To compare event vendor quotes properly, you have to make them comparable first. That means normalising what each price actually includes, reading the deposit and cancellation terms as carefully as the headline number, and lining the offers up on the same axes. The cheapest quote is rarely the cheapest once you have done that, which is exactly why the step is worth doing.
Most quote comparison goes wrong in the same way: three suppliers send three differently shaped documents, you skim the totals, and you pick one. Here is the version that does not come back to bite you at the invoice.
Why raw quotes cannot be compared as they arrive
A catering quote of £48 a head and one of £41 a head are not two prices for the same thing until you know what sits inside each. One might include staff, service charge and VAT; the other might be food only, with staffing, service and tax stacked on afterwards. By the time you have added those, the "cheaper" quote can be the dearer one.
This is not suppliers being sneaky. It is that every supplier quotes in their own house style. The work is yours to make them line up.
Step 1: Normalise the inclusions
Rebuild each quote to the same definition of "total delivered price". For catering that usually means food, drink, staff, service charge, equipment hire, delivery and VAT. For AV it means the kit, the technician, setup and derig time, and any overtime rate. For transport it means the vehicles, the driver hours, waiting time and tolls.
Put them in a single table with one row per line item, so a missing row is visible rather than hidden in a lump sum. If a quote is a single figure with no breakdown, ask for the breakdown before you compare it. A supplier who will not itemise is telling you something.
Step 2: Read the deposit terms
The deposit is cash flow and risk, not a detail. Compare the percentage (a 50 percent deposit is very different from 20 percent), when the balance is due, and whether the deposit is refundable at all. A slightly higher quote with a 20 percent refundable deposit can be a better commercial deal than a lower one that wants half up front and keeps it.
Step 3: Read the cancellation terms even harder
This is the clause that actually costs people money, because corporate plans move. For each quote, know the cancellation tiers (what you owe at 30 days, 14 days, 7 days, 48 hours), whether a date change is treated as a cancellation, and whether there is any force majeure language. Two identical-looking catering quotes can differ by thousands of pounds the moment a date slips, entirely in this clause.
Step 4: Put them side by side, on the same axes
Now the comparison is honest. One table, columns for each supplier, rows for: normalised total, what is included, deposit percentage and refundability, cancellation exposure at each tier, lead time and flexibility, and a plain-language note on fit. Looking at that, the decision is usually obvious, and defensible when finance asks why you chose the not-cheapest option.
Step 5: Sanity-check against the budget line, not just each other
The cheapest of three quotes can still be over budget, and the dearest can still be fine. Check each normalised total against the budget bucket it belongs to (our UK corporate event cost guide has the benchmark figures) before you celebrate finding the best of the three.
The automated version
Everything above is a discipline, which means it is exactly the kind of work that gets skipped at 6pm with four PDFs open. Comtev's agent does it as a matter of course: it collects the quotes (chasing suppliers over WhatsApp, SMS, email and voice), extracts each one into the same structured shape, and presents them side by side already normalised. Each proposal also gets critiqued against sensible norms, flagging a deposit percentage that is high or a cancellation clause that commits you further than usual. The mechanics of the collection and negotiation are covered in how AI negotiates event vendor quotes.
You still choose the supplier. The tool just makes sure you are choosing between genuinely comparable options, with the traps already flagged.
FAQs
What should you compare when choosing an event vendor?
The normalised total (everything included, not the headline), the deposit percentage and whether it is refundable, the cancellation terms at each tier, lead time and flexibility, and fit for your specific event. Price is one column of six, and rarely the deciding one.
Why are event vendor quotes so hard to compare?
Because each supplier quotes in their own format, with different things bundled in or left out. A food-only price and an all-in price look comparable until you add staff, service charge and VAT to the first. Normalising the inclusions is the step that makes comparison meaningful.
How many event vendor quotes should you get?
Three is the practical minimum for a real comparison; it gives you a sense of the market rate and leverage to negotiate. More than five rarely adds information and does add coordination work, unless the category is unusually variable.
What is a normal deposit for an event vendor?
It varies by category, but many event suppliers ask for 20 to 50 percent up front, with the balance close to the date. What matters more than the percentage is whether the deposit is refundable and how the cancellation tiers are structured, because that is where your risk actually sits.
Can software compare vendor quotes automatically?
Yes. Comtev collects quotes and normalises them into a side-by-side comparison, extracting inclusions, deposit and cancellation terms into the same shape, and flags terms that fall outside typical norms. It is included in the £250 per event pricing; the decision stays yours.