Bringing Outside AV Into a Hotel: Fees and What to Ask
Most hotels and conference centers have an AV company on site, often called the in-house or preferred provider. You’re usually allowed to bring your own AV company instead, but there may be conditions and fees attached. Planners who find out about those fees after signing the venue contract have very little room to negotiate. Planners who ask first often get them reduced or waived.
This guide covers the fees you’re likely to see, when to raise them, and what to ask, whichever AV company you choose.
Why hotels have in-house AV
An in-house provider is convenient: their equipment is already in the building and their staff know the rooms. Hotels also typically earn a share of in-house AV revenue, which is part of why bringing in an outside company can come with fees. Neither option is automatically better. The right choice depends on your event, your budget and the quality you need.
The fees to ask about
Not every venue charges all of these, and names vary from hotel to hotel. Ask about each one by name.
- Outside vendor fee. A charge for bringing in an AV company other than the in-house provider, sometimes a flat amount and sometimes a percentage.
- Patch or house-connection fee. A charge to connect outside equipment to the hotel’s built-in sound system or ceiling speakers, often per room, per day.
- Rigging fee. A charge for hanging anything from the ceiling, sometimes with a requirement that the hotel’s own rigger supervises.
- Power or electrical fee. A charge for the dedicated power that stages, LED walls and lighting need beyond ordinary wall outlets.
- Internet fee. A charge for a dedicated, wired internet line, which you’ll need for any live stream or remote presenter. Hotel guest Wi-Fi isn’t reliable enough.
- Labor or supervision fee. A charge for hotel staff to be present while an outside company works.
When to ask: before you sign
The best time to negotiate is while the hotel is competing for your event. Once the contract is signed, the fees in it are final.
Before you sign, ask the hotel in writing:
- Can we bring in our own AV company?
- What fees apply if we do? Please list each one.
- Will you waive or cap any of those fees as part of our contract?
- Can our AV company use the rigging points and power we’ll need?
- What are the load-in rules: loading dock, freight elevator, times?
- What insurance does an outside AV company need to provide?
If the answers matter to your budget, ask for the fee waivers or caps to be written into the contract itself.
Compare total cost, not just the AV quote
To compare fairly, add the hotel’s outside-AV fees to the outside company’s quote, then compare that total with the in-house quote for the same equipment and labor. Make sure both quotes include the same things: screens and projection or LED, sound, microphones, lighting, technicians for the whole program, setup and teardown.
Look at quality as well as price. Ask each company what equipment they’re proposing, how many technicians will run the event, and for examples of similar events they’ve produced.
What a good outside AV company handles for you
Once you’ve booked an outside company, the logistics with the venue should be their job, not yours. Expect them to:
- Coordinate load-in times, the loading dock and freight elevators with the venue’s staff
- Confirm power and rigging requirements ahead of time
- Arrange the dedicated internet line for streaming
- Provide a certificate of insurance to the venue
- Send stage layouts and rigging plans for the venue to approve
How we can help
We regularly produce events in hotels and conference centers across Philadelphia, the suburbs, New Jersey and beyond. If you’re comparing options, send us your venue, date and what you have in mind. We’ll put together a quote you can compare side by side with the in-house provider’s, and tell you honestly if in-house is the better fit for your event.
Booking us? Forward our one-page sheet for venue event teams to your venue: it covers our insurance, rigging plans and what we’ll need from them. For everything else to settle before show day, use our free event AV planning checklist.
