May be the up front money is going into a separate bank account, with the hotel being paid on the day. Just a case of making sure the money is available to pay the bill.
What happens to the show if the recession does bite, and instead of having 300 paying visitors, you have 100. Or, with show being in March, the weather decides to throw a strop, and on the Sunday of the show we awake to 6'' of snow? How many people would set off from home in that?
If some one is prepared to give the hotel a credit card number, and be prepared to pick up the bill should either of those things happen then OK, but I would not.
The ethos of the show for me is that it is a enthusists show, and because of that there is a wide range of kit on display, wider than any commercial show I can think of. The acid test, is are the enthusiasts prepared to finance it. We have the chance to find out.
The two years trading history the show has show nothing, we are told that without commercial involvement last year, the show would not have happened. Despite the commercial involvement a small fee had to be paid by people wanting to use larger rooms to balance the books.
The idea for the next show is get the money together in advance, Repay that from any commercial stalls and door fees collected. If that faff means that the show goes ahead without any one person being expected to meet any shortfall in receipts, then I would have thought the faff was worth it.
That is why I said the organisers did not need snipers from the sidelines. To me they (the organisers) are looking at running the show as a community thing, communal payment to ensure the show goes ahead, reimbursement of that payment if the show is a financial succes, communal sharing of the shortfall if not.
Why is that so wrong?