Hotels & Venues
What Makes a Good Preferred AV Supplier Relationship for a Hotel
The markers of a preferred supplier relationship that works in practice, not just on paper.
hotel preferred AV supplier relationship
01
The problem with most preferred supplier lists
Most hotels have a preferred supplier list. Most of those lists have not been reviewed in two years. The AV company on the list won the spot at a procurement exercise, produced two good events in the first year, and has been coasting on the relationship ever since. Nobody has asked hard questions because the events have been acceptable rather than exceptional, and acceptable is easier to manage than a supplier change.
The hotels that run consistently good events do not treat the preferred supplier list as a procurement exercise. They treat it as an operational relationship that needs maintenance.
02
What the relationship should look like in practice
Working well
The production crew arrives knowing the room. They know where the power distribution is, what the ceiling height is before they measure it, and which lift is large enough for the flight case. They do not need a site tour on load-in day.
Not working
The crew arrives and asks for the venue technical spec. This should have been their document, provided by them, not something they need from you on event morning.
Working well
Your events team can send a brief email with the event type, headcount and date and get a quote back within 24 hours without a follow-up. The production company has the rate card, knows the venue, and can scope without starting from scratch every time.
Not working
Every event requires a full briefing document, a site visit, and three rounds of questions before a quote arrives. This is what a new supplier looks like. A preferred supplier should be operating with existing knowledge.
Working well
When a client asks your events team a technical question you cannot answer, you know you can relay it to the production company and get an accurate response the same day. Their technical knowledge is part of your service to the client.
Not working
Your events team has learned to avoid asking the production company technical questions because the answers take days and are often uncertain. You have started looking things up yourself or asking the venue technical manager instead.
A preferred supplier who makes your events team's job harder is not preferred in any useful sense of the word.
03
What the hotel should provide in return
A preferred supplier relationship runs in both directions. The production company invests in learning your space and your clients. The hotel needs to provide the conditions that make that investment worthwhile.
- ✓Forward visibility of the event calendar — Share the next three months of events, even in draft. The production company can plan crew availability and equipment allocation more effectively with advance notice. Events that come in two weeks before they happen create pressure that is often visible in the production quality.
- ✓Honest feedback after each event — Not just when something goes wrong. If the production was excellent, the production company should know. If something could have been better, a brief conversation is more useful than silence and a note in a file.
- ✓First call on new events rather than parallel quoting — A preferred supplier who is also competing for every event with two other companies has no incentive to invest in the relationship. If the arrangement is genuinely preferred, bring them in first and only go elsewhere if they cannot cover the requirement.