Food expenses are skyrocketing. As audiovisual (AV) gets more complex, price tags grow heftier. Gas prices inflate shipping costs. Tariffs can wreak havoc on suppliers. Labor charges are on the rise. These realities factor into an event’s bottom line when there’s a gathering to be coordinated. What is a meeting planner with a budget to do?
To start, take a deep breath. Plan ahead. Then, evaluate every item—each step along the way—for potential savings. Work with your convention and visitors bureau/destination marketing organization, venue, caterer, and other vendors to review needs and brainstorm sensible ways to control expenses.
No meeting planner is on an island. Each relies on a village of hospitality providers to execute each event. Use their expertise and your own creativity to think outside the box and manage costs.
Budgets Set the Course
Lisa Calhoun, director of sales and marketing at Sheraton Grand Rapids Airport Hotel, says planners used to set their own budgets based on what they anticipated an event would cost. Now, it’s more likely that leadership presents them with a budget from the get-go, or planners estimate one for approval before moving forward. Then, it’s a matter of sticking to it.
One method that can help planners stay on budget, she says, is planning some elements earlier in the process. “We’re finalizing a lot of details further out,” Calhoun says. “Even before we get to a contract, we have a lot of stuff ironed out—we’re picking out menus, we’re picking out AV.”
Sheraton Grand Rapids Airport Hotel has 20,000 square feet of meeting space that easily accommodates trade shows. That’s in addition to 259 lodging rooms.
Katie DeWeerd is director of sales for Muskegon-based Parkland Properties of Michigan, which manages the city-owned VanDyk Mortgage Convention Center and owns the adjacent Delta Hotels Muskegon Convention Center. Between the two properties, there’s 38,000 square feet of event space, along with 200 guest rooms at the hotel. DeWeerd says it’s important for meeting planners to communicate their budget up front when booking. She also recommends multiyear deals, or booking events two to three years at a time, when possible. She adds that booking events for more than one year in the venue contract often comes with discounts advantageous to the planner.
Nancy Doolittle-Lisabeth, director of sales and marketing for Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest, says booking venues or lodging late can sometimes be beneficial, when feasible. “Last-minute flexibility can sometimes capture distressed inventory,” she says.
Mindy Biladeau is director of marketing and special events for Lansing Center, a 100,000-square-foot facility in downtown Lansing that hosts everything from conventions and multiday conferences to trade shows and sporting events, and it is attached to the DoubleTree by Hilton Lansing via skybridge. She says making sure all facets are addressed in the contract is key. “Go through the contracts to make sure you have everything you want and there are no surprises when it comes closer to your event,” she says.
The bottom line? Properties want your business and many will adapt to your budget. Delta Hotels Kalamazoo Conference Center Director of Sales and Marketing Abigail-Elizabeth Watkins works with meeting planners on budgets to prioritize and identify items that can be scaled back or eliminated. The property has 21 private rooms for meetings and events—with its largest room accommodating up to 600—and 182 hotel rooms. “I try to give them different scenarios [to select from],” she says.
“Bundle for value,” Doolittle-Lisabeth advises. “Choose comprehensive packages that combine meeting space, AV, meals, and guest rooms. These packages often deliver stronger pricing than sourcing each component separately.”
Details Matter
Out of the gate, one way to save is to choose a day of the week or time of year for your event that is less in demand than others, advises Chelsea Harland, sales and social media manager at Kirkbride Hall in Traverse City. On the historic campus of an old state hospital, Kirkbride Hall provides seating for up to 200 in a setting that features a 33-foot vaulted ceiling and stained-glass windows that offer views of the surrounding historic architecture and plenty of natural light.
Clarissa Lange, director of sales for the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bay City–Riverfront, suggests arriving on a Sunday or scheduling during the winter to save money. “We can be a lot more flexible in price [on certain days and in particular seasons], especially for group room prices,” says Lange. The property features 150 guest rooms and nearly 15,000 square feet of gathering space.
Besides being more affordable, booking during off times might allow planners to reserve fewer hotel rooms. As a result, the likelihood of having to pay for unused rooms decreases, because the property will likely have open rooms during that period anyway, says Ashley Sullins, senior sales manager at The Kensington Hotel in Ann Arbor. The Kensington serves up to 500 attendees for events with 10,000 square feet of meeting space, about half of which comprises its Grande Ballroom, and the hotel also offers 200 guest rooms.
Biladeau makes the case for choosing a market like Lansing over larger cities. “There are substantial savings if you’re looking at a destination like Lansing over others with higher costs,” she says. This was the reason the Lansing-based Michigan Pharmacists Association moved its Annual Convention & Exposition to Grand Traverse Resort and Spa near Traverse City in 2025 and to the Lansing Center/DoubleTree by Hilton Lansing in 2026 after being in a larger market, says the association’s Director of Meetings and Education Ashley Builta. Other measures she takes to reduce costs include shortening some sessions to eliminate an afternoon break and replacing a full-blown gala that included dinner with a reception featuring hors d’oeuvres.
Sarah Langlois, sales executive at Visit Muskegon, notes destinations like hers typically don’t charge for parking, “whereas bigger metropolitan areas have huge parking ramps and astronomic costs for AV and food and beverage,” she says. “Our hotels aren’t as expensive per se, except for during the summer.”
Some planners poll attendees about their likelihood to attend before reserving room nights, so they can base bookings on more realistic figures. Another way some save is by eliminating shoulder nights—instead of paying for lodging for the evening before the event begins, planners can ask those who drive to arrive the day of the event and simply make the start time later.
Sullins recommends initiating outreach to hotels themselves to book rooms, rather than going through a third party. “Whenever the client can contact us directly and that commissionable rate is skipped, we can lower the guest-room rate,” she says.
On the Menu
Food is among the biggest-ticket event elements, especially these days with food prices rising. Calhoun says some planners alter their start times to eliminate, say, a breakfast. They also review counts from previous events and adjust food quantities down to suit the number of attendees likely to show up for each meal, as appropriate. “Not everybody comes down for breakfast,” she says. Lange notes, “If you have consistently had a 10% attendee drop [at breakfast meals], use that count.”
Sullins suggests offering a plated meal instead of a buffet. “It’s a little harder on the meeting planner because they have to take attendees’ orders in advance, but in that scenario, we’re controlling portion size,” Sullins says. “That lunch cost per person is a lot lower.” Some meeting planners save by holding nonperishable items like breads and fruit from breakfast and rolling them out for a morning snack break instead. Harland says downsizing bar options and serving heavy hors d’oeuvres instead of a full meal also reduces expenses.
Hailee Arnold, sales manager for The Earl, a 56-room boutique hotel in Charlevoix, also manages The Irene event venue, with a capacity of 352, a few blocks away. She sees clients choosing sandwich platters as a more affordable option for big meetings. The Irene doesn’t provide food service, but it has a commercial kitchen available for use by outside caterers.
Lange advises, “Meet and eat in the same space. This will save you rental rates.”
What You See
Calhoun says AV expenses are probably among the highest-increasing costs in most event budgets. Her hotel works with a third-party vendor for this service, but it’s not exclusive, so clients can opt to bring in outside AV if they wish.
Being efficient with AV is essential, says Biladeau. “We have our in-house AV provider, that one-stop shop to make [events] more streamlined for a lot of groups,” she notes. “You’re not required to use ours, but a lot of [them] do if they compare quotes.”
The Kensington Hotel in Ann Arbor has a third-party AV provider based on-site. Clients also can use other suppliers, but there’s a small fee to cover the internal AV team reviewing plans. Likewise, DeWeerd says Muskegon’s VanDyk Mortgage Convention Center and Delta Hotels Muskegon Convention Center provide AV services that often save clients money, but both venues also allow outside vendors.
The Irene in Charlevoix offers an inexpensive, basic AV package to its clients. “We keep ours pretty budget-friendly because we are new, so we’re trying to come in at the very low end of what’s offered in Charlevoix,” Arnold says.
Help From Your Friends
Sponsorships often help groups fill budget gaps by covering the cost of a reception, break, or other aspect. It never hurts to ask your venue for financial support either, says Sullins, noting The Kensington agreed to sponsor a cocktail hour during a gala hosted by an area nonprofit. “That is up to a $3,000 value for them,” she says.
Kim Corcoran, who runs Destination Michigan and Meetings Michigan, says associations and some corporations rely on sponsorships not only to help cover costs, but also often as a revenue source to keep conferences in the black, she notes.
But, Corcoran stipulates, sponsorship opportunities should be meaningful and provide a noticeable return on investment. She says, “It means being more thoughtful and intentional, and having strategic conversations with sponsors to find out what they need to get from it and [then] making sure you execute on that.”
Get Connected
Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest
marriott.com / 734-487-2000
Choose Lansing
lansing.org / 800-648-6630
Delta Hotels Kalamazoo Conference Center
marriott.com / 269-375-6000
Destination Michigan
destinationmi.com / 734-646-0791
DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Bay City–Riverfront
hilton.com / 989-891-6000
The Kensington Hotel
kensingtonhotelannarbor.com / 734-761-7800
Kirkbride Hall
kirkbridehall.com / 231-941-1961
Lansing Center
lansingcenter.com / 517-483-7400
Meetings Michigan
michigan.org/meetings-michigan / 734-646-0791
Sheraton Grand Rapids Airport Hotel
marriott.com / 616-957-1770
Traverse City Tourism
traversecity.com / 800-872-8377
VanDyk Mortgage Convention Center
vandykmortgageconventioncenter.com / 231-588-3500
Visit Charlevoix
visitcharlevoix.com / 800-367-8557
Visit Muskegon
visitmuskegon.org / 800-250-9283
