We are all aware of the importance of performing a venue selection in order to identify ideal propertie(s) to meet the specific needs of your event. The location of your meeting should be in line with the planned attendee experience to help ensure that your marketing goals are achieved. Over the past two years, we have found that as the economy has strengthened not only has competition for prime spaces increased, the need to contract with the right venue needs to take place up to 4-5 years prior to your event. This is especially true for larger venues in major metropolitan areas. We have found that even small to midsize venues typically need to be secured 2 years ahead of your event.
Some companies prefer to change the locations of their annual events, however, if your company prefers to be in the same city/metro a trend to consider is multiple-year contracts with your preferred venue. Not only does this allow you to secure your space and dates for several years, it also strengthens your negotiations with the property. The positive results include: stronger rapport with the venue/its staff, better room rates, and savings across all services, such as F&B and in-house AV. Our clients that have entered multi-year agreements also appreciate that they can better/more accurately budget their future events and, by having it at the same venue, can compare “apples to apples” year-over-year. Recently, we negotiated a 5-year agreement with numerous options for the client to expand the event with one hotel chain in 5 major metropolitan areas.
Whether your venue negotiations are single or multi-year contracts with small to midsize or large venues, it has become increasingly important to secure contracts from 2-5 years prior to your event. To learn more about EMP’s venue selection & negotiation services, please visit our website.