OMG Rentals

3 mistakes hiding on your venue's rate card right now:

1) One price for every day of the week. Saturday is your rarest inventory — it shouldn't cost the same as a Tuesday. A 20–40% weekend premium is the fastest money you're not collecting.

2) Setup & teardown baked into the base rate. That's 4–6 hours of paid staff labor you give away on every event. Two line items — $250 setup, $125 teardown — add about $30K a year on 80 events.

3) A flat bar package. When most couples want top-shelf, one price means you eat the margin every time. Three tiers, and you let them self-select up.

None of these need a pricing overhaul. They need line items you're not charging for.

Which one is on your rate card right now?

A venue bar, priced right, is the most profitable square foot in the building. Priced wrong, it quietly eats your margin.

The most common setup: one flat package, open bar, anything on the shelf. The problem — most couples want "top-shelf available," so you absorb premium liquor cost on the majority of events. Bar margin sinks to around 18%.

The fix is a 3-tier menu:
• Well — house brands, base rate
• Call — recognizable mid-shelf, +$8–12 per head
• Premium — top-shelf, +$18–25 per head

Most couples pick the middle. That's the point. One venue ran this on the same 140 events and added $94K a year — no new bookings, no pressure, just three shelves and three prices.

You're not gouging anyone. You're charging what the glass is actually worth.

One price or tiers — what does your bar look like?

Sarah runs a 90-person venue in coastal Florida.

Before February:
— 2 payment stages (deposit + final)
— 4 couples overdue every year
— $22K outstanding at any given time
— Midnight "polite reminder" emails she hated sending

The change: a 6-month midpoint payment (35%), automated reminders at 30, 14, 7, and 1 day before each stage, and a $250 late-fee clause enforced from day 8.

4 months later: zero overdue payments.

One couple flagged cash-flow issues at the midpoint — 5 months before the wedding. They worked out a split plan. No drama. No midnight emails.

The best part of a payment ladder isn't the money. It's finding out about problems 5 months early instead of 5 days early.

What does your current payment schedule look like?

James owns a 180-person venue outside Denver. Until last spring, he ran one flat bar package: $32/person, open bar, anything on the shelf.

The problem? 75% of couples requested "top-shelf available." He absorbed the margin every time. His bar cost ran 82% on most weddings. Bar margin: 18%.

In April he rebuilt. Three tiers:

- Well: $28/person (house brands)
- Call: $38/person (recognizable mid-shelf)
- Premium: $48/person (top-shelf)

No pressure. No bait. Just three shelves, three prices, couple picks.

First 6 months: 65 weddings. 40% picked Call. 28% picked Premium. 32% picked Well. Not one couple complained. Not one deal fell through.

Annual revenue add on the same 140 events: $94,000.

He wasn't gouging anyone. He was charging what the glass was actually worth.

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Leak 03 of 15: The Bar Pricing Mistake 🥂

Your bar is the most profitable part of your venue — so why price it like a commodity?

One flat package means you subsidize every top-shelf request with your base clients' margin. The bar absorbs the cost; you absorb the loss.

Swipe for the 3-tier framework that took one venue from 18% → 52% bar margin on the same 140 events. +$94K a year.

Let clients self-select up. Most pick the middle — that's the point.

Follow for all 15 venue pricing leaks.

Leak 04 of 15: The Hidden Labor Bill 🧾

Setup + teardown is 4–6 hours of paid staff time on every event. On most venue invoices it's worth exactly $0 — baked invisibly into the base rate.

Swipe for the math → and the two line items that fix it.

The short version: a $250 setup fee + a $125 teardown fee adds about $30,000 a year on 80 events. No pricing overhaul. No client drama.

Add them to your contract this week. Follow for all 15 venue pricing leaks.

The setup fee formula.

Most venues skip this. Here it is:

Setup cost = (staff count) x (hourly rate) x (setup hours)
Teardown cost = same formula

Add 20% margin. That's your line item.

Example: 2 staff, $25/hr, 4-hour setup
$200 cost + 20% = $250 setup fee
2-hour teardown = $125 teardown fee

$375 per event you're currently giving away.

At 80 events a year: $30,000 that isn't on your invoice.

Two line items. Add them this week.

Trap #04 of 15.

A venue owner came to me 8 months ago. She was absorbing all of her setup and teardown labor into her base rate.

4-hour setup window. 2-hour teardown. 6 hours of staff time per event. Just invisible inside the rental price.

I asked her what her staff cost per hour. She said $25.

So at 2 staff members that's $300 in labor per event she was giving away. Silently.

We added two line items: a $250 setup fee and a $125 teardown fee.

One client asked about it. We said it covered the venue's staff labor for room prep and breakdown. They said "oh, that's fair" and paid it.

That was the last question she ever got about it.

50 events later, she'd recovered $18,750 she wasn't collecting before. No new clients. No new packages. Just stopped hiding a real cost inside a round number.

Setup and teardown isn't "part of the experience." It's labor. Put it on the invoice.

Trap #04 of 15.

Happy 4th!

250 years ago a few people decided they were done waiting for permission. Your calendar deserves the same.

Last call on the giveaway: one venue owner wins the $13,950 Booking Engine — built and run for them, free. Entries close Monday, July 6 at noon ET.

Free to enter. Enter → www.omg-rentals.com