Every event that draws people from out of town creates hotel and rental spend. Attendees book it within days of buying a ticket, and almost always somewhere the event never sees. There are three ways to bring part of that money back to the event, and they carry very different risk.
1. A hotel room block
You contract a set number of rooms with one or more hotels at a group rate. The hotel may pay a commission or a per-night rebate on rooms picked up. The catch is attrition: if attendees do not fill the block, the contract can make the event pay for empty rooms. Blocks suit conventions and tournaments where you know headcount and need rooms guaranteed close to the venue.
2. An open lodging page with a revenue share
Instead of holding rooms, the event links a lodging page from its ticket confirmation, registration email and website. Attendees book any nearby hotel or rental from it, and the event earns a share of every completed stay. Nothing is contracted, so there is no attrition and nothing to pay if fewer people travel than you hoped.
This is what Bookend does. We build the page around your event and dates, put it at the moment of checkout, and you earn around 6–8% of every booking made through it. There is no fee and nothing to pay up front.
3. Ticket and hotel packages
A partner contracts rooms and sells them bundled with tickets. It can raise the average order, but someone carries the inventory risk, and packages work best for destination festivals with a premium audience.
Which to choose
- Need rooms guaranteed next to the venue for teams or staff: a small block, sized conservatively.
- Want revenue from attendee travel with no contract and no risk: an open lodging page.
- Selling a premium destination experience: packages, often alongside an open page for everyone else.
Most events can run an open lodging page alongside whatever they already do. The place it earns most is the confirmation page and the first email after purchase, because that is when attendees decide where to stay.