London Venues Discount Published Delegate Rates as Buyers Shop Around

WEST SUSSEX, ENGLAND, November 03, 2011 (Press-News.org) The research, based on proposals received from venues in 2011, showed that 75 per cent of proposals were discounted below the venues' published rates, with hotels offering some of the biggest savings. An average reduction of 25 per cent was being offered.

The average day delegate rate being paid for conferences and meetings in London was GBP54, with an average published price of GBP72.

Hotels have the highest average published rates at GBP78, with meeting venues at GBP69 and conference centres at GBP67. However all three venue types have the same average offered day delegate rate of GBP54 - showing how much hotels are having to compete. Historic venues have an average published rate of GBP68 and are offering the lowest average discount of only 14 per cent.

Matthew Oliver, director of The Event Wall, said: "The state of the economy continues to put pressure on venue rates across the capital with some great savings to be found if you shop around. Hotels are discounting their published rates heavily to compete with conference centres and meeting venues to meet the demands of cost conscious buyers. It appears that buyers are not currently willing to pay a premium to hold their event in hotels and are looking at other venue types.

"Businesses appear to be favouring the use of more conservative venue types which are perceived as being better value and less likely to attract unwanted internal and external attention. Along with hotels a further example of this are unusual venues which, although having the lowest average published rate of GBP65, are also having to discount the most with an average saving of 31 per cent being offered as they try to attract business."

The research studied a sample of 500 proposals from a cross range of venues received between January 2011 and July 2011. The Event Wall's online proposal system allows clients to post a venue enquiry and then view, compare and manage the proposals received over the website.

The Event Wall takes the hassle out of venue finding. Get great deals on conference venues, meetings rooms and training venues the easy way by using our completely FREE online service. Visit us at http://www.theeventwall.com or contact us on 01306 775018.