Generally speaking, there are two major types of event organizers facing event ticket pricing crises across the entire spectrum of paid events (from casual to luxury events, low-entry to high-end tickets).

So before even discovering and applying our winning Pay2Stay event ticket pricing formula (blog post about that coming up soon!), it’s fundamental to know which of the two types of event hosting personalities describes you the most.

The aspiring, doubtful, and failing event organizer

You tend to underprice your event tickets 

You may be like many who are just stepping into the booming private events industry. With practically no experience under your belt, you keep underpricing your entry tickets because you're afraid your events won't sell out. Sometimes you sell, sometimes you don't. All the time, you lose money! 

Well, you blame it on your inexperience. At this point, you're wondering if private event hosting is as lucrative as it seems, or if it's even for you…

You tend to overprice your event tickets

Perhaps you’re the aspiring luxury event planner who wonders whether guests will be willing to pay high-end luxury tickets to attend your curated city tour, exclusive gala dinner, or elite networking after-party. 

The fear of scaring away potential guests grips you. And then there’s the high ticket prices experiment that goes bad —as in, utterly bad— and has your target attendees like:

After collecting pretty negative feedback, you ponder:

Cut yourself some slack, fancy friend! Your lack of confidence pricing your event’s general admission tickets is part of your journey in getting to know your customer and enhancing your delivery. Truly speaking, we won’t know how to package our offers until we learn who our guests are and what value we —as event hosts of rather expensive gatherings— are providing. 

But, struggling to find the sweet spot in pricing and the confidence to put your tickets on sale shouldn’t remain a dilemma.

The veteran yet broke event host

Now if you’re a pro in selling out your shows, week in, week out for years, but are still barely breaking even in terms of your revenue, you’re not alone. This is a common pitfall for some of the most seasoned of event hosts that are overly focusing their strategy on volume.

We know seeing your guests show up and have a good time is thrilling on its own. It’s a rewarding part of the job that you want to remain grateful for! 

However, the goal isn’t just to make sure the house is full through cheap entry. You want to make sure that your bank account isn’t dry too. As a professional or serial event organizer, you should be able to sustain yourself and even expand your event hosting business. 

So what do you have to do? In three words: stop playing small!

Finding the solution to your event ticket pricing problems

So which of these two categories of event hosts with ticket pricing problems do you fall into? Here's a short quiz to help your self-introspection. Which of the following applies to you?

As an event host, do you feel that:

1. You are inexperienced?

2. You are experienced enough?

3. You underprice your tickets?

4. You overprice your tickets?

5. You offer enough value to your guests?

6. You're unable to delight your guests?

7. Your guests won't be willing to pay more?

8. You don't have enough resources to host top-tier events?

9. You're not in the right location or event niche?

10. Hosting paid events is just not for you?

11. You're ready to fine-tune your ticket pricing strategy?

12. Your problem isn't the pricing, it's your sales skills or something else?

Whatever type you fit with and pricing dilemma you’re facing, we want to hear your stories in the comments. We also want to reassure you that there’s a solution.