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Choosing an Event Hosting Service—Where’s Your Money?

We’ve all been there—you paid for a product or service, confident you’ll be receiving what you expected—but some complication led to broken promises and an unhappy wallet. Organizing a running event does not have to be this way; make sure you know the circumstances surrounding an event hosting service before making a commitment. Your wallet—and your sanity—will thank you.

Nobody likes to be short-changed or have their money tied up somewhere it can’t be readily accessed. We’ve heard horror stories of race directors who have used an online registration service only to have some financial concern tie up their assets out of state. In this kind of situation, a Washington lawyer may not be able to help you—many lawyers are only licensed to practice in their home state. Who, then, will protect you when your funds are stuck in limbo across the country?

Before determining what event hosting service to use, search prospective services’ websites for the location of their headquarters. If this information is not readily accessible on the service’s home page or contact page, ask why—more often than not this indicates that the service is located somewhere else in the country. Can you visit their location and speak to someone face-to-face should any problems arise? Any potential interstate financial conflict could be an expensive, drawn-out affair that might not even result in the return of your money. While this possibility isn’t necessarily a reason to rule out an organization from hosting your event, it is a risk definitely worth considering before making a decision.

Running events move a significant amount of money around—both yours and that of your registrants. Where that money is at any given time is a factor too costly to ignore.