One of the primary responsibilities of a tour manager on a concert tour is arranging accommodations and booking hotels.
It is a process that often begins months before a tour is ever out on the road.
There are a number of variables to consider, and working with a qualified travel agent specializing in entertainment tours is recommended.
This article will explore the different stages of booking hotels, considerations for concert touring, and working with an entertainment travel agent to increase efficiency.
Self-Booking vs. Working with a Travel Agent
There is nothing wrong with self-booking hotels for a tour, especially if you only need to book a room or two a night.
However, at a certain point, it makes sense to bring on a travel agent and start to delegate that responsibility.
Booking hotels is an incredibly time-consuming process. On a smaller tour, you are likely wearing a million other hats already.
Deciding to work with a travel agent who specializes in entertainment is one of the best decisions you can make as a tour manager.
There is no additional cost when working with a travel agent to book hotels, and it will likely end up saving the tour money.
How to Book Hotels for a Tour
Preparing accommodations for a concert tour involves a few different phases.
We will break those up into the planning stage, arrival and time on-site, and post-checkout.
Planning Stage: Assessing Accommodation Needs
The first step of coordinating accommodations involves determining what your actually rooming needs are for the tour.
This is one of those tasks that oftentimes happens concurrently with the creation of a tour budget.
Having an itinerary pulled up and going through line by line to identify needs is a tried and true solution.
Here are a few examples of questions to consider:
- Are hotels included in any of the show offers?
- Is this a show day or a non-show day?
- If this is a show day, does the venue have showers? If not, how many shower rooms does the tour require? Do you require any type of day rooms?
- If this is a day off, how many rooms are needed?
- Are these rooms shared or single occupancy?
- Are there any special requirements or preferences for these rooms such as accessibility or room type?
- How many bus drivers are on the tour?
- Is it possible to accommodate parking for transportation at the hotel?
- Are there scenarios requiring earlier than normal check-in? IE: Checking in at 7:00a.
- Are there scenarios requiring later than normal check-out? IE: Checking out past 12:00p.
- Are there certain amenities that your touring party requires? IE: Pool, gym, bathtub, etc.
- Are there day-off attractions along your route? IE: National Parks
- What is your per-room budget?
Working With a Travel Agent
Once you have identified the answers to the above questions and created a rough sketch of needs, you can present the itinerary to the travel agent.
A good entertainment travel agent understands the unique needs and requirements of concert touring.
They will be able to work with you to find properties that balance budget, location, amenities, and any parking needs.
Request that room rates reflect the inclusion of VAT, tax, and any local or resort fees. This will help to make sure you’re staying within the tour budget.
It’s a good idea to start this process as early as possible because it will often lead to higher quality options and avoid competing with other traffic in the market.
Travel agents have relationships with hoteliers that can lead to lower rates, room upgrades, and flexibility with check-in and check-out.
Considerations for Selecting Properties
Different styles of touring have different hotel requirements.
For example, it might make sense to book rooms at the airport if you’re coming in for a one-off fly date.
In contrast, if you need shower rooms or day rooms on a show day, proximity to the venue might be the winning factor.
Similarly, if you’re booking hotels for a day off, access to walkable amenities will be greatly appreciated by all.
The tour might save a few bucks if you stick everyone out in a nondescript corporate park, but why not spend a little more and give people access to restaurants, bars, attractions, etc.
Perhaps the tour likes having a gym on-site or access to room service. Every group’s needs are different.
Ultimately, as a tour manager, you are designing days people will have to live. Use some common sense and avoid self-inflicted logistical headaches.
Bus Driver Rooms
Bus drivers operate on a schedule opposite to everyone else on the tour.
As you’re rolling out of your bunk well rested from an impeccable night of bunk sleep on super smooth roads, your bus driver is just finishing up their work day.
Depending on when the bus call is set the night prior, you frequently encounter the scenario of a driver pulling into the next city early in the morning.
If a driver is coming off of a 500-mile drive, consider booking the night prior so that they don’t have to wait around until 3:00p for their room to become available.
This becomes incredibly important if there is a quick flip the following night. What may look legal on paper, can sometimes be less than ideal for the driver by the time they eat and finally get down to sleep.
Would you rather save $200, or would you prefer an exhausted bus driver? Easy answer and money well spent.
Additionally, make sure driver rooms are away from elevators, ice machines, or anything that could disturb their daytime sleep schedule.
Be mindful of selecting properties that have proximity to the venue and are convenient for the driver when it comes to sourcing meals.
What is a Rooming List?
A rooming list is a roster of everyone in the touring party, along with their lodging requirements.
This will typically include:
- Guest Name (sometimes a pseudonym)
- Confirmation Number
- Room Number (once assigned)
- Room Type (for tour managers’ eyes only)
- Arrival Date
- Departure Date
- Loyalty Number
- Bag Tag Number
- Notes (additional information for specific needs)
What information is included can be tailored at the tour manager’s request. Generally, a principal artist would be omitted from the rooming list for security purposes.
This document is generally distributed to the tour manager at check-in, along with keys and any additional information about the property.
What is a Hotel Rider?
A hotel rider is a document that expresses expectations while at the property, arrival instructions, and check-out procedures. It is created to help streamline the arrival process and make sure everything is up to standard for your group.
Advancing hotels is a very similar process to advancing a show. You are dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s and confirming that everything is good to go.
A basic hotel rider will include:
- Group Leader Contact Information
- VIP upgrades (if applicable and/or available)
- Room Preferences (King, Suite, Double, bathtub, ADA, etc.)
- Key Packet Contents (what the tour manager wants to be included)
- Baggage (if the group will require assistance)
- Construction (things that could impact the stay. IE: closed restaurant, ability to access the hotel)
- Security Expectations
- Folios & Incidentals (how room, tax, incidentals, and any other charges should be routed)
- Welcome Gifts (specification of what should be placed in the room)
Confirming Properties
Once you’ve had a chance to review the options presented by the travel agent, you can begin to make your selections and provide a rooming list that will match the room types you’ve requested.
Generally, if you’ve started this process early enough, the agent will be able to put holds on the rooms, giving you time to make property selections.
Once selections are made, the property will issue confirmation numbers. These confirmations can then be added to internal calendars for your touring party.
Additionally, the travel agent will provide the property with a credit card authorization form to make for a smoother arrival and rooms being pre-keyed.
Pre-Arrival
Prior to arrival, it’s a good idea to give the property a courtesy call and ask if there are any questions regarding your rooming list and hotel rider.
It’s suggested to call the back-of-house salesperson who coordinated the stay, versus calling the front desk. Make sure to do this during their business hours.
Investing 5 minutes here can help to avoid issues upon arrival. Some larger tours will actually send someone out to handle all of the hotel advance work in person prior to the group’s arrival.
If anything has changed you can bring that to the attention of the property, along with confirming that the artist’s credit card authorization is on file.
You can give them an estimated time of arrival so that the front desk is expecting you.
If you are parking a bus at the property, it’s a good idea to ask about any street closures or construction that could impede the bus’s arrival.
Arriving at the Property
If everything has been properly coordinated, the check-in process should be pretty straightforward. This is where all of your preparation pays off.
The ideal scenario is walking into the hotel, and being handed a stack of pre-made key packets for your touring party that can then be distributed.
Assuming this is a day off, and the band and crew are still asleep on the bus, key packets can be left in the front lounge for collection upon sleepyhead sunrise.
If for some reason rooms are not yet available, the tour manager will let everyone know as soon as they receive the word that the rooms are ready.
After Check Out
A concert tour typically only covers room and tax. A business card is put down by the tour manager and all charges will be routed back to the master folio.
This expedites the check-in process and allows for rooms to be pre-keyed. It avoids everyone having to individually put down a credit card.
If a member of the touring party does incur an incidental, it should be settled by the individual, on their personal card, prior to checkout.
With that said, expectations should be set with the touring party, prior to departure.
Obviously, there are exceptions. IE: A principal artist would not be settling their incidentals.
Once the tour is checked out, the hotel will issue final folios that the tour manager or tour accountant will review before passing along to business management.
Any incidentals not settled would be deducted from a paycheck. This creates extra work on the backend. Please settle your incidentals!
Contingency Planning
Sometimes travel plans change unexpectedly and having a travel agent on your side to help navigate cancellations, overbookings, and emergencies is an absolutely stellar resource.
Too often on smaller van tours, bands will arrive after midnight and be counted as a no-show. If you know you’re going to be arriving after midnight, call the night clerk and let them know you’re still coming.
Another issue with late-night arrivals is that hotels will often oversell the property to get a “perfect sell.” They are counting on people not showing up, and sometimes they fly too close to the sun.
It’s the same thing that the airlines do, except in this scenario, you’re exhausted and all you want to do is go to bed. It’s a bummer business practice to maximize profits. This is another reason to call ahead and reconfirm.
Short Term Rentals
Short-term rentals are a bit of a grey area when it comes to concert touring.
A number of groups use them, but accommodations that work for one group could be an absolute nightmare for another.
They are sometimes more cost-effective, offer more privacy from the public, and can lead to memorable moments with your tour mates.
On the flip side, they are inconsistent, lack personal privacy and on-site services, and are time-consuming to book.
Should you use them? Well, it depends. Use your best judgment and make decisions that are right for your tour and team.
Booking Festival Hotels
As with all things relating to festivals, there is a slightly different approach when it comes to booking hotel rooms for a festival.
Oftentimes, major festivals will have a dedicated hotel coordinator who you will be introduced to during the festival advance process.
Generally, larger festivals will typically hold blocks of rooms with proximity to the festival grounds that bands will be able to tap into.
Unless rooms are booked prior to a festival announcement, this can sometimes lead to issues with available inventory because you end up competing with festival attendees, along with other acts performing.
As with everything tour management related, starting early is a gift to your future self.
Hotel Loyalty Programs
Consider enrolling your team in a hotel rewards program.
If your group tends to stay at the same brand of properties over and over again, the benefits can begin to add up.
Some examples of loyalty programs include:
Some of the benefits include:
- Free nights: Most hotel rewards programs offer free nights as a reward for accumulating a certain number of points. This can be a great way to save money on future hotel stays.
- Room upgrades: Members of hotel rewards programs may be eligible for room upgrades, which can mean more space, better views, or other amenities.
- Exclusive rates and discounts: Many hotel rewards programs offer exclusive rates and discounts to their members, which can help to save money on hotel stays.
- Priority check-in and check-out: Some hotel rewards programs offer members priority check-in and check-out, which can be a time-saver, especially during busy travel periods.
- Free amenities and services: Members of hotel rewards programs may also be eligible for free amenities and services, such as free Wi-Fi, complimentary breakfast, or access to hotel lounges.
- Elite status: Many hotel rewards programs offer elite status tiers, which can come with additional benefits such as late check-out, early check-in, and dedicated customer service.
Conclusion
In conclusion, efficient hotel booking is a crucial aspect of successful tour management.
It requires careful planning, communication, and coordination to ensure a smooth and enjoyable experience for the touring party.
Working with an entertainment travel agent can streamline the booking process and help ensure a smooth experience on the road.
Remember that as a tour manager, it is your responsibility to consider the needs and preferences of your touring party to create a comfortable and enjoyable touring experience.
By keeping these considerations in mind, you will be well-equipped to manage hotel accommodations for concert tours and deliver an unforgettable experience for everyone involved.