| Many factors come into play when renting a space | | | | can be quite high. The second challenge is the |
| for your event. For now, we are going to focus on | | | | deadline. Normally, a deadline for people to use the |
| hotel contracts, because hotels are still the most | | | | hotel block is two or three weeks before the event. |
| popular and profitable place to host an event. | | | | Most people procrastinate and book their hotel room |
| When renting a space at a hotel, you will first speak | | | | at the very last minute, which could cause you to |
| to the Director of Sales for that hotel. The Director | | | | miss your numbers. In turn, you have to pay for the |
| of Sales will personally meet with you. Take | | | | rooms not used. This is a real gamble. As a result, |
| advantage of the fact that this person will treat you | | | | some promoters have gone as far as giving hotel |
| to lunch if you meet at lunchtime. This gives you an | | | | rooms away for free as an incentive for people to |
| opportunity to sample the food in case you want to | | | | attend their events. |
| add food to your event. | | | | 3. Meeting room. |
| When you meet with the Director of Sales, you will | | | | If you don’t want to gamble on the food or |
| have several points to negotiate, such as the price of | | | | hotel rooms, you can always negotiate the price of |
| the meeting room, banquet costs, and booking hotel | | | | using the meeting room directly. If the room alone is |
| rooms. | | | | $250, ask for a break of $200. If the room is $2,000 |
| Meeting Space | | | | or more and you are inviting hundreds of people to |
| The size of your audience will determine the size of | | | | that hotel, negotiate a lower meeting room rate. For |
| the room required. The average hotel meeting room | | | | example, in the contract you could state that if you |
| ranges from $200 to $1,000 per day. Ballrooms that | | | | book a certain number of rooms, the rate becomes |
| hold hundreds of people range from $1,500 to $5,000 | | | | $1,500 per day. |
| per day. There are three ways to reduce the price | | | | When working with the Director of Sales, remember |
| of the meeting room or even get it for free. | | | | this person’s job is to book meeting and hotel |
| 1. Food. | | | | rooms and bring in banquet services. He or she has |
| If you guarantee a certain amount of banquet costs | | | | the power to get you what you want. Other |
| at your event—in other words, if you add food | | | | bargaining chips could be free afternoon cookies and |
| (breakfast, lunch, snacks, and dinner), you can lower | | | | coffee, free room supplies, such as flipcharts, or |
| the price of the room or possibly get it for free. The | | | | even extended check-in/check-out times. |
| problem with this is if you do not make the promised | | | | Hidden Money |
| dollar amount in banquet costs, you have to make up | | | | Ever wonder why Event Planners insist on negotiating |
| the difference, and this could be quite costly. | | | | the hotel contracts for you? Because, there is hidden |
| 2. Guest sleeping rooms. | | | | money in it. It’s called points. Each hotel chain has |
| Another way to reduce the meeting room rate is to | | | | a system for tracking points. It’s similar to |
| book a block of rooms. This technique works great if | | | | frequent flyer’s mileage. Even though it’s |
| you are promoting a large event in which people will | | | | your event, your event planner takes the points! |
| be traveling from out of town and need to stay in a | | | | Now you know, and you can sign up to receive the |
| hotel. The problem with this method is that your | | | | points even if you use an Event Planner. Ask your |
| hotel block is usually set by the Director of Sales and | | | | Director of Sales to sign you up. |