Cost Per Attendee Calculator
"What does this cost per person?" — the question every finance director asks, and the one most planners answer with a guess. Without a clear per-head breakdown, the next year's budget conversation is a fight: was €72k for an 80-person offsite reasonable, expensive, or c
heap? This calculator breaks the total into per-head + per-day, then compares against European benchmark bands for your event type, so the answer becomes "€900/head — mid-range for a 2-day conference in Madrid", not "feels OK".
Inputs
Results
How to read your result
Mid-range is the expected zone for the event type and city tier. Above-market events are defensible if you're hosting senior leadership, VIP clients, or a press launch — document the reason in the budget memo. Below-market means either you've negotiated well or you're missing inclusions (AV? transfers? gifting?) that will appear as overruns.
3 next steps
- Compare against last year's per-head cost — flat or down is good in EU inflation context.
- Use the event cost calculator for line-by-line breakdown.
- Pair with proposal scorer before locking the hotel.
Related reading on Easy RFP
Frequently asked questions
Where do the benchmark bands come from?
Working ranges built from European MICE planner interviews and published city-tier event spend reports. Use as starting points, not absolute truths. Bands vary by hotel tier and event sophistication.
What's included in the per-head figure?
Total budget / attendees. Includes: venue, F&B, AV, transport, gifting, speakers. Exclude: internal staff time, sunk speakers fees, anything reimbursed.
Why is T1 30% more than T2?
Property rates and labour costs. London / Zurich rooms run €300-€500/night in 4-star vs €180-€280 in Madrid or Berlin.
My per-head is below market — is that bad?
Not necessarily. Often it means you negotiated well or you're hosting at a less-touristed city. Sanity-check inclusions to make sure nothing's missing.
Should leadership cost more per head?
Yes — executive offsites and board events typically run 1.5-2x conference benchmarks because of fewer attendees, more bespoke service, higher hotel tier.