Q:
Does anyone broker their suites on behalf of their clients?
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If so, what are the advantages and are there any significant disadvantages?
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How is the fee split?
A:
We don't do it here (we may need to start soon), but when I was with another team, we would allow this. It worked like this: We would sell the suite on behalf of the client. We backed out the price of the tickets in the suite and split the overage 50/50 with the client. They had two choices on how to receive their half: by check or by food credit. Almost everyone chose the food credit. Example:
- 18pp suite sells for: $3,000
- Tickets are $45 each: $810
- Overage is: $2,190
- Client split is: $1,095
A:
We offer a brokerage program on behalf of our suite clients. It allows the suite owner to generate a little revenue if they are not able to use their suite for a particular event. It also allows us to capitalize on additional food and beverage revenue. Typically, a business that is renting on a "per-event" basis will have a higher per-cap for food and beverage.
We have a rental request posted on our website that allows interested parties to request a suite for an event. I then organize the requests based on event dates and priority customers.
Once the suite owner provides me with the dates they want to lease, I contact all interested parties to try and get the best price for the suite owner. If there are several requests for the same date, I send out an email and sell it at a suggested price on a first response basis. Sometimes this creates a sort of bidding war which becomes very time consuming, so it's best if you start out with the highest price you think the suite would go for which will eliminate those clients that want to "make a deal" over a hundred dollars. It's a good idea to set a minimum price and don't ever sell below to maintain value. I believe it's best to let the suite sit empty for a night versus decreasing the value of your inventory.
The suite owner signs a rental agreement and releases all of their suite tickets and suite access. If I am not successful in filling the suite 14 days prior to the event, the suite is returned to the suite owner. We broker with a 60/40 split.
Positives
- Brokering provides another service for your suite owners
- Generates additional revenue
- Builds a database to market other premium seating opportunities
Negatives: Time consuming
Self- brokering: Even though it's stated in the suite owners contract that they are not allowed to sub-license their suite for events, this goes on behind the scenes which deflates the value for other suite owners that are following procedure.
I once received a marketing piece in the mail from a suite owner (by accident) in which they were marketing their suite for several events. It was such a beautiful piece I wanted to call them and rent their suite or find out who produced the piece and offer them a job!