Registration fees are capped by what attendees' employers will approve. Most conferences grow by adding lines around registration, and they fall into two groups: those that need a sales team, and those that do not.
Lines that need a sales team
- Sponsorship tiers and branded sessions.
- Exhibitor booths and meeting rooms.
- Hosted buyer programmes and sponsored dinners.
Lines that do not
- Pre-conference workshops and certifications priced separately.
- Recordings and content access after the event.
- Housing share: attendees book hotels whether or not they use your block. A revenue share on bookings made through your registration confirmation earns on all of them, not only those in the block.
The housing gap
Conference blocks capture the attendees who book early and follow instructions. Many others book on their own clock, through corporate travel tools or booking sites, and are invisible to the block and to its rebate. A lodging panel on the registration confirmation meets them at the moment they are deciding. With Bookend the organizer earns around 6–8% of each booking, with no attrition exposure behind it.
Keeping the block and adding the share
Most conferences should keep a block. Speakers, staff and the attendees who want the headquarters hotel need it, and a well-sized block is a negotiating asset. The mistake is treating the block as the whole housing picture. Size it for the attendees who will reliably use it, and let an open lodging panel cover everyone who books on their own — nearby hotels, apartments and houses, at the rates they would find anyway. The block protects your logistics; the share earns on the rest.
The event lodging revenue calculator on this site shows the size of the open side from your own registration count and travel share.