Quotations to establish a call list for works related to the Website Design and Redevelopment for the Kenora Hospitality Alliance (KHA), will be received up to but not later than:
16:00 (4pm) CST
Thursday, June 17th, 2022
After which time, they will be ranked. Questions should be directed to:
Stefan Robinson
Executive Director
[email protected]
Quotations shall be submitted in a sealed envelope, clearly marketed “QUOTATION – WEBSITE DESIGN AND REDEVELOPMENT” and delivered to:
Stefan Robinson
Executive Director
KENORA HOSPITALITY ALLIANCE
240 Lakeview Drive
Kenora, ON P9N 0H2
807-464-0980
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Please explain each point as to how you plan to achieve this and why it would be effective.
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.
To meet our organizations goals, our new website must include:
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:
Please be sure to address the following:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Evaluation Criteria | Comments/Notes | Mark (%) | Points Available | Subtotal |
Visuals | Examples from other websites (whether in whole or segments) | 5 | ||
Corporate Experience | Your company’s experience | 10 | ||
Pricing | Important for a non-profit that has a fixed annual budget | 40 | ||
Municipal /Non-Profit Experience | Not required but nice to have | 5 | ||
References | Other website work accepted | 10 | ||
Website Design Concept | Initial design framework. Multiple frameworks allowed | 30 | ||
Total Points Available | 100 |
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.
Please complete the acknowledgement and include it with your proposal.
If you require further inquiries, please contact Executive Director, Stefan Robinson at [email protected]