# How to compare venue *quotes*

One venue quotes a room fee, another a minimum spend, a third a price per head. They can’t be compared until each is turned into the same thing: what you’d pay in total, for your guests, for your hours.

Updated 25 October 2026 · 5 minute read

## The three ways venues charge

- **Room hire**: A fee for the room. Food and drinks are on top, from the venue or a caterer.
- **Minimum spend**: No room fee, but your group has to spend a set amount on food and drink. Ask what happens if you don’t reach it.
- **Per head**: A set price for each guest, usually for food and sometimes drinks, for a set number of hours.

## Turn each into one total

1. Use the same number of guests and the same hours for every venue.
2. Add the room fee, the food and the drinks you’d really order.
3. Add what goes on top: a service charge, cleaning, security, staff, equipment, a weekend or public holiday rate.
4. For a minimum spend, take whichever is higher: the minimum, or what you expect your guests to spend.
5. Check whether each price includes tax.
6. Divide by your guests to see the price per head, as a check.

The [venue cost per head calculator](https://eventier.app/guides/venue-cost-per-head/) does this in the browser from numbers you type. It does not look up a venue’s price.

## A worked example

Made-up round numbers, to show the method: 60 guests, 7pm to midnight, in whatever currency your venues quote.

| Venue | How they charge | What you’d pay |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Venue A | Room hire of 1,000, plus a food and drinks package at 40 a head (60 × 40 = 2,400) | 3,400 |
| Venue B | A minimum spend of 3,000 on food and drink, no room fee. Your group would spend about 2,700, so you pay the minimum | 3,000 |
| Venue C | 50 a head for food and three hours of drinks (60 × 50 = 3,000), plus a 10% service charge (300) | 3,300 |

Venue B is the lowest total, and if your group spends more than 3,000, you get it all for what you’d have spent anyway. Venue C looks close, but its drinks stop after three hours of a five-hour night, so ask what the last two hours cost before you decide.

## What to weigh besides the total

- **What’s included:** staff, a microphone, a screen, tables and chairs.
- **The deposit:** how much, and when it’s refunded.
- **The hours:** when you can set up, and when the night has to end.
- **The room:** yours alone, or shared with other guests.
- **Getting there:** parking and public transport for your guests.

## Keep it in one place

Put every answer in the same table: the date they can do, the total, what’s included and what they need from you. Where a venue didn’t say, write that down rather than guess, and ask.

Eventier does this from the venues’ replies: it pulls out the date, the quote, what’s included and what they need from you, and lays them side by side. Where a reply doesn’t say, it says so.

## Questions

### What is a minimum spend?

An amount your group has to spend on food and drink, instead of a fee for the room. Ask what happens if you don’t reach it: you may be charged the difference.

### Is a price per head always easiest?

It’s the easiest to budget, because the total moves with your guest list. Check what it includes, and for how many hours.

### Should I get every quote in writing?

Yes. A written quote is what you compare, and what the final bill should match.

## Get the quotes first.

Eventier writes to the venues that fit, sends once you say yes, chases the quiet ones and lays the quotes side by side.

Free to find venues and write the emails.

More guides

- [Venue enquiry email template](https://eventier.app/guides/venue-enquiry-email-template/)
- [Questions to ask a venue](https://eventier.app/guides/questions-to-ask-a-venue/)
- [When a venue doesn’t reply](https://eventier.app/guides/venue-not-replying/)
- [Free venue finding services: who pays?](https://eventier.app/guides/free-venue-finding-services/)
- [Venue finders compared](https://eventier.app/compare/)