What a Difference the States Makes!

It goes without saying America is vast and so,

obviously, are the options available for events, there is something for everyone although most centre around the main hubs and coastlines.

Rather than talk about locations, I’m going down a more generic route with these notes and more along the lines of the differences between a venue research task in the UK to the USA, what to expect and what to look for in terms of different working practises.

Continuity is everything when you’re comparing available options.

Decide from the outset (or, more importantly, ask the client) how you’re going to compare each venue to ensure you’re not comparing apples with pears.

Tax, tax and yet more tax!!!

Be warned or at least be very aware that the taxes in the States can sometimes nearly double the cost of the venue.

Most can be reclaimed in the usual manner when you’re a UK corporate holding an event in America, but bear in mind that these taxes will vary from State to State and even from venue to venue.

If you’re going to include the taxes for all venues then firstly, you’ll need an excel template (I’ve got one, shout if you’d like to see it, have it, etc, happy to share), one that will auto update with the various tax percentages applicable.

It’s really worth taking the time to think your event through and prepare a template in advance, it makes the job so much easier than having to change and adapt various part completed sheets retrospectively.

These taxes include:

• Tax
• City tax
• Service charge

Check also which taxes apply to which elements!  Some taxes are charged on multiple elements too.

Generally, City Tax is applied to accommodation; Service Charge is applied to anything associated with an actual service such as f&b; Tax is applied to everything.

Just to give a quick example, one venue recently quoted:

• Accommodation tax @ 13%

• Service charge @ 24% (on which you would need to add a further 9% tax)*

*A different hotel in the same city for the same event quoted 25% service charge plus 9% tax.

Get it all down in black and white from each venue.

Resort Fee

Another fee that I think can sometimes be classed as a tax, although strictly it isn’t, is a Resort Fee.

Clearly, this is only charged by hotels that are classed as resorts with outdoor pools and a high level of leisure facilities such as spa’s, etc. and not city hotels, but that being said most hotels in Miami, for example, fit the bill of both leisure and convention venues and they’ll try to add a Resort fee to your proposal.

Look at what the Resort Fee package includes.  Does it give good value or are your delegates simply not going to use any/most of the inclusions.

These fees will vary from hotel to hotel in terms of cost and inclusions.  I try and negotiate that out of the package as it can add a fair amount to the budget, I’m going to throw a figure as a guide into the pot, but think of adding $39++ per person per night to the budget so your delegates can have WiFi (yes, necessary I admit), but then access to the pools and leisure facilities, complimentary Zumba/yoga classes, complimentary towels, arrival drink, unlimited driving range usage, etc.

In the main your delegates are rarely going to have the time for any of that within the conference agenda so, despite venues in many cases stating that it’s a mandatory charge, let’s negotiate that out of the way.

The Proposal, the USA way.

On the face of it any meeting proposal you receive from a venue in the States will look amazingly straight forward and, sometimes, you’ll even just get the briefest of emails in response.

• Accommodation @ $xxxx

• Minimum f&b @ $xxxx

Easy, peasy but ….  you must dig deeper.

Again, this comes down to continuity when you’re looking at the minimum f&b spend and how to compare that against the available options.

Some venues will offer a low f&b spend and it looks great on paper, others will come in high but the minimum f&b spend doesn’t really tell you anything because it doesn’t tell you how you are going to meet that minimum spend.

Most venues will quote a minimum f&b spend based on the entire programme but if something looks a bit out of kilter then check it’s not a daily spend.

To see how that minimum f&b spend pans out in reality in the early stages of a proposal I use entry level catering costs, plated breakfast, plated lunch and plated dinner and entry level refreshment breaks.

Warning, the menu options venues in America provide can run into pages long with various themed offerings for all catering (breakfast, lunch, refreshment breaks, dinner), the add-ons are usually vast too, tea and coffee by the gallon (and so, how many cups of coffee are there in a gallon?).

Also, to watch for when considering menu options, are the minimum numbers.  Some of the buffet options may come with minimum chargeable numbers so you’ll need to check these too (and this is predominantly why it’s better to work with plated catering when you’re at the early stages and purely needing to compare like with like across the venues to arrive at a shortlist).

So, across each venue calculate banqueting menus at entry level, plated catering to suit your event needs. This is not just to give a budget guide but also to check if the f&b minimum spend quoted by the venue is realistic.  Can you achieve that spend (if not it will be allocated as room hire), or will you naturally have to budget more than the venue’s minimum f&b spend just based on entry level costs?

You’ll also find that many hotels will have a handful of restaurants, spend in these will not go towards your minimum f&b spend if they are franchised outlets. Best not to assume.

(Make sure you have a good look at the menus … in Houston they seem to want to have cheese at the drop of a hat, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and refreshment breaks!)

Some venues do also offer a day delegate rate, this is not the norm, but it’s worth asking and checking with the venue.  It’s usually called a Daily Meeting Package and may cover your event needs.

Check that that can replace the minimum f&b spend if the venue has quoted that way in the first instance because some DMP rates may include an allocation to room hire and some AV which obviously isn’t food or beverage.

I’ll come onto AV further down as that’s an important point too.

Function space allocation

Quite often the initial proposal from the venue will come back without a note of which function space has been allocated so you may need to push for that. 

How can you see if the function space is suitable unless it’s allocated?  Beats me!

You’ll also need to watch for The Ballroom “or similar”, nope, if I’m offering the client The Ballroom then I want The Ballroom allocated to the enquiry and held for the client.

Explore the venue’s website and the local predicted weather for the time of year you’ll be holding the event.  What outdoor options could you use to enhance the event?  What local venues could you add into the mix for an off-site dinner event?

Overnight hold!!!  Check that the venue will offer overnight hold or what the overnight hold charge would be.

This isn’t a huge variation from the UK, but you could find yourself having to pack up your organiser’s office at the end of each day if you haven’t covered that one off pre-event and who has the time or energy to do that, let alone needs to have a time dictated to you to return that room to the venue in time for them to set up a private dinner.

Weather and holidays!

It’s an obvious comment and we are getting more weather highs and lows in the UK, but be aware of hurricane and tornado season, peak months/locations for extreme heat, etc.

Be aware of bank holidays in the USA and the fact that some States have their own holidays specific to their locations.

All these points will not just affect the venues, their staffing levels, etc, but also flights and transport options.

I cover this more in How to Choose the Perfect Venue.

Accommodation rates and city-wide conventions

In the UK we don’t seem to really see accommodation rate compression (apart from in London and for major sporting events or specific times of the year such as Christmas leisure packages) in the same way as we do in the States.

Rate compression due to city-wide conventions is quite the norm.

Just because you held an event in Chicago in March with an accommodation rate of, say, $259++ per room per night, doesn’t mean you stand the chance of being offered that rate again in, say September.

City-wide conventions are exactly what they say on the tin, a major convention either on a specific topic that attracts hundreds of like-minded people (think Comicon) or a large, global corporate has swung into town with an event that one venue just can’t cope with.

The “main event” usually is held in the City’s convention centre leaving hotels with empty meeting space but causing high demand on their accommodation.

You’ll find meeting space availability is high, the minimum f&b spend will be low, but the accommodation rates will be sky high and potentially price you out of that city/location.

Conversely the opposite is also true, but seriously the same bedroom in the same hotel one month could be $149++ and another time you’ll be looking at a rate two or three times that amount.

AV

Most, and I have to say most because there’s always an exception, venues in the USA have washed their hands completely of AV.  It’s all outsourced and PSAV seem to be king of the AV world in the States.

Usually even the humble flipchart will need to be hired in and sometimes even WiFi has to be paid for too.  Packages are generally available but again this needs to be considered when budgeting for an event and attention needs to be paid to what’s excluded that you may need to pay extra for, will the AV provider negotiate on the packages available if you need, say 10 flipcharts and just one plasma but the standard, entry level package just includes one flipchart.

It sounds daft, but very much something to be aware of.

Bringing your own AV provider could also incur and extra charge too, but that’s not overly uncommon in the UK either.

Concessions … the nice bit!

Venues in the USA are really good with concessions but that doesn’t mean you can’t negotiate more into the pot.

You’ll get the basics which could include:

I would say, make it yours, make it appropriate and applicable to your group.  If you’re arranging your own VIP in-room welcome gifts, then could the venue offer an alternative concession that is of more added value to the group?

If the venue is offering, say, 1 in 10 rooms complimentary then can you allocate these complimentary rooms on your room mandate (this is particularly important when delegates are settling their own accounts on departure)?

Would complimentary storage of event materials pre-event be of more value to you than a concession the venue has offered?

Think also about how you’re going to return any materials back to the UK.  This can be costly.  Some venues will actually have a DHL office in-house so maybe check their pricing pre-event before you find yourself cornered!

I love the States, I love the options over there.  There are some amazing venue’s you can book for all sizes of events; you can turn conferences into outstanding experiences.

You’ve got mega hotels in Las Vegas where 7000 bedrooms under one roof is common place, you’ve got resort hotels like the Arizona Biltmore, A Waldorf Astoria Resort, The Houstonian Hotel.  Boston is awash with some amazing hotels.

You can get from Miami International Airport to the InterContinental Hotel Miami by taxi in under 20 minutes.

I might do another piece on venues in USA, but that’s for another time.

So, if you’re organising a conference, meeting or event in the USA I hope the above has helped, if you’d like help with any venue research project rather than plough through all of this yourself (USA or any other location), please do contact me and I’ll take it from there for you.

Enter your email address below and we’ll be in touch (or use the contact page to send a brief).

You might also like our blog site, where recent site visits are listed: venueresearcher.com.