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How to Negotiate the Event Venue Price

How to Negotiate the Event Venue Price

The event venue price pinches your budget? In this case, you have to learn how to loosen the grip. You may disagree, but we’ll make a bold statement here: everything is negotiable.

If you know how to ask, you can get a considerable discount for everything – from venue to volunteers’ uniforms.

Why is it necessary to negotiate the event venue price?

If you take everything as it is, the venue price may eat up 60% of your total event budget, especially if it’s a large conference or a meeting lasting several days. In case you don’t try to get a better event venue price, you risk ending up with poor event quality. Negotiation helps you hold the ground, instead of retrenching on all event aspects to maintain the venue cost.

Learn how to negotiate the price of an event venue and boost the revenue in one fell swoop.

3 Golden rules of negotiating

#1. Be an initiator.

Don’t wait for someone to establish the tone for negotiations. There’s one stable tendency here: whoever starts the deal, wins in the end. Ok, don’t take it literally. No deal will be successful only because the first word is yours. However, you can make it work for your success if you go for it with the proper preparation and confidence.

Make sure you have a solid understanding of the market before starting to negotiate event venue price. You can go through several similar offers, consider all pros and cons (better write them down) and draw your master plan for getting the proper venue at the best price.

All numbers and figures processed? Now it’s the right time to take control over the starting point.

ProTip: Claim your price first. It’s even ok if you make a polite interruption in the beginning and state that you’d like to share what you have in mind.

#2. Negotiate in writing.

Venue price negotiations should end with a written agreement. What if you have it ready and waiting for a signature before a discussion starts? Over confident? Not one bit! It’ll just add value to your offer and show that you’ve come prepared. Start referring to the written document from the first moment the proposal has been made and get a signature when the right moment comes. Result: no follow-up paperwork and no interference with your initial offer.

#3. Stay cool.

Negotiating is a subtle process, which requires your confidence and leadership. No matter how much pressure you face and what emotions jump over your negotiating table, maintain your calmness. If you display your firm intention and great composure, no one will throw you off.

How to ask for a discount

Confidence is golden. However, sometimes over-ambitious plans and self-assurance may leave you in a dump. Go through the rules on how to ask for a discount so that to stay on the safe side.

Be confident, but stay realistic

You can’t ask for a discount if you’re all trembling and stuttering. Maintaining your confidence through the whole negotiation process is a big must. At the same time, make sure that your proposal is reasonable and based on the research. If you set realistic goals, you have more chances to reach the expected results.

Decide how low you can go in advance

No matter how far your negotiations take you, establish a price barrier that you must not cross.

ProTip: study the event venue prices and deduce the average. Then ask for a 10% (maximum 20%) discount rate, depending on the circumstances and features of your event.

Choose the right time

Your negotiation success may depend on whether you ask for a discount on event venue price at the right time. If you plan on setting the event in the peak season, when the demand is high, you’ll most likely fail, because the venue holder will have more profitable proposals to take. Think of what would be the best time for your event from the perspective of venue price negotiation and you’ll get a big win for your budget.

Trial it

If you’re a newbie, you should consider setting a so-called negotiation trial. Based on the research, go to several venue holders that have similar offers and ask them what could be the discount they’re ready to provide. This way, you’ll get a real picture of what you should expect to pay.

Don’t pay full price

Have an agreement? Congratulations! Now note the last golden rule: don’t pay the whole price in advance. To ensure the quality and safety of the deal, pay only a small deposit up front.

How to create a winning proposition

In order to minimize an event venue price, approach it strategically. Here’s the list of small goals for you to accomplish in order to build a winning proposal:

  • Develop an estimate of your budget to deduce the realistic cost of the venue you want to target.
  • Make the space requirements crystal-clear. You can find some tips on how to make a full use of your venue here.
  • Think of several event date options to prove the other side that you’re flexible and want to reach a mutually beneficial agreement.
  • Clarify the roles. Since some venue holders cooperate with third-party businesses, they may include additional services into the price. Make sure you have your engagement clearly defined to avoid unnecessary expenses.
  • Don’t sign the contract until you double-check each line. Better yet, ask someone from your colleagues to read it.

Best strategies for negotiating event venue costs

To make your chances even higher, we’ve collected some winning strategies from the industry professionals:

#1. Prove your value.

The key thing that venue holder are interested in when they cooperate with you is deriving the best profits for their revenues. If you have some experience organizing similar events, provide the details on how much your expenses reached the previous time to prove that cooperation with you can be of great value.

#2. Book multiple events with one venue.

One more effective way to cut the costs would be to find the venue suitable for several upcoming events you’re organizing. As experience shows, in this case, high discounts are considered.

#3. Get quotes from several venues.

To compare the costs, talk to multiple venue holders and negotiate the optimal prices with them. You can then use this data for driving the costs down with a target venue.

Don’t forget: you can always simplify your event planning process if you use a successful event management software.

Get started for free, right now!

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