Biggest Mistakes in Airport Concession RFP Responses
Airport concession RFPs are unlike almost any other proposal process. The competition is fierce, and the finish line is cutthroat.
Airport concession proposals are complex, highly competitive, and often involve 100s of pages of content, multiple concepts, high-end renderings, financial information, operational plans, certifications, forms, and supporting documentation, including ACDBE certifications and forms—all being developed simultaneously by teams working against an immovable deadline.
After more than 12 years supporting airport concession pursuits across 38+ airports in the U.S. and Canada, Diace Designs has seen firsthand how quickly even a strong pursuit can become complicated.
Here’s the catch: a great concept doesn’t automatically make a great proposal.
Evaluators can only score what they’re presented with. Do not assume ‘The airport knows who we are and what we’re about.’ That’s the wrong mindset going into any airport concession RFP.
A winning airport concession RFP response needs to be compliant, strategically organized, visually compelling, easy to navigate, and unmistakably tailored to the airport, its local market, and the specific RFP opportunity.
Here are some of the biggest mistakes we see—and why they matter.
1. Not Answering Exactly What the RFP Asks
It sounds obvious. You’d be surprised…it isn’t. Airport concession RFPs can contain 100s of requirements spread across instructions, exhibits, attachments, addenda, forms, and evaluation criteria. Missing a required form, signature, certification, section, or even a seemingly minor instruction can create a major problem. The same applies to the written response.
If the RFP asks for three specific pieces of information, answer all three! If it establishes a page limit, work within it. If sections must appear in a particular order, follow it. Most airport concession RFPs have a checklist outlining HOW the airport wants the information organized; no two airports are the same.
This is where responsiveness matters.
Proposal teams sometimes become so focused on telling their story that they inadvertently stop answering the question being scored. Great storytelling should strengthen the response—not replace it. Skipping important details that seem “straightforward,” or assuming the evaluator already knows the information or that it’s implied, can cost valuable points—or, depending on the requirement, risk making the submission non-responsive.
No amount of beautiful design can rescue a submission that fails to meet mandatory requirements.
2. Treating Every Airport Like Every Other Airport
A concept that works beautifully at one airport isn’t automatically right for another. No two airports or RFP asks are the same.
Passenger demographics, terminal location, dwell time, airline mix, local culture, existing concessions, airport goals, traveler expectations, and the competitive landscape can all influence what makes a concept compelling.
That’s why strong airport concession proposals demonstrate more than an understanding of the brand. They demonstrate an understanding of the airport and its passengers. At the end of the day, each airport wants to make sure you fully understand the RFP ask, understand their market, and keep their travelers top-of-mind.
Local authenticity and Sense of Place matter, too—but slapping a skyline photo or a few local landmarks onto a page isn’t enough.
The strongest proposals connect the concept to the market in a meaningful way:
- Why does this restaurant, retailer, or experience belong here?
- How does it complement the terminal?
- What does it offer passengers?
- How does it reflect the airport’s larger vision?
If the same proposal could be submitted to five different airports by changing the city name, there’s probably more work to do. If only it were that easy, we would all be doing it.
When playing in the big leagues with prime concessionaires, you can’t play small – don’t skip the details.
3. Relying on Generic Concepts and Cookie-Cutter Storytelling
Airport concession evaluators review a lot of information, like 100s and 1,000s of pages. That makes differentiation incredibly important. Generic boilerplate, recycled proposal language, repetitive concept descriptions, and templated layouts make it harder for a submission to stand apart—especially when several bidders may be proposing similar brands or experiences.
Every concept needs a clear story. Why this concept? Why this airport? Why this passenger?
The visual storytelling should reinforce that positioning through renderings, mood boards, brand applications, local imagery, supporting research, infographics, and thoughtful editorial design.
The goal isn’t simply to make the proposal look good.
It’s to make the concept easy to understand, remember, and evaluate.
4. Bringing Proposal Design in Too Late
This is a big one! Design is often treated as the final production step: finish the writing, collect the assets, send everything to the designer, and make it pretty. That approach becomes dangerous very quickly on a complex airport pursuit.
A 50-, 100-, or 300+ page response may include multiple concession concepts, renderings, floor plans, research, financial tables, organizational charts, resumes, forms, exhibits, partnership information, and hundreds of individual assets.
That’s especially true when multiple proposal packages move simultaneously.
That isn’t simply a graphic design project. It’s an information-management challenge.
Bringing the creative team into the process early allows information hierarchy, page planning, concept storytelling, asset development, visual systems, and production schedules to evolve alongside the response.
When design starts in the 11th hour and the finish line is within reach, you’re no longer designing strategically. You’re surviving and slapping it together.
5. Losing Control of the Submission
The closer an airport concession RFP gets to the deadline, the faster everything moves.
New content arrives. Renderings change per an updated airport addendum. Concepts get revised, narratives need revamping, brands drop out, partners change at the last minute – ALL THE TIME. Numbers are updated. Pages move. Forms are replaced. Multiple contributors are reviewing different sections—sometimes different versions of the same section.
Without strong version control and a clearly managed proposal production process, mistakes multiply quickly.
A late-stage change on page 42 can affect the table of contents, pagination, cross-references, page limits, section dividers, and final PDF. Multiply that across several 100+ pages—or multiple submission packages—and suddenly a “small change” isn’t small at all. It’s a proposal designer’s worst nightmare – the snowball effect!
Final quality assurance should verify more than spelling and grammar. It should include page counts, required forms, signatures, certifications, confirmation of notary dates and details, section order, pagination, links, image quality, consistency, file naming, and final submission requirements.
Because sometimes the difference between a polished proposal and a production disaster comes down to what happens in the final few hours. This can make or break an entire deal!
A Strong Concept Still Needs a Strong Proposal
Airport concession pursuits require operational expertise, financial planning, strong concepts, local partnerships, ACDBE participation where applicable, and a clear understanding of what the airport is trying to accomplish.
But all of that information still has to reach the evaluator, and be easy to understand and score. That’s where proposal strategy and design become critical.
The strongest airport concession RFP responses don’t use design as decoration. They use it to organize complexity, communicate strategy, guide evaluators through the response, and make important information easier to find, understand, and remember.
At Diace Designs, we’ve supported 82+ airport concession pursuits across 38+ airports, helping teams transform incredibly complex submissions into clear, compelling, evaluator-ready proposal experiences.
