Expectations and reputations

[BeerFunk]

I was going to put this in the main forum, but then I don't want this to be another thread about criticising other discos/DJs (that's only half the point I'm making :))..


I was at my work's Christmas night out last night, which I'd been looking forward to for a long time, partly because we haven't had a staff night out in ages. It was £40 a head, so reasonably priced, and it was in a very reputable hotel in Edinburgh city centre. For £40 we got a three course meal, with tea/coffee and a half bottle of wine inclusive, and a disco. On paper, that sounds very good value, but the bar prices were very expensive in my opinion (£3.10 for a diet coke!).

Anyway, for all that, I did have justified expectations of good food, and a good night in general. Well, the food was OK/acceptable, with the exception of the turkey, which was extremely dry and tasteless. Really, I/we should have complained, but as I mentioned in a recent thread, I never complain about anything unless it's completely unacceptable! :o I can appreciate that the logistics of catering for what must have been at least one hundred guests must have been a tall order - but then they set the number of places, and took the money (£4000+).

OK, moving on... the disco... :sofa:

Well, the disco was set up in a small adjacent room, with a wooden dancefloor installed, which I assume belonged to the hotel. The company providing the disco is one of, if not the biggest mobile disco company in the area - so not really a surprise then, for them to have the contract with this hotel. What was a surprise to me, was that this disco was something you'd expect to see in a backstreet pub (no offence to anyone!). The lighting was a couple of basic moonflowers sitting on the floor, and more bizarrely, 4 par cans which seemed to just act as stationary spotlights (no changing colour or flashing at all :confused: ). I personally don't think the lighting is too important though, but it gets worse. The sound system sounded seriously underpowered, even for the small room it was set up in - it was all treble, and at times squealed right into your ears - very unpleasant.

The DJ was a very young looking chap, and I suspect that they might have been short of DJs, and maybe they wouldn't have deployed him there otherwise. However, to be fair to him, he did a decent job regardless. He started off with about 10 chart songs in a row (followed up 'Meet Me Halfway' with 'I Gotta Feeling' :zip: ), with groups of young ladies going back and forth to the dancefloor, but then started to play some older stuff, and the dancefloor was kept going. He was using the mic at opportune moments, but it was very muffled, and played up to Peter Kay's impression of a mobile DJ :( On the plus side, he finished with 500 Miles and Loch Lomond, but then for some bizarre reason decided to cut to the Looney Tunes theme song to end - leaving us all looking at each other mystified :confused: :D

I must admit that I was also actually partly looking forward to it for the disco, reasoning that such a venue would have contracted the best of the best in terms of a mobile disco. In fairness, they did, but it wasn't really delivered. I'm just surprised that a reputable company would risk their image like that. I suppose only the multi-op guys could answer this, as I imagine that it must become increasingly more difficult to recruit experienced DJs as you expand?

[Excalibur]

I was going to put this in the main forum, but then I don't want this to be another thread about criticising other discos/DJs (that's only half the point I'm making :))..


I was at my work's Christmas night out last night, which I'd been looking forward to for a long time, partly because we haven't had a staff night out in ages. It was £40 a head, so reasonably priced, and it was in a very reputable hotel in Edinburgh city centre. For £40 we got a three course meal, with tea/coffee and a half bottle of wine inclusive, and a disco. On paper, that sounds very good value, but the bar prices were very expensive in my opinion (£3.10 for a diet coke!).

Anyway, for all that, I did have justified expectations of good food, and a good night in general. Well, the food was OK/acceptable, with the exception of the turkey, which was extremely dry and tasteless. Really, I/we should have complained, but as I mentioned in a recent thread, I never complain about anything unless it's completely unacceptable! :o I can appreciate that the logistics of catering for what must have been at least one hundred guests must have been a tall order - but then they set the number of places, and took the money (£4000+).

OK, moving on... the disco... :sofa:

Well, the disco was set up in a small adjacent room, with a wooden dancefloor installed, which I assume belonged to the hotel. The company providing the disco is one of, if not the biggest mobile disco company in the area - so not really a surprise then, for them to have the contract with this hotel. What was a surprise to me, was that this disco was something you'd expect to see in a backstreet pub (no offence to anyone!). The lighting was a couple of basic moonflowers sitting on the floor, and more bizarrely, 4 par cans which seemed to just act as stationary spotlights (no changing colour or flashing at all :confused: ). I personally don't think the lighting is too important though, but it gets worse. The sound system sounded seriously underpowered, even for the small room it was set up in - it was all treble, and at times squealed right into your ears - very unpleasant.

The DJ was a very young looking chap, and I suspect that they might have been short of DJs, and maybe they wouldn't have deployed him there otherwise. However, to be fair to him, he did a decent job regardless. He started off with about 10 chart songs in a row (followed up 'Meet Me Halfway' with 'I Gotta Feeling' :zip: ), with groups of young ladies going back and forth to the dancefloor, but then started to play some older stuff, and the dancefloor was kept going. He was using the mic at opportune moments, but it was very muffled, and played up to Peter Kay's impression of a mobile DJ :( On the plus side, he finished with 500 Miles and Loch Lomond, but then for some bizarre reason decided to cut to the Looney Tunes theme song to end - leaving us all looking at each other mystified :confused: :D

I must admit that I was also actually partly looking forward to it for the disco, reasoning that such a venue would have contracted the best of the best in terms of a mobile disco. In fairness, they did, but it wasn't really delivered. I'm just surprised that a reputable company would risk their image like that. I suppose only the multi-op guys could answer this, as I imagine that it must become increasingly more difficult to recruit experienced DJs as you expand?
In what universe? :confused: :eek: :eek: Strewth. I'm doing one at a fiver a head next week, and even I fancy going. :D

Callum, remind me to recount the tale of a Xmas staff party which promised much, and delivered about the same as yours. ;)

[BeerFunk]

In what universe? :confused: :eek: :eek: Strewth. I'm doing one at a fiver a head next week, and even I fancy going. :DWell, granted it isn't exactly cheap, but one of the other big hotels in the city was advertising their Xmas parties at £79.95 a head!! :eek: :(


Callum, remind me to recount the tale of a Xmas staff party which promised much, and delivered about the same as yours. ;)OK, consider yourself reminded! We're waiting... :p

[Excalibur]

OK, consider yourself reminded! We're waiting... :p

Well don't say I didn't warn you. :(
Wife works in a small chemists, less than ten staff. We've had a couple of great Xmas parties at one of my regular venues, but times change. :(Couple more at a venue favoured by one staff member, but office politics mean its an uneasy truce. :( :(

One year we hear an advert on our local ILR which is universally approved. Reputable Hotel, disco provided by said ILR. Foolproof. Oh no. :( :( :(

A round of drinks cost a second mortgage, but ah well it's party time so we can just about live with that. :( The food was excellent, but portions were only big enough if you were anorexic! :eek:

Disco/Entertainment: :eek: Working on the "Less is more" principle. I can assure you it wasn't. ;) :( :( :( :( Abysmal. I'll elucidate tomorrow.

[DJ Jules]

I've just had a similar experience at my works xmas party last Friday, except we only paid £25.00 a head in the first place, the buffet was good in terms of quantity and bad in terms of quality, and the drinks weren't that badly priced! The DJ was ok, playing a good mix of old and new during the first couple of hours, but his rig was shabby. He had a pair of Martin barrel scans linked with a moonflower fixture in the centre of a 4' deckstand and then bizarrely he had 8 par36 cans between the fixtures. Where it got shabby was his starcloth, which was literally draped around the front of his deckstand (looked like an NJD one) and he had no stands for his speakers - they were just sat on the floor, and he'd just unzipped the covers, not removed them, so it felt more like we were at a fairground than a disco ;) Similar thing to above, the DJ was booked by the venue via a reputable agency - so I'm guessing DJ's are thin on the ground round here this xmas!!

If the two phone calls I had on Friday enquiring for next Friday and Saturday (18th/19th Dec) are anything to go by, I'm guessing so...!

Julian

[NKR]

Chaps. A lot of the big hotels use whichever agency drops its pants most on price. Once the hotel and agent have taken their slice some of the jobs are getting towards £125 to £140 (no its not a money thread).
I made it clear to the agency I use not to bother me unless it was £175. I am not naming any names of venues, but the contract DJ at a large hotel we worked in last Christmas (did an emergency fill in and demanded better money and gotit due to the late nature of the job, was told do not discuss payment with the 3 other DJ's in that hotel) and saw some of the set ups. Cabs on floor, rope light and two Maplins fixture doing a 175 capacity room. Purely shocking, but the fees offered by the hotel meant they couldn't get anyone decent to turn out. The agent dumped his cut in with us to get us there. Incidently the staff comment on "Why can't we have you guys ever week as the bloke who has been here all december is pants".
We rolled in on new years eve and they tried to stick us in the same 1m by 1m corner the above DJ had been in. I think they were surprised when I rolled out a rather large rig.
Its the hotels fault for not putting enough into the entertainment.
We were booked for a large chain in Manchester for all the Friday and Saturdays in December as they wanted a vocal artist and DJ. They pulled it in Summer in favour of just a DJ. I asked the agent what they were offering and he just said "I won't insult you guys by even offering it to you".
So what you have said comes as no suprise at all to me. The bigger the hotel the less likely they are to fork out.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

I'm just surprised that a reputable company would risk their image like that. I suppose only the multi-op guys could answer this, as I imagine that it must become increasingly more difficult to recruit experienced DJs as you expand?

I have doubled the number of bookings during December this year and managed to cover them all with reputable, experienced, professional DJs with decent kit and the right attitude, so it is possible to not send complete muppets out.

Having said that, Hotels expect you to cover last minute bookings at the drop of a hat, so sometimes needs must and I'm sure the Hotel would rather have a person playing music rather than none at all.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

The amount of work that I have either had to turn down or pass on due to being booked already this year is unbelievable. If I were a multi-op then I could have had some dates with 5 DJ's out. The thing is (and Darren will probably be able to go into it in more detail)...finding decent, experienced, trust worthy DJ's with decent equipment isn't that easy.

If we could all clone ourselves we would be 100% certain and happy that everything would be done how we would do it and that would be great but it's not possible.

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

The amount of work that I have either had to turn down or pass on due to being booked already this year is unbelievable. If I were a multi-op then I could have had some dates with 5 DJ's out. The thing is (and Darren will probably be able to go into it in more detail)...finding decent, experienced, trust worthy DJ's with decent equipment isn't that easy.


It isn't, but can be done. I spend a lot of time talking and meeting with other DJs for this very reason. I had 10 guys out on Saturday, which is my busiest Saturday ever since I have been trading.

[Shakermaker Promotions]

That's excellent stuff mate - Well done.

[BeerFunk]

I have doubled the number of bookings during December this year and managed to cover them all with reputable, experienced, professional DJs with decent kit and the right attitude, so it is possible to not send complete muppets out.I'm sure it is possible, but I suppose the question is this -

If you had a last minute lucrative booking come in and you were already maxed out, would you risk putting out a 'shoestring' setup which was barely up to the job, or sending an inexperienced DJ? I'm pretty certain that you wouldn't, because your reputation is important to you.


Having said that, Hotels expect you to cover last minute bookings at the drop of a hat, so sometimes needs must and I'm sure the Hotel would rather have a person playing music rather than none at all.This is slightly different of course, as the hotel surely wouldn't expect the same service, and would be grateful for anything to get by, as you say.