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Negotiating the best deal - What everyone should know about negotiating with function venues

Even the priciest, classiest and most popular function venue can be yours if you know how and when to negotiate. 

Venues always have dates which are in high demand and also dates that are difficult to fill.  Your chance of negotiating the room hire on the most popular Saturday or Friday of the year, 6 months out, are usually almost zero!  But if you are a few weeks out from a date that the venue has had no enquiries or interest in a particular date, chances are they would rather get you in there at a discounted price than have it go empty and make nothing.

So ask a venue about dates they have coming up that they are willing to negotiate on or any dates they may be willing to offer you for a special deal.  If you can choose a Sunday or a Thursday there is a good chance the venue may be willing to reduce the room hire and minimum spend.   If the amount you are willing to pay for food and drink is significant, there may be a chance to negotiate a price or a deal if you commit to the whole amount.  This will vary venue to venue, but doesn’t hurt to ask. 

The closer the date you are enquiring for, the more likely you are to find a good deal.   Venues may be reluctant to negotiate on a date too far in advance as they may believe they may have enough time up their sleeve to wait for someone willing to pay full price for their room and services.

Most venues will negotiate a better price on bulk cocktail quantities.  The quantity required for a discount may vary venue to venue.  The type of cocktails you want may also affect the result.

Some may agree to negotiate a better price on the wine or champagne for toasts if you are pre-ordering a large quantity. 

Most venues will have minimum costs they have to cover in order to open so may not be flexible on price negotiation or waiving room hire.  In these cases, you may have a better chance of getting them to throw in a complimentary food platter or entertainment or some other bonus such as a $50 drink card if you pay the full price for room hire.

Understand that some venues and some dates are in high demand and the venue may have other clients willing to pay full price who may also want the same date which you are attempting to negotiate a deal on.  Be prepared to lose out in this instance and have a backup option.

During your research you may find some venues will not budge on any prices and other venues are happy to reduce or waive most of their costs to get you into their venue.  Don’t be too hasty to go with the cheapest venue or the venue most willing to negotiate – chances are that venues that will not negotiate are quite likely in high demand and there is probably a very good reason why they are so popular.