travel Buyer along with their proximity to the destination are included. If the Travel Buyer includes the number of room nights and spend expected on this opportunity, that information will also be displayed.

4. The questionnaire format used by the Travel Buyer will be displayed, this is the same format you will

5. Access to login (including login credentials) provided – click the “Login” link and enter credentials provided to access Sabre Hotel RFP



3 Access RFP from the Bids Tab

The email notification is sent to the account owner for the chain as identified by the customer when sending the RFP. Many of our chain customers have their own internal processes for getting the information to someone within their Brand/Chain that will handle responding to the RFP. The email notification includes login credentials for the NAM user recipient. After logging in to Sabre Hotel RFP, use the following steps to review the Bid invitation received.

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Dashboard

Navigate from the Dashboard to the “Bids Tab”

Bids Tab

Use the drop down option to select the client from whom you

received the RFP



View Options

Once viewing the Bid Manager for the Company, use the many sorting options available to narrow down the list and find the hotel(s) you need

The “View” option is a drop down list that lets you adjust the list of properties by status (most popular to see groups of hotels ready for response, negotiation, etc.)

Use “Group By” to sort the list of properties by destination state, contact name, etc.

Sabre Hotel RFP also has a “Find” feature you can access by using the Ctrl F function on your keyboard to activate

4 Respond to RFP

4.1 Review RFP Details Once logged in, navigate to the “Bids” tab to locate the RFPs associated with the email notification received.

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Review Cover Letter

From the “Bids” tab for your client/corporation, click the “View RFP” option to the far right on any of the RFPs presented



RFP cover letter will be displayed with details provided by the client/sender and will help to frame the focus of your response

Hotel Questionnaire

As a reminder, you will have the Hotel Questionnaire version used by this customer identified on the email notification you received (NBTA 2010 or GBTA 2013)

To have mandatory questions from the Travel Buyer identified clearly, make sure the “Highlight Required Questions” option is checked as shown above

Required fields requested by the customer will be highlighted in yellow - the response cannot be sent until all required fields have been completed



Enter or review any pre-populated responses shown in the Hotel Questionnaire

The Rate Grid is included in the “Client Specific” section of the form

Custom questions are those the customer has manually added to the RFP and are available throughout the questionnaire

Attachments

If included with the RFP, attachments will be listed at the bottom of the RFP details page

Click the link for each document attached to open the attachment and view the content

4.2 Upload RFP Response Uploading an RFP Response allows the NAM to pull data from an internal system used by the chain and then populate that data in the Sabre Hotel RFP response form without having to manually populate an individual response for each property selected.

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Navigate to the Bids Tab

Click the “Bid List” tab at the top left of the screen

Once on the “Bids” tab, use the following to locate the most recent Bids awaiting response:

Locate the Client for which you want to upload a response file o Use the “View” option to identify hotels that are in

“Received Bids” status o Set the “Group by” by RFP Due Date o Utilize the “Filter by” option to indicate the most recent due



date (current date from email notification)

Click to Select Properties

Click the checkbox to the left of the property name to select an individual property or multiple properties shown on the list (click the checkbox to the left of the Bid Type column header to select ALL hotels in the listing)

Upload RFP Response

From the bottom left of the list of properties selected for a response upload, click the batch action option for “Upload RFP Response”

The following will be displayed on screen:



1. Choose the option for identifying the properties for which you want

to upload responses 2. Click the “Choose Files” button to browse your computer and add

the files you want to upload 3. Once the file has been selected, it will display in the space

provided. Click the “X” to remove any files added in error o As the files are uploaded, the status of the progress will

display for you on screen in the space provided 4. Select how you want to response handled once the upload is

completed (send automatically or hold for later) 5. Click the “Start Upload” button to begin the process

Upload Response Status

The progress of the upload will be shown on screen as it completes. If you leave this screen, you can always check back to the “File Uploads” link available on the “Admin” tab to see the progress and/or updated status. Additionally, email notifications will be sent as the file is completed to the NAM that was logged in and uploaded the file.

Sample from the “Upload History” tab shown below:

The following is the list of statues that may be displayed when you are using the File Upload process: Processed successfully and sent – The responses were successfully processed

(uploaded in the system) and the RFP was sent.

Processed Successfully – The responses were successfully processed (uploaded in

the system). The sent option was not chosen in this case.

Processed successfully but not sent - The responses were successfully processed

(uploaded in the system) and were not sent due to some errors while sending.

Processed with Errors – The responses had some errors while processing them

(when this happens we don’t upload responses into our system). In case of Partially



Successful the responses without errors will be loaded in the system.

Sample Email Notification – Upload Successful

Sample Email Notification – Upload Failed

(OPTIONAL) Send Response(s)

If you selected the option “Do not send – I will send manually later”, use the following to complete the process and send the uploaded responses back to the Travel Buyer for review:



4.3 Forward RFP to Hotel for Response NAM users can access the RFP by logging in from the email notification received or by simply navigating to the “Bids” tab in Sabre Hotel RFP. Once on the Bid Manager, the NAM can use the following steps to forward the RFP to a hotel for response:

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Select an Action

Click to select the property that needs to be forwarded to the hotel

Click the checkbox to the left of each property listed that you are ready to send back to the Travel Buyer

Choose the batch action option to “Send RFP Response” to process

RFP Status will be updated to “Bids Responded to” when the process is completed



for response

Choose the action from the drop down on the right hand side and select “Forward to Property”

Forward RFP

Modify the default message content as needed

Update the default email address if necessary

Choose options for permissions

Click “Send” to forward the RFP to the hotel

4.4 Manually Respond to individual RFP Received NAM users can access the RFP by logging in from the email notification received or by simply navigating to the “Bids” tab in Sabre Hotel RFP. Once on the Bid Manager, the NAM can use the following steps to manually respond to an individual RFP received:

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Select an Action

Choose “View RFP” from the action drop down list on the far right

Review Cover Letter

NAM user is directed to the “Bids” tab to review the “Cover Letter” included by the customer when sending the RFP

Hotel Questionnaire

Scroll down the page to view the questions included in the RFP by the customer and populate the responses

Required fields will be highlighted in yellow and must be completed before the RFP can be sent back to the customer

Attachments and Comments

If included, access to any documents attached by the travel buyer will be displayed below the questionnaire just prior to the “Comments” window

Any additional comments regarding the RFP response can be added in the Comments section

Send RFP Response

Click the option to “Send” if you are ready to present the response to the Travel Buyer

NOTE: There is also an option to “Save” the response in order to send it manually or in bulk at a later time

5 Response File Format Options

Details about the acceptable file formats that can be use for the File Upload process are described below.

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Upload file format

In order to utilize the "Upload RFP Response" process in Chain Portal, the following criteria must be met:

Responses can only be uploaded for the properties in "Received Bid" status

Each Property included in the upload file must have the “PROPCODE” completed with the Sabre HOD Code for the hotel



6 Support and Training Resources

To reach our Support Team, use the “Request Help feature at the top left of every page in Sabre Hotel RFP or visit our support website at: http://support.sabrehotelrfp.com/home. You can also send an email to Support at [email protected] – doing so will open a ticket in the Support queue. The Support Team is available Monday through Friday from 7 am – 5pm PST. Any requests sent after hours or on weekends will be handled the next business day.

Training resources are available 24 hours per day / 7 days per week on our Training Site. To get to the Training page, visit us at http://training.sabrehotelrfp.com/. Items available on the Training site include:

Register for any upcoming training classes available

Review “Getting Started” documentation and/or video content specific to NAM Users

Navigate to the “Hotels & Hotel Chains” Forum to see even more documentation and step by step instructions for working in Chain Portal as a NAM

You can also reach out to our Training team at [email protected] to schedule personalized training (for a fee) or to speak with someone from the training team to clarify any information contained in this document.

Any mandatory questions included by the Travel Buyer must be answered

File Format Requirements:

File must be in either .csv or .txt format

You can upload up to nine (9) files at a time – use ctrl+click to select multiple files

Maximum file size allowed is 3Mb (per file)

To convert an excel file to .csv, use the “save as” option to reconfigure to an acceptable format

http://support.sabrehotelrfp.com/home

mailto:[email protected]

http://training.sabrehotelrfp.com/

http://support.sabrehotelrfp.com/categories/20012923-Hotels-and-Hotel-Chains

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

National Account Manager (NAM) Tutorial IntroductionNAM Tutorial Page 1 of 14 National Account Manager (NAM) Tutorial Introduction This document is intended for National Account Manager