5 Things to Know When Booking Your Event Accommodation
Booking a hotel can be challenging. Where is it near? What is it like? When is the best time to go?
When you’re booking a hotel for an event, although the answers to these questions are pretty straight-forward, that doesn’t always make it easier.
Whether you’re booking for yourself, a couple of extra staff members or a team of 50 people, going for the closest or the cheapest doesn’t always mean that it’s the best option.
With over 16 years in the accommodation and events industry, we know the usual questions that you might be asking, so we’ve put some tips to bear in mind to make your hotel-booking process quite a bit easier.
(NB: for a quick summary, head straight to point 5)
1. What is in the area
Staying onsite is great when you’re up early and back late from a busy day at the exhibition, but not all event venues are located right in the heart of the city. If you’ve been on your feet all day, a short walk back to the hotel to catch up on some work - or for an evening of TV and room service - might just be the best way to end to your day. But if you’re experiencing a new city or if you want to take the team out for an evening of drinks and bowling, you may find a better hotel option further away from the venue, but on a direct transport link.
2. Consider your location and budget
It’s not uncommon to want the best hotel in the best location for the best price – who wouldn’t want that? But it’s useful to pay attention to the scale of the event and the number of other events taking place at that venue at the same time. If you need to be onsite but don’t have a huge budget, it might be worth looking at the public transport links (or driving routes) around the venue to see where an easy location is for you to stay. If being onsite is absolutely necessary but you can’t widen your budget much more, looking into your hotels before everybody else might keep some extra pounds in your pocket, which brings us to the next point…
3. Booking in advance is more beneficial than you think
Once an event has drawn to a close, your attendance for the following year isn’t always a certainty. Even if it is, the final numbers for accommodation certainly won’t be – but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you can’t book them anyway. On a flexible cancellation policy, you’ll have the best terms and conditions that give you full flexibility until – on average – at least a week prior to the event. You may have to change your requirements a couple of times, but the flexibility gives you the assurance that you’ve already guaranteed the best rate for yourself before anybody else has started thinking about it. By leaving it until your numbers are certain, a lot of the rooms around the area may have already sold out, and leave you with a hotel in an unsuitable location at an unwelcome price.
4. The Hotel's reputation
When you’re working onsite at an event, you’re probably going to be pretty exhausted at the end of a long day. To completely unwind, you need to go back to a space that is comfortable, homely and where you can get the perfect nights’ rest. To do that, you need to be sure you’re going back to a hotel that is prepared to suit those needs. Whether you need sound-proof rooms, a certain type of pillow or a space where you can feel relaxed, your hotel choice is quite possibly one of the most vital decisions of your whole trip; because if you don’t feel rested, you’re not going to feel at your best for the next day.
5. You don't need to worry about any of this, because Event Express will do it all for you
Sure, all of the above is useful to know – but who has the time to do it? Planning for an event is a stressful task as it is. Designing the stand, producing marketing materials, arranging the staff; these are just a few of the many tasks you’ll have to do that can’t be done in a flash. This is why, here at Event Express, we do what we do. We understand that you don’t have the time to research your hotel’s pillow type, or check to see which hotels are by which Tube stations, which is why we are here to do it for you. Our service is completely free, and whether you’re an event organiser or you’re exhibiting for the first or umpteenth time, we will listen to your requirements and find the best hotel solution for you. So really, it’s a no-brainer.