Rate Check – book early for better value for money

We all know that there are lots of factors that will make a difference to the rate charged by a venue, such as the day of the week, the date, the location.  We’ve taken a look at one of our client’s events that could take place in January or March 2019 and compared the costs. 

As well as the hotels in the table, 19 additional hotels were contacted and there was no availability on both dates.

The brief is for a one-day conference:

• Attendees: 55 people
• Location: Central London or countryside location accessible from Heathrow Airport
• Venue style: Hotel, preferably 5* or boutique hotel in London or country house outside London
• Meeting room layout: cabaret style
• Catering: separate areas for refreshment breaks and lunch
• Food & beverage: 3 servings of tea/coffee and lunch
• Accommodation : 55 bedrooms on Friday night

The rates below are for a daily delegate rate including 3 breaks, plus bed and breakfast, as the client wanted to have dinner offsite.

EDGE Venues advises clients to book as far in advance as possible to achieve the best possible rates and in the majority of cases the comparison supports this.  Unless the client waits until the very last minute and is prepared to compromise, the rates will only increase as availability becomes scarcer closer to the event date. 

There was no obvious saving taking this event outside London as there were fewer hotels to choose from that met the client’s requirements.

Points to note

The venue finding was done in September 2018, so an 18-week lead time to the January date and a 25-week lead time to the March date.

*We were unable to compare these conferences at all of the same hotels as some of them were already booked on the relevant date, but for comparison purposes they are similar in style, standard and facilities.