Hotels as party venues a growing trend?

Davina Henry, Staff Reporter

With the increase in the number of parties and promoters now upping the ante to have their parties stand out, two events have noticeably added a new dimension to the party experience.

Dream Entertainment, the promoters of the Bleu Weekend series, and Fame FM, the promoters of the FAME Property Party Weekend, are now capitalising on using resorts as an alternative to regular party venues.

Speaking with The Gleaner, Phillip 'PP' Palmer of Dream Entertainment said that, although the aim of the event is to give party fans an extraordinary experience, it is not always viable to use hotels as alternatives to party venues.

challenging to find venue

"We realised that we weren't taking advantage of the fact that Jamaica is a tourist destination. We wanted a new way of doing events, because, at times, it is challenging to find a good venue. It's not really viable at all times to use hotels as alternatives to venues, because for one, the hotels are very expensive. It costs more for an average person to come to a hotel than to go to a regular party venue," PP told The Gleaner.

"Some hotels can charge up to US$80 a day for passes while, if patrons are going to a regular venue, they would pay between $3,000 and $4,000."

Janice Young, project coordinator at Fame FM, told The Gleaner hotels are sometimes more viable alternatives than regular venues.

"It is more viable in the sense that hotels have everything already set up. They have the stage, bars and they already have an entertainment licence. As a promoter, you have less," Young said.

While the cost to party in style at Jamaica's leading resorts is far more than attending a party at a regular venue, promoters also face the hassle of having to book rooms for the event.

"As promoters of Bleu Weekend, we have to book a number of rooms to have the event at the hotel, so there is added pressure to find that sort of money upfront. That puts promoters at a higher risk, because, if persons book rooms but don't turn up, we still have to pay for the room. When we started Bleu Weekend, it really was an investment, because we wanted our patrons to have a new dynamic party experience. So for the first few stagings, it's going to really be hard, but as I said, it's an investment," PP went on to say.

Although hotel venues are noticeably more pricey, there are advantages to both promoters and patrons.

"With an all-inclusive hotel, patrons no longer have to worry about transportation to and from the venue, thus minimising the chances of driving under the influence. Persons can party and then go straight to their rooms. Everything is right at their fingertips - food and all. It also increases the number of visitors to Jamaica who come from other countries just for the party," PP went on to say.

Should more promoters then be looking into hosting parties at hotel venues? Not so, says Palmer.

"For me, at this stage, we have to limit these hotel parties to just Bleu Weekend. Until we can book out an entire hotel for an event, it's not feasible at this time. These hotel parties don't offer quick returns, it's more long term. So it's not practical to do it as often as we like," he said.