Dear all,
I'd love to know what structures you use for hire charges, please, and what advantages or problems you have with the systems you use.
At Westminster, the building is open for hire between 7 am and 10 pm. We have ten hireable rooms (one out of commission at the mo), and loads and loads of different hirers, and so for ease of admin we have generally offered hires in three ways:
- Three big ground floor rooms are offered by session: morning, afternoon and evening. You hire the whole session, regardless of how long your event is.
- Five smaller rooms are offered by the day or half-day: 7 am to 3 pm/3 pm to 10 pm.
- Two rooms are hired exclusively by two hirers, so are on a separate charging system.
However, we're now looking at different ways to hire the five smaller rooms, as there's now so many exceptions to the standard pattern that we'd like to simplify things.
So, my questions:
- If you hire by the hour, even with a 2-hour minimum, do you do anything to prevent people just cherry-picking the "best" slots and leaving unuseable patches of time in between? Eg a therapist paying for 11am-1pm, then 2pm-5pm, and not paying for lunchtime.
- Do you charge less for less popular times?
- Have you got any different ways of structuring hire times?
with all my best,
Lorna.
Lorna Richardson
Premises Coordinator
Westminster Quaker Meeting House
07897 591961
Please note I am part-time; I don't expect anyone to respond outside their own normal working hours.