- THEY’RE EQUAL FEES...Food & Beverage (F&B) minimums and Meeting Room Rental are equal fees and you should not have both in your hotel contract. A hotel has a minimum revenue amount that they expect to get out of their breakout rooms/ballrooms on a certain day/time. As long as you fulfill that with either meeting room rental or an F&B minimum, you are fulfilling the hotel’s revenue needs for that meeting room.
- DON'T OVERPAY…Make sure that if you fall short of your F&B minimum that you don’t pay F&B operation costs which are typically 35%. For example, if you have a $10,000 F&B minimum and come in at $8,000, you would not pay the hotel the F&B operation costs on that $2,000 so you would only owe $1,300.
- TAKE THEM OUT…Once again you will be surprised in this economy that all you have to do is ask. If meeting room rental or an F&B minimum is a major issue with you due to budget cuts, just ask the hotel to take it out but expect to give something back in return.
- KNOW YOUR F&B HISTORY...Once again this falls on you to make sure that you know what you have historically spent on your F&B events/meetings. If you don’t have historical f&b information on your meetings, get it because it will give you more leverage with the hotel.
- GUARANTEE F&B EVENTS NOT F&B REVENUES…Most hotels will be happy just knowing that you will be hosting F&B events in their hotel, so instead of guaranteeing an F&B minimum of revenue based on your agenda, tell them you will guarantee your F&B events. This will help limit your liability and satisfy both parties.
If you have any further questions regarding this clause or if you have any additional “TIPS” that you would like to share, feel free to contact me directly at 612-432-1397 or feel free to email me at mdallman@hpnglobal.com or check out my website www.ameetingplannersbestfriend.com.