Quote:
Originally Posted by Bill Bess
My guess, it's the economy and the Convention Center probably raised the space fee so high that vendors said, "screw it, it's not worth the expense".
It seems that cities are trying to help the general fund by raising fees and charging for things they didn't charge for in the past. I know it's happening here in Lake Havasu City.
Bill
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The fees are set by the promoter, not the venue. Detroit (NAIAS) is run by the Detroit area dealers association and they determine the cost. The space fee is only a small part of the total costs, the display materials, the set up and break down and the fact that most of the larger shows are done in Union venues adds to the cost.
10 years ago we tried to do Detroit with AC and the union costs were mindblowing, you cannot plug anything in-that's a union electrician at a one hour plus charges fee. You can't go to the storage room and retrieve brochures-that's a union porter, again a one hour minimum plus. And then you can only rent carpet from the designated "house" supplier, etc.
I'm not anti-union in many cases, just pointing out that the floor space is only the tip of the iceberg.