The test is not the brochure. It is 21:00 on the second night
Every supplier claims to be a single point of contact. The claim is only worth anything when a subcontractor has failed, the client is watching, and somebody has to decide who fixes it and who pays.
The two structures, side by side
| Coordinator model | Single contract (ours) | |
|---|---|---|
| Contracts you sign | One per supplier, or a coordination agreement over several | One |
| Invoices you settle | Several | One, itemised |
| When a supplier fails | You arbitrate between them | We resolve it; the exposure is ours |
| Who carries the liability | Split, and often unclear until tested | One named entity |
| Escalation at 22:00 | Whoever answers | A duty manager, contracted to answer |
| Cost recovery for a failure | Negotiated with the supplier who failed | Credited by us against the final invoice |
| Procurement documentation | Assembled from several suppliers | One pack |
| Typical price | Sometimes lower | Sometimes higher, and this is where the difference goes |
A coordination model can be cheaper because the risk sits with you. That is a legitimate trade and for a low-stakes programme it may be the right one. For a programme where the CEO is speaking, or where a duty-of-care review will follow, it usually is not.
What happens when something fails
- The on-site coordinator handles it. Present with your group throughout, not reachable by phone from another city.
- Escalation to a duty manager if the coordinator cannot resolve it, within 60 minutes, any hour while your group is on the ground.
- We deal with the failing supplier, not you. Your event manager should not be negotiating with a lighting company at 21:00.
- The cost of the fix is ours to carry where the failure is within our contracted chain. It does not appear on your invoice as a variation.
- A written incident report within 24 hours for anything involving injury, illness, security or material service failure — formatted for your risk function rather than as an apology email.
- Credit against the final invoice for a material failure attributable to us, calculated on the affected component and settled in the account rather than through a separate claim.
Where accountability stops, stated honestly
- Weather is not a service failure. What we are accountable for is that the contingency was contracted, held, and documented in advance — not that it did not rain.
- Changes your team makes on site. If your director moves the awards to the last night against our written advice, that is documented and it is your decision.
- Suppliers you contract directly. If your own AV company flies in, we coordinate with them and we are not liable for their equipment or their crew.
- Acts of authority. A port closure, an airport shutdown, a permit withdrawn. We carry the contingency and the rebooking, not the underlying loss — which is what event cancellation insurance is for.
- Delegate behaviour. Ours to manage professionally, not ours to indemnify.
Because a supplier who claims unlimited accountability is either not thinking about it or hoping you will not test it. A procurement team reads the exclusions first, and finding them absent is a worse signal than finding them stated.
Questions clients ask most
Who exactly signs the contract?
MICETOURS as the contracting entity. Delivery on the ground is by an operator contracted to us and named in your quote, holding its own licences and insurance. Your contractual relationship and your escalation path are with us throughout.
Can we speak to the on-site operator directly?
Yes, for routine operational matters during the programme — it is faster. For anything that has become a problem, come to us instead, because we hold the commercial leverage and you do not.
What if we are unhappy after the programme?
Raise it within the programme if at all possible, because almost everything is fixable on day two and nothing is fixable three weeks later. Afterwards, the post-event report is the basis and every deviation is already in it, including ones you did not notice.
Do you provide references?
Yes, from comparable programmes, with the client's permission. For a procurement process we also supply the full standards pack — see procurement documentation.
Where to go next
Four fields and you can send
Send the outline and you get a free feasibility reply within eight working hours — whether your dates hold at that headcount, what constrains them, and an indicative price range. No payment and no commitment at this stage.