Accommodation for layout exhibitors

[queensquare]

12 hours ago, 5944 said:

I can certainly see the advantages in being able to book your own accommodation, but likewise I wouldn't be keen on the personal financial outlay. Smaller clubs can book up a few rooms in a local hotel or B&B, but trying to arrange several hundred rooms for one of the big shows must be a nightmare for the organisers. 

 

My club took one of our layouts to a certain exhibition on top of a hill in North London a few years ago. It took me less time to get back home in Bedfordshire, via a 10 minute walk to the station, two trains, then another 15 minute walk, than it did for the other operators to get to their hotel in North East London! Road works, road closures, traffic jams and football traffic meant it took them about 90 minutes to get to the hotel 8 miles away. I was indoors in 75 minutes, 45 miles away.

 

There's plenty of other accommodation locally, but whether it's available in the quantity required for a reasonable price for the organiser is another matter. It'll also be easier for them to block book one or two hotels than try and book a few rooms in several hotels.

I pulled out of this years Ally Pally because of problems getting a dog sitter for the weekend - not the organisers fault or problem by any means - but the reason I’m reluctant to do it in the first place is the battle round the North Circular to get to the accommodation - 90 minutes on the Friday seems about right.

This is a shame as despite being a country boy and not liking ‘that London’, I do like the venue and it’s an excellent show.

 

On the issue of accommodation generally, I wouldn’t want to get involved with booking my own, particularly for the bigger shows. For smaller, club shows I’d be more flexible  but would still prefer if the host club organised it.

 

Jerry

 

 

[Jol Wilkinson]

27 minutes ago, arran said:

Paying up front for a room is no different to paying for the van or the fuel . 
 

if that’s the deal that’s offered then take it or leave it . 
I can understand not wanting to be bothered with booking all the rooms and trying to keep the small amount of prima donnas happy .  
 

Regards  Arran 
 

 

We have already discussed the effort and incidental costs involved in exhibiting a layout. Paying for van hire and fuel up front is usually a cost only over the weekend as expenses are normally paid on Sunday. If show organisers want to put exhibitors to the further hassle of booking their own accommodation, which may involve paying weeks/months in advance to get rates that fit in with what they will be reimbursed, then some will undoubtedly pull out. Clubs should also know which hotels are best suited to exhibitors needs from their local knowledge and also be able to negotiate better rates through group bookings.

 

Further, if the organiser's attitude was "take it or leave it" as you suggest, then some exhibitors would probably prefer not to deal with that organisation. 

[Siberian Snooper]

I helped my good friend out at the Ally Pally last year, we left the car at the venue and used public transport. We both have granny bus passes.

 

[arran]

56 minutes ago, Jol Wilkinson said:

We have already discussed the effort and incidental costs involved in exhibiting a layout. Paying for van hire and fuel up front is usually a cost only over the weekend as expenses are normally paid on Sunday. If show organisers want to put exhibitors to the further hassle of booking their own accommodation, which may involve paying weeks/months in advance to get rates that fit in with what they will be reimbursed, then some will undoubtedly pull out. Clubs should also know which hotels are best suited to exhibitors needs from their local knowledge and also be able to negotiate better rates through group bookings.

 

Further, if the organiser's attitude was "take it or leave it" as you suggest, then some exhibitors would probably prefer not to deal with that organisation. 

That's why i said Take it or leave it !!!! you dont have to exhibit .

 

They will change it if to many dont want to do that deal  .

[PaulRhB]

2 hours ago, arran said:

Paying up front for a room is no different to paying for the van or the fuel . 

 

Not really Arran, the van doesn’t get more expensive the closer the date you book it plus you pay and you collect it, the fuel you can buy on the way. Theres no advance risk. Ok you’re out of pocket for a couple of days, week at the most.
Booking up hotels months in advance to do several shows if this becomes more popular, and others think why not if they do it, is a totally different financial outlay and as I said before all at your own risk unless you can find a £70 room with 24hr cancellation?

As you say if a show chooses it that’s up to them and you don’t accept the invite.
I know the show organiser side of it and feel it’s poor when small groups with 30 members manage to do it and they don’t have the financial resources a major company or big club does. Smacks of accountancy idea to reduce risk. 

[PaulRhB]

56 minutes ago, arran said:

They will change it if to many dont want to do that deal 

It may be a painful discovery to the few that get burnt not getting a few hundred quid refunded if they have to pull out through illness or bereavement. 

Edited February 19 by PaulRhB

[arran]

7 minutes ago, PaulRhB said:

It may be a painful discovery to the few that get burnt not getting a few hundred quid refunded if they have to pull out through illness or bereavement. 

Lets go back to what I said .

 

Dont accept the invite then But plenty others will on those terms 

 

Whether its death or an asteroid strike we take our chances

 

 

[PaulRhB]

23 minutes ago, arran said:

Lets go back to what I said .

 

Dont accept the invite then But plenty others will on those terms 

 

Whether its death or an asteroid strike we take our chances

 

 

Yep, I acknowledged that in the first reply, I fear though some won’t think of it and may innocently get rather burnt. 

My concern is that this could put those on a tight budget off exhibiting and that’s bad for all of us.
 

One show may not be a problem but as others would inevitably follow to offload the risk then it gets very expensive to exhibit booking up months ahead. I’ve only got five shows this year and only two that would need a hotel and that would be over £500 sat in others accounts until September. 
 

 

 

Edited February 19 by PaulRhB

[JohnR]

40 minutes ago, PaulRhB said:

Not really Arran, the van doesn’t get more expensive the closer the date you book it plus you pay and you collect it, the fuel you can buy on the way. Theres no advance risk. Ok you’re out of pocket for a couple of days, week at the most.
Booking up hotels months in advance to do several shows if this becomes more popular, and others think why not if they do it, is a totally different financial outlay and as I said before all at your own risk unless you can find a £70 room with 24hr cancellation?

As you say if a show chooses it that’s up to them and you don’t accept the invite.
I know the show organiser side of it and feel it’s poor when small groups with 30 members manage to do it and they don’t have the financial resources a major company or big club does. Smacks of accountancy idea to reduce risk. 

 

Generally speaking, I've found you dont have to pay for the van (and certainly not the fuel) until you collect it. However, to get the best deal (and perhaps to stay within budget) you do need to pay for your hotel room when you book - possibly losing the ability to cancel. 

[arran]

1 hour ago, PaulRhB said:

Yep, I acknowledged that in the first reply, I fear though some won’t think of it and may innocently get rather burnt. 

My concern is that this could put those on a tight budget off exhibiting and that’s bad for all of us.
 

One show may not be a problem but as others would inevitably follow to offload the risk then it gets very expensive to exhibit booking up months ahead. I’ve only got five shows this year and only two that would need a hotel and that would be over £500 sat in others accounts until September. 
 

 

 

Its the chance we take as Exhibition Managers as well ,  Personally i book rooms although they get a choice of sorts .

 

It may be the way forward in some way but this years Warly some were at Tamworth nearly 20 miles away " a cost in its self "   

[PaulRhB]

25 minutes ago, arran said:

but this years Warly some were at Tamworth nearly 20 miles away " a cost in its self " 

😆 yeah been in Coventry, Tamworth and Sutton Coldfield but some of those were quicker than the year we were in the Prem Inn on site and walked to the hall! 🤣

 

 

[009 micro modeller]

On 11/02/2024 at 09:40, Chris M said:

So, on reflection I think giving exhibitors a basic allowance and letting them fend for themselves is a good thing and I fully support such a change.

As others have said, I can see both sides of this. On one hand it’s in some ways no different from the other choices we make when we exhibit. So for medium-distance two-day exhibitions some people would want a room whereas others would want to go home overnight but then expense their travel in the morning (though there may be a difference in cost between these options). And similarly with large layouts that can split into sections I’ve heard of people making the choice between hiring a single van (which they arrange themselves) or transporting in two cars they already have access two. I do also think that it gets round the issue of people wanting to bring extra friends and family members who will not be claiming expenses as part of the operating team but will want to stay with them, as you allude to.

 

On the other hand there’s a few aspects that I’m not so comfortable with. I don’t really like the idea of large upfront costs from hotel bookings as an exhibitor. Ideally these would be reimbursed immediately after booking rather than at the end of the show (obviously this is less practical for things like petrol money, but this is paid for immediately before the show anyway). Alternatively if it’s an allowance then in theory it could be paid to all exhibitors by bank transfer as soon as they accept the invitation. This would transfer the financial risk back to the organiser, but from an exhibition manager’s point of view it would at least avoid the situation where some exhibitors might then try to claim a higher level of expenses retrospectively (I’ve heard of people who would do this sort of thing). As an exhibitor, I’d want to know that I’d still get the money back in the event of (for example) the show being cancelled. But who pays if the layout is pulled out due to the exhibitor being ill? The other grey area is for large layouts that need an additional night of accommodation due to set-up time.

 

The other issue is for layouts with one operator (or an odd number). As others have said, the cost per person for one single room is probably going to be more than two operators sharing a twin. That said, I tend to think it’s better to have a second operator anyway to cover breaks, but a bit difficult to justify expenses for.

 

On 11/02/2024 at 09:40, Chris M said:

The only thing I would miss is all the exhibitors being together over breakfast.

You might get this anyway at some shows in smaller towns, as everyone naturally books into the same hotel still, but individually. Which potentially makes the cost go up for the organiser as they cannot block-book. I once did a show where I was invited a little bit later than most other exhibitors (actually I was originally invited quite far in advance, but the organisers didn’t confirm everything until later). We weren’t put up in the same hotel as most of the other exhibitors but at least it was all paid for - if I was booking myself the cost might have gone up as it was nearer to the date of the show (there are sometimes last-minute booking deals, but that’s a bit of a risk in this context). Added to which I do think the social element is nice and helps to make the weekend more enjoyable as an exhibitor, which means I’m more willing to be a bit out of pocket at the end. Though I do find this works better at specialist shows (for me NG or 009) where a lot of exhibitors have travelled from further away but we all have something in common. When it’s a local show where you’re one of about three guest layouts and everyone else knows each other it can be a bit awkward.

 

Despite all that, I do think some of these problems could be ironed out and it could then work quite well. And evening social events for exhibitors could always be at the venue or at a local pub, if you still wanted to have them.