Pomplamoose Tour (Part 2: Hotel Costs)
Have you read Jack Conte’s article about how Pomplamoose’s tour lost money? (Read here)
Then, did you read my part one? (Read here)
OK, let move on…
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Misconception 2: The hotel costs were extreme
OK, dear DIY bands and punk bands. I get it. I’ve done it, too. I’ve slept in my car while on tour, especially if a gig wasn’t well attended. I usually sleep at friends’ places while on tour too. I keep my hotel costs to a minimum on tour.
But this isn’t a sustainable way to take a professional band with hired guns on the road.
You shouldn’t hire six people to go on the road, and expect them to sleep on a couch or in the van! It’s OK when a band decides to do this as a team.
But bands, we need to get decent rest to avoid getting sick on the road.
Oh, you think Pomplamoose should have stayed at friends’ and acquaintances’ places to save money? Asking a friend to house eight people is a pretty heavy request, especially when your band is showing up at 1 AM or later.
I let touring friends stay at my Ann Arbor house quite a bit, but I couldn’t house eight people.
So the hotel costs aren’t extreme. They were mostly necessary.
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$17,589 for hotels and food. Let’s break this down.
28 nights on the road = $628.19 a night for lodging.
Four hotel rooms a night. that’s $157 per hotel room and some food costs.
That’s not very extreme costs when you are touring through major cities.
Maybe a band could cut some of these costs down, but we are talking about $20 here, $40 there. This is a tour with $150K of expenses.
When I’m touring, I often seek out those $50 rooms off the highway. I’ve also stayed at some really bad hotels, that I wouldn’t ask my session players to do.
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