As companies scale down events sponsorship into 2009, hospitality staffing firms will have to strike a delicate balance between negotiating
a competitive but fair fee, according to recruiters.

Rob Grant, director at Dragonfly Recruitment, told Recruiter that he expects that 2009 will be a year when hospitality staffing firms feel the impact of lower levels of event sponsorship, leading to a drop in the number of events to be staffed.

But he urged recruiters to deal with candidates on a case by case basis. He warned that there is always the danger of going in too low and misjudging market conditions.

“What you have to do is judge people on individual merit. A guy that was worth £25k in a good market might still be worth £25k, but conditions may mean he is now worth £20k.”

Many sponsorship deals for events in 2008 were organised well in advance and were backed by banks before they had borne the brunt of the recession.

The new trading reality for Julia Feuell, director at hospitality and travel recruitment firm New Frontiers, is that sponsorship packages and recruitment costs will now need to be negotiated downwards.

“In the 90s recession, we went slowly into recession, it wasn’t a big jerk [compared to now]. The sponsorships will have to come down but
because the events organisers have got the room hires down in price anyway, that should cover their new costs, which would be less than last year. We’ll have to adjust to a new cost structure. It’ll be a year of negotiation.”