Negotiating a hotel contract for a film or TV production involves several key elements to reach a cost-effective and mutually beneficial agreement with your production’s hotel. Here are some of the most important aspects to negotiate:
Room Rates: Negotiating favorable room rates is crucial to controlling costs. The factors that determine the rate a hotel offers depends on the number on rooms on peak, total room nights, length of stay, and space requirements. Seasonality can drive rates 30-50% higher so factor that into your negotiations.
Room Block: Ensure you negotiate a sufficient room block to accommodate your entire cast and crew on your peak day. Having a guaranteed number of rooms reserved at the negotiated rate can provide stability and flexibility for your production.
Concessions: negotiate for complimentary or discounted amenities such as complimentary room ratio, Wi-Fi access, parking, breakfast, or access to meeting rooms or event spaces for production meetings or filming needs. Hotels usually throw in a few deal sweeteners, more so in competitive bidding situations. Ask for everything, then negotiate backwards.
Risk: Carefully negotiate contract terms and conditions to protect your production company’s interests. Pay particular attention to attrition clauses. We recommend asking for no attrition to give you maximum flexibility to move your people in and out. If you must provide a guarantee, 70-80% is customary. Other clauses to pay attention to are liability, indemnification, force majeure, and any other penalties for breach of contract.
Cancellation Policy: Negotiate a flexible cancellation policy that allows you to adjust the number of rooms or cancel reservations without incurring hefty fees. This is particularly important in the unpredictable world of film and TV production, where schedules can change abruptly. On the other hand, hotels may waive cancellation to secure your block. Doesn’t hurt to ask.
Billing Arrangements: Clarify billing arrangements upfront. Determine whether you’ll pay for rooms individually, via production credit card or through a master account. Negotiate any deposit requirements or payment schedules.
Additional Services: Discuss any additional services you may require, such as catering, room service, laundry facilities, or special accommodations for equipment storage or transportation.
Legal Review: This is not a negotiating point but it would be prudent to have a lawyer review your hotel contract before signing. Maritz has pre-negotiated master agreements with all major global hotel brands including risk reducing language, beneficial terms and conditions, and legalese to streamline legal review.
Happy negotiating! Be prepared to negotiate on multiple fronts. Hotels are often willing to accommodate special requests or make concessions to secure a long-term booking with a production. On the other hand, if you us to look after all that for you (at no additional cost), drop us a line or schedule a call.
Comments are closed