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- Find out what another group at the property has ordered. A property will sometimes provide a discount if you “piggyback”
onto another group’s menu.
- If the property has a buffet in the restaurant, ask if your attendees can go through the
buffet line and be seated in a private room. If this is not practical, ask if you can serve the same selections as offered
on the restaurant’s buffet.
- Meet with the chef and discuss your budget. Ask him to develop a menu for you. Many times
the cost is less than if that selection was on the hotel's standard menu.
- Select plated meals over buffets. Buffets
are always more costly as the chef prepares more food to keep the serving stations full.
- Ask for “free” coffee breaks
in your contract.
- Consider a reception with heavy hors d’oeuvres rather than a sit-down dinner. Caring stations, hot
pasta dishes and fruit and cheese platters offer economical fare.
- Schedule a cocktail “half-hour,” especially if you
are having a sit-down dinner afterwards. An event held just prior to dinner is primarily a way to welcome attendees.
- Some
properties provide an continuous all-day break service which includes Continental Breakfast. You pay by the person instead
of my the gallon of coffee or dozen of sweet rolls. Make sure you compare the cost to ordering specific amounts. If you have
heavy eaters, this could save you money.
- Choose the correct property for your budget. For example, don’t choose a
four-star hotel because of a discounted room rate if its food & beverage prices don’t fit your budget.
- Keep a
historical record of guarantees and actual. You can better estimate the number of no-shows and adjust your guarantees accordingly.
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Ordering food
by quantity is usually cheaper than on a per person basis. However, you run the risk of running out of food if you are unsure
of the history of the group (eating habits and attrition history).
Reception - Pieces per person - 2 hours or less
with dinner:
Heavy eaters - 8
Moderate eaters - 5-7
Light eaters - 3-4
Reception - Pieces per person
- 2 hours or less with no dinner:
Heavy eaters - 12
Moderate eaters - 10-11
Light eaters - 6-8
Reception
- Pieces per person - 2-3 hours with no dinner:
Heavy - 15
Moderate - 14
Light 8-10
To ensure a
well-balanced offering, select two-thirds hot and one-third cold hors d’oeuvres, complemented with a variety of fruits, cheeses
and raw vegetables.
Coffee breaks:
Morning 60/40 - coffee/sodas
Afternoon 40/60 - coffee/sodas
For 400 people order 12 gal. coffee (8 reg., 4 decaf) for a morning break and 8 gal. coffee (5-1/2 reg., 2-1/2 decaf) for
an afternoon break.
Number of liquor drinks per bottle:
one fifth - 1 oz. - 25
one quart- 1 oz. - 32
one liter- 1 oz. - 33
Estimate 2.2 drinks per person per hour for a predominately male group and 1.2 drinks
per hour for a predominately female group and 1.8 drinks per hour for a mixed group. One bartender per 75-100 people. If it
a sponsored bar, however, you may increase the number by 1 for each group per hour.
Number of 4 oz. glasses of
wine per:
Bottle - 6
Liter - 18
Carafe - 8
Gallon - 32
Beer: 1 keg = 16 gallons or 200, 10
oz. cups
The above quantities are guidelines. The best rule is to know the eating and drinking habits of your group
and keep detailed records so that you'll develop a written history for the group.
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Attrition
clauses in contracts essentially provide that an organization guarantee that its actual room block will meet or exceed a certain
percentage of expected room nights.
Tips for avoiding attrition costs:
Book conservatively. Remember,
it’s better to go shopping for additional rooms than to pay for unused ones. Decide the minimum room block pick-up you
can agree to use. Usually, you can negotiate a minimum pick-up that represents 80 to 90 percent of your total block -- a number
that should be stated in your contract.
Assure that the contract provision states how the attrition fee is to be
calculated. Usually the fee is based upon the difference between the minimum and actual room pick-up numbers.
The
contract should state that any rooms you use will be counted in your total, regardless of rate or method of reservation. The
room pick-up differential number would then be multiplied by a dollar amount equal to a percentage of the room rate, such
as 75% (representing lost profit).
Request hotel occupancy reports. Make sure that if the hotel is sold out on
any of the blocked nights, you will not pay an attrition fee for that night. If the hotel is partially sold out–that
is, if there are fewer rooms remaining for sale than your slippage for that night–you should pay for the lesser of the
two.
Assure that the contract states that the hotel must provide documentation to verify the attrition charges.
Documentation should include a list of guests during the blocked dates, an accounting of the total number of rooms available
for sale over the blocked dates and projected and/or historical occupancy for the blocked dates. Check out these sites for help with meeting management and professional memberships: Meeting Planning Helps - www.marriott.com/meetings/meeting-planning-services.mi Meeting Planning Survival Guide - http://meetingsnet.com/survivalguide/ Meeting Professionals International - www.mpi.org Meeting Professionals International - Carolinas Chapter - www.mpi-cc.org
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