Build a fan community and boost revenue for your festival

The value of fan community 

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The truth is, your fans want community and connection at your festival. And, community increases loyalty, bringing them back every year to your festival.

According to Harvard Business Review: “A strong brand community increases customer loyalty, lowers marketing costs, authenticates brand meanings, and yields an influx of ideas to grow the business.”

Plus, you may have heard this over and over, but it’s worth restating: It costs up to 5x more to acquire new fans than to retain existing ones.

When you have a strong fan community, it’s profitable for you–fans will come to your festival in bigger groups and fans are likely to spend more on experiences when community is built in. Think about Soho House, a high-end social club. Members pay thousands of dollars simply to participate in the Soho House community. It costs ~$5000/year just to be a member of the club, excluding any event tickets, food and drinks for purchase when onsite. And yet, it’s not easy to become a member because the demand is so high.

Strong fan communities grow loyal superfans who will come back to your festival every year—even just for the party, no matter what your lineup looks like.

So how do you build community around your festival?

It’s simple: Bring your fans together. 

And one emerging trend we’re seeing is what’s called host hotels. 

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What are host hotels? 

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A host hotel is a designated hotel where all your fans stay for your festival. Host hotels attract people who want the full vacation experience. In addition to going to the festival, they want to squeeze in more fun and bond with other fans–whether they’re local or traveling far. 

With host hotels, you bring your fans together in one place (ideally near the festival grounds) with onsite activations like: 

• Welcome Party the night before the festival starts
• Music from the festival playing throughout the hotel
• Onsite branding 
• Sunday brunch party 

Offering a host hotel for your festival is an easy way to build community, sell more tickets, and increase revenue for your festival. Plus, it makes the weekend experience unique and memorable for your fans.

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Examples of festivals building community through host hotels

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First, let’s take a look at a popular festival in Huntington Beach. The festival team selected 3 host hotels–all across the street from the festival. 

The festival itself was held on Huntington Beach, and the host hotels were the Pasea Hotel, the Waterfront Beach Resort, and the Hyatt Regency – all conveniently steps away from the festival . 

Each hotel had their own happy hour welcome party and Sunday brunch, allowing for more connections among fans over drinks and food. 

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And because fast track entry & re-entry was included, it was convenient for fans to go back and forth from the festival to their hotel room as they needed. Fans met each other in the hallways, in the lobby, in the elevator, and on the way to and from the festival. 

Fans loved staying at the host hotels, especially with the onsite activations: 

“The opportunity to connect with other fans before and after the show made the trip an experience. Very nice touches like [the festival] music played throughout the hotel.” 

-Festival Fan, 11/18/2023

A second example is Cali Vibes in Long Beach, CA. For 2024, they selected two host hotels–the historic Queen Mary for a party vibe and Hotel Maya for a more elevated experience.

Host hotels were packaged with a weekend pass, plus a welcome party and yoga session on the deck of the Queen Mary to bring more fans together. 

Both hotels are near the festival grounds, and each party included makes for a unique weekend experience and are easy ways for fans to connect with each other.

Over 41% of rooms booked for Cali Vibes are at their host hotels, illustrating fans’ demand for community building.

“Our fans love meeting other fans, so we figured why not make it easier to build that community? This year for Cali Vibes we’re bringing them all together at the Queen Mary and Hotel Maya in Long Beach - along with exclusive special events like yoga, perks like dedicated entry lanes, and more.”
-Andrew Stone, Director of Festival Marketing at AEG

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Want to build a strong fan community while generating new revenue? 

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Let’s talk about host hotels and other ways to grow your festival. 

Fill out the form here and a team member will reach out within a few hours. 

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