Hospitality rider: what goes in and what is realistic
The hospitality rider decides whether the band gets a hot meal after a long drive or ends up at a gas station at midnight. After many years on tour I can tell you: most problems aren’t caused by stingy promoters but by unclear or unrealistic riders. Here’s what goes in, what’s appropriate for the size of the show, and the points you should never forget.
What a hospitality rider is
The hospitality rider describes what the band and crew need around the show: a room to change in, drinks, food, possibly a hotel and guest list spots. Together with the tech rider it’s part of the performance contract and goes to the promoter, who passes it on to catering, runners and the venue manager.
The reason for keeping it separate from the tech rider is practical: the tech crew needs the input list, catering needs the drinks list. Two clear documents get read better than one where everything is mixed up.
The 8 sections that belong in it
- Contacts: who handles hospitality and advancing? With a phone number.
- Travelling party: musicians, crew, total and vehicles. All quantities depend on this.
- Dressing room: lockable, from when, for how many people, toilet, ideally a shower, towels, Wi-Fi.
- Drinks: dressing room and stage listed separately, with quantities. Water first, alcohol last.
- Food: snacks on arrival, a hot meal with a time, maybe something after the show for the crew.
- Diets and allergies: per person in a table. More below.
- Hotel (if agreed): room type, breakfast, distance, late check-in, parking for the vehicle.
- Merch and guest list: table size, light, power, who sells, commission. Number of guest list spots and when the names will be sent.
What’s realistic? Club, mid-size, festival
The most common mistake is a rider that doesn’t match the size of the show. A 200-capacity club often has no kitchen, a festival has its own catering tent. As a rule of thumb from the road:
| Show | Dressing room | Food | Drinks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Club up to ~300 | one room for everyone, often small | snacks + hot meal or buyout | water, soft drinks, some beer |
| Venue ~500–2,000 | own room, usually with shower | catering on site | as club, plus coffee, juice, more choice |
| Festival | container or tent, often shared | festival catering with meal tickets | stage water + allowance backstage |
A fair rider usually gets met in full. An over-the-top list tends to end up in a drawer, and then even the things that really mattered go missing.
Diets and allergies: the most important part
If you fill in only one section carefully, make it this one. Vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, lactose, nuts: list it per person in a table, not as a summary (“two vegetarians”). For real allergies add an exclamation mark so catering takes them seriously.
And mention the allergies again when advancing the show. The rider is often read weeks ahead, but the food on show day is cooked by someone else.
Buyout instead of catering
Many smaller venues prefer to pay an amount per person instead of cooking. That’s called a buyout. Write in your rider that a buyout is fine if a hot meal isn’t possible, with a realistic amount per person and whether it’s paid in cash on arrival or on the settlement. How much depends a lot on country and city. Use the price of a simple hot meal in the area as a guide.
Tech rider check: 7 mistakes engineers hate
The 7 most common mistakes with fixes, plus the 60-second check before sending and the 10 building blocks of a rider. Free PDF.
5 common mistakes
- No headcount: without it nobody can plan quantities.
- Allergies as a side note: they belong in their own table, per person.
- No time for the meal: a “hot meal” at 11 pm helps nobody. Write “at the latest 90 minutes before showtime”.
- A hotel in the rider that was never agreed: accommodation belongs in the contract. The rider only says what you need if there’s a hotel.
- Outdated version: ex-members on the allergy list, wrong headcount. Put version and date at the top and update it with every change.
Faster with a template
The Riderhouse Hospitality Rider is an editable template for Word and Google Docs: 13 sections, an allergy table, buyout wording and a filled-in example. The matching Tech Rider Pro comes in the same design.
Build the stage plot and input list for your tech rider for free with the stage plot builder.
Hospitality rider FAQ
What is a hospitality rider?
The hospitality rider is the part of the rider that covers looking after the band and crew: dressing room, drinks, food, allergies, hotel, merch space and guest list. It is sent to the promoter together with the tech rider and is usually part of the performance contract.
What is the difference between a tech rider and a hospitality rider?
The tech rider covers everything technical like stage, input list, monitoring and power. The hospitality rider covers everything around looking after people. They are separate because different people at the venue work with them: the tech crew and the catering team or runner.
What is a buyout?
A buyout is an amount per person that the promoter pays instead of providing a hot meal. The band then feeds itself. It is common at small venues without a kitchen. Agree the amount and how it is paid (cash or on the settlement) in advance.
Does the promoter have to provide everything in the hospitality rider?
What is binding is what the contract says. If the contract refers to the rider, the rider is part of it. In practice a realistic rider almost always gets met, while an over-the-top wish list tends to get cut. Differences are sorted out when advancing the show.
Do solo artists and DJs need a hospitality rider?
Yes, just a shorter one. Usually a dressing room or quiet space, drinks, food or buyout, allergies and guest list is enough. If you travel with a companion or your own engineer, add the headcount.
Your hospitality rider in 30 minutes
Editable template with a filled-in example, allergy table and buyout wording.
Get the template
