1. INTRODUCTION

The Kenora Hospitality Alliance (KHA) is seeking innovative proposals from interested parties for WEBSITE DESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT for the organization’s website. The purpose of the RFP is to provide a fair evaluation for all candidates, and to provide the proponents with the evaluation criteria against which they will be judged.

The existing KHA website (stayinkenora.com) was designed and produced in (2014) based on navigation and design specifications to direct users to hotel accommodations and resources within the City of Kenora. Modifications have been made through a local marketing consultant.

As of October 2018, the City of Kenora passed a Municipal Accommodation Tax that has taken the KHA organization to a new level where we are able to help the Tourism Sector prosper by delivering dollars from the MAT back into the economy. As time has moved on and a pandemic occurred, we feel that our current website does not fit the needs of our current growth now and into the future. In the fall and winter of 2021/2022, the KHA website members have provided support to make a fresh start with a new website that can be user friendly and easily maintained. As such, we feel our website does not optimally support or reflect KHA’s efforts as a non-profit organization.

2. PROPOSAL GUIDELINES AND REQUIREMENTS

The proposal must contain the signature of the duty authorized officer or agent of the company submitting the proposal.

The price you quote should be inclusive. If your price excludes certain fees or charges, you must provide a detailed list of excluded fees with a complete explanation of the nature of those fees.

If the execution of work to be performed by your company requires the hiring of sub- contractors, you must clearly state this in the proposal. Sub-contractors must be identified and the work they will perform must be defined. In your proposal, please provide the name and address of the sub-contractor. Kenora Hospitality Alliance will not refuse a proposal based upon use of the sub-contractors but does retain the right to refuse the sub-contractors you have selected.

Provisions of this RFP and the contents of the successful responses are considered available for inclusion in the final contractual obligations.

3. CONTRACT TERMS

The KHA will negotiate contract terms upon selection, and a project will be awarded upon signing of an agreement or contract, which outlines terms, scope, budget, and other necessary items.

4. PURPOSE, DESCRIPTION AND SCOPE

The Kenora Hospitality Alliance (KHA) currently has a website (www.stayinkenora.ca) that is outdated in appearance, structure, functionality and in acquiring content and updates. Outside of the edits to text, images, links, html CSS, and video content- the existing site functionality has had minor adjustments for the last eight years through a WordPress based site.

The KHA is looking to adopt a similar website structure as Tourism Winnipeg (Welcome to Winnipeg | Tourism Winnipeg) that mimics website layout, drop down menu’s, easily accessible and showcases tourism within Kenora.

The KHA is looking to link the existing website (stayinkenora.com) and KHA affiliated hotels to the new website to create cohesion between the hotel management system and the existing KHA website.

The KHA is the facilitator for providing services and opportunity for users to book hotel room accommodations and have tourist-based options within Kenora to choose from. The website is needing upgrades to create a better booking management system, that offers efficiency, optimal marketing and incentive to the user. An opportunity exists to re-engineer the site to better reflect the mission of KHA.

Upon completion of the development of the website, KHA will assume full responsibility for website, content maintenance and administration. The ongoing maintenance can be completed by your company after the initial completion of the website.

All content, coding and graphics will become the sole property of the KHA.

Description of Work – Website Design and Redevelopment

Create a flexible, informative, up-to-date website that is easy to maintain and is visible by desktop and mobile device. The website should be user friendly with an intuitive interface; you must also incorporate the web based, database-driven content management system. Our current site uses WordPress. In addition, we are seeking a design and development partner that provides tools for search engine optimization and social sharing. For pages and content, it should match – or work with – the KHA’s organization theme in color and messaging. The KHA will consider other hosting options based on recommendations.

To be effective, our website must include:

• Link our social media accounts to the website
• Link reviews from hotels on website
• Links to our Hotels (their respective website)
• Easy and Intuitive
• Visually pleasing through imagery, videos & pictures
• Relevant information and updates
• Safe and Secure
• Quick to load and operate
• Accessible on a multitude of devices
• Improve net promoter scores and google rankings
• Search engine optimized with property keyword search
• Include packages

Please explain each point as to how you plan to achieve this and why it would be effective.

Objectives

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the KHA has shifted its focus to an online presence and has grown in its outreach. This shift created an economic spinoff for the KHA and has enticed the KHA to enhance existing software and accessibility to users. There is a need for tools that can direct users to hotel accommodations within the community and tourism initiatives, via mobile device.

The lack of operating system advancements impacts our users’ ability to attain the full scope of tourism events along with hotel room accommodations and rates. An update to our existing website is needed to support the KHA’s tourism events and affiliated hotel accommodations. The KHA is looking to support and provide a cohesive live system, that is user friendly to both customers and staff.

Our new site should engage visitors by displaying attractive visual images, intuitive tools for navigation and concise messaging that relates to the KHA’s motels and hotel affiliations. This site should increase functionality and ease of use of existing users, staff, and administrators of this website.

Our key objective that we would like to accomplish is offering packages on our website. Ideally, we would like to have them not only displayed on our website, but also allow them to purchase directly through it. If package sales through our website proves to be too complex/not feasible, please provide alternatives, offline or otherwise.

Vision

To meet our organizations goals, our new website must include:

• New videos and imagery from KHA (We can provide)
• Easy accessibility to hotel accommodations’ websites
• Showcase packages
• Improve customer service and engage site visitors
• Showcase KHA – goals, vision, history, board of directors, packages, where to stay, what to do, partners
• Provide scalable maintenance solution(s)
• Community Partners
• Tiered Packaging (will be described during interviews)
  Strategies

Strategies

• Utilize responsive design with the latest technologies to provide a consistent user interface across all devices
• Establish a clear path for visitors to access information relevant to them
• Present clear messaging and consist of information to end users
• Integrate with KHA’s social media platforms
• Seamlessly direct traffic to KHA’s Website and Hotels
• Provide an easy-to-use operating system platform for maintaining the website
• Maximize search engine optimization through strategic mark-up language and content
• Ensure website can be updated regularly to avoid future technological challenges

5. TIMELINE

• The RFP is dated June 17th, 2022. Proposers may request more specific, detailed information by contacting Stefan Robinson at [email protected]
• Proposals are due no later than 16:00 (4:00pm) CST Thursday June 17th, 2022
• Proposals will be evaluated immediately thereafter. During this time, we may require interviews (via phone or videoconference) with our evaluation team on or about June 22nd, 2022. You will be notified if this is requested, between June 17th and June 21st.
• The name of the candidate who has been selected will be decided on by June 23rd, 2022 at the KHA Committee Meeting.
• The successful candidate will be notified on June 24th, 2022 and negotiations will proceed following this date.
• Please note that all other candidates will not be notified whether they were successful. Unsuccessful RFP submissions can reach out to inquire and we may provide feedback as to why you were not chosen to help you in the future.
• The completion and delivery dates of the project and its phases will be mutually agreed upon in a signed contract.
• The KHA will not be responsible nor held liable for any hours worked on this RFP submission.
• The KHA ideally has the new website made public during the summer.

6. VENDOR REQUIREMENTS

Please provide detailed information to accomplish the project scope detailed below. The budget and proposal must include all design components and subcontractors (if applicable), production, software acquisition, integration and necessary development and maintenance to the website annually (or monthly).

Proposals must address the following:

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

1. Describe your understanding of our current website challenges
2. Summarize your proposed solution and how your solution will resolve our current website challenges.
3. Provide a summary of pricing for the proposed services and products to adopt.
4. Provide sample visuals of a proposed design outline.
   • Company Overview – Tell us about your company, your experience in web design and production for projects like ours, and your experience in working with clients in hotel websites and tourism.
   • Team – Identify the team who will be developing and designing this website. Include name, title/role, and brief background of each. Include subcontractors if applicable. Include who will also be maintaining the website for us if applicable.
   • References – Provide a list of three references who can speak to your services requested in this RFP with examples from previous projects delivered. Please include contact information and a brief description of work done for those clients. Include their website link.
   • Solutions Menu Pricing – Based on the elements included in the project scope/objective section, tell us about your proposed solution in terms of creative design strategy, methodology, plan, and other important aspects of the redesign process. Include all project phases and tasks, along with a timeline. Total development cost must be broken down with a clear breakdown of annual maintenance costs. The lowest offer may not necessarily be the prioritized offer.

Please be sure to address the following:

• Discounts & Packages – Must be made available on our website, for not only awareness, but also purchase directly from our website. These must work with all our accommodations. (They will include room, activities, tickets/tours, gift cards/giftbags.) If providing direct purchase of packages proves impossible, please provide an offline solution(s).
• Eat & Drink – Restaurants
• Events & Things to do (seasonally or otherwise).
• Where to stay – KHA Hotels- listing/awareness, including photo gallery and potentially videos.
• Our Rabbit Lake Winter Wonderland Attraction.
• Show off our donations and sponsorships.
• Partners
• Integrate with social media.
• The addition of widgets such as local intel.

• • Project Management Tools – Your process for tracking documenting project status
  • Deliverables – Outline the projects and/or services that will be delivered
  • Schedule – Provide the suggested project schedule detailing the time required
    for each major step or phase of the project.
  • User training and support – Provide details on the user training and support included for our content editors along with the training support format) i.e.; on- site/in-person, live web, chat, email, phone based, hard copy, other documentation etc.)
  • Hardware – List any hardware necessary to host and/or support the proposed solution. Also list any recommended configurations for a robust and reliable environment. Include hardware redundancy and/or disturbed recovery recommendations.
  • Software/Widgets – List any software/widgets to host and/or support the proposed solution. Also list any recommended configurations for a robust and reliable environment. Include software redundancy and/or disturbed recovery recommendations.
  • Payment – Include any requirements or preferences regarding invoicing payment
  • Anything else deemed relevant/important to vendor.
  • Include all terms and conditions.

7. BACKGROUND OF OUR ORGANIZATION

OUR MISSION

Our mission is bringing together all Kenora accommodations to collectively work as an alliance to enhance tourism offerings in Kenora to the best of our ability.

BACKGROUND

The KHA is a non-profit organization that focuses on tourism and hospitality within the community of Kenora, Ontario. The KHA is a leader in providing hotel services within the community and support tourist attraction and retention within Northwestern Ontario.

OVERVIEW OF SERVICES

The KHA offers events and other Kenora organizations the chance to receive money from us to enhance their (new or existing) event either through sponsorship or by offering a direct donation. The idea is to bring more people to Kenora to increase “heads in beds”, resulting in MAT dollars to use for future projects and events.

GEOGRAPHICS

Kenora is the first City to enter Ontario from the Manitoba border. Kenora is a tourism and service centric economy, making the MAT vital to support the economy and future development.

AUDIENCE / DEMOGRAPHIC

The primary audience for the KHA website is prospective users seeking hotel services, things to do within the City of Kenora and upcoming events that the KHA hosts. This includes prospective tourists, locals, current employees of KHA, families, businesses, and partners.

8. EVALUATION CRITERIA

After the RFP closing time, the KHA will review and evaluate all the proposals received based upon the information supplied by the proponents in accordance with the submission requirements of this RFP.

In evaluating the Proposals, the KHA will consider the criteria listed below:

The KHA will select a proponent that the KHA deems best suitable for the delivery of the website design and redevelopment. However, it is possible that the KHA members resort to not selecting a candidate. Points will be assigned for each criterion based on the information provided in the proponent’s submission.

Acknowledgement

Please complete the acknowledgement and include it with your proposal.