Recently Sofitel Brisbane sent out a letter to AV suppliers advising that they would start charging them $75 per hour to cover the costs of electricity, loading dock, escalators etc.
This got the Brisbane ISES chapter fired up and they sent out a media release decrying the action.
The Sofitel have not indicated whether or not the fee will also apply to other users of the facilities such as staging and decorating companies, entertainers (bands for instance), etc. But we have put the question to them and will post that when we get the reply.
It is interesting to note that AVPartners have recently become the in-house AV suppliers to the Sofitel. AVPartners is owned by Garry Hackett - the former owner of Staging Connections where he was quite diligent in getting his services ensconced in hotels and other venues and for endeavouring to stitch up exclusivity deals with those venues.
Probably just a coincidence.
Please have your say on this matter.
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As mentioned ASE put a series of questions to the GM of the Brisbane Sofitel - here is his response...
Does your hotel provide in-house AV services?
Yes. AV Partners is based onsite.
If so does this include equipment owned by the hotel?
Yes. AV partners own the AV equipment and it is operated by qualified AV partner staff.
Will these charges be extended to other suppliers who will use your loading dock, elevators, electricity, cleaning services etc such as bands, DJs and other entertainers, florists, staging and decorating companies, photographers, videographers, etc?
No, general external parties as per above do not come under the AV charge. The fee is for external AV companies only.
One would assume that in the past these costs have been covered by the room hire. so will the room hire costs be reduced to reflect the alternate source of funding for these costs?
Room Hire is unrelated to this charge. Room Hire is a client associated charge and is in place for the hire of the venue space and associated elements, such as provision of and set up of room furniture as per the client specified requirements, cleaning of the room and labour. Room Hire is unrelated to the AV charge.
Is this an Accor Hotels policy that will be applied to other venues under their control or is this just a policy introduced by yourself and if the latter what input did your in-house supplier have on this decision?
The AV charge is a decision made by Sofitel Brisbane Central, the largest conference venue in Brisbane. The AV charge is not an Accor policy.
Sofitel Brisbane Central is the largest conference destination in Brisbane city with facilities catering from 10 to 1100 delegates. In order to re-coup future costs incurred by the hotel for the removal/alteration of what is now permanent AV equipment available at the hotel, from the 1st of July any external AV company operating onsite will incur a fee of $75 per hour.
Sofitel's AV company aims to offer a competitive and cost effective solution for clients. In the instance where a Sofitel client wishes to utilise an external company then the hotel will very happily work with the client and AV operator to fully accommodated their needs. The fee to external AV groups that will be implemented in the new financial year is simply a cost recovery strategy given that the hotel has made such a significant investment in its own AV facilities for the future benefit of its client.
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