Private hire is perishable inventory too
Rich Mix published a plain three-hour screen-hire tariff by screen size and daypart. The interesting part is not the summer offer — it is treating auditorium hours as perishable inventory with a public price.
Published 8/17/2026
The idea
Publish a screen-hire tariff by screen size and daypart so a customer can see size, time, price and included staffing before enquiring.
Evidence
Observed example. The tariff is published; no utilisation or incremental revenue results have been reported.
Operator takeaway
An empty auditorium hour cannot be sold later. Pricing it openly by daypart turns idle capacity into a product rather than a negotiation.
Try this
Publish a simple grid of screen size by daypart by weekday or weekend, with the included staffing stated, and measure enquiry volume before and after.
Measure
Enquiry volume, qualified enquiries, conversion, average booking value, contribution after staffing, displacement of public screenings and otherwise-unused screen hours sold.
Watch out for
Publishing a low daytime rate that cannibalises evening hires, and hire bookings that displace public screenings with better contribution.
What they are doing
Rich Mix published transparent three-hour August screen-hire prices broken down by screen size and daypart. Examples in the source include £300 for a 59-seat screen from 9am to 12pm and up to £900 for a 181-seat screen from 6pm to 9pm. Prices exclude VAT and include a projectionist and one front-of-house staff member. Suggested uses include screenings, premieres, gaming sessions, conferences and events.
Why it caught our attention
The stronger idea is not an August sale. It is treating auditorium capacity as perishable inventory, priced by when it is least valuable to the public programme.
How it works
The customer can see size, time, price and included labour before making an enquiry. That removes a round of qualification for both sides and makes it obvious that a weekday morning is cheaper than a Friday evening for a reason.
What another cinema might adapt
Test a simple public tariff built from four variables: screen size, daypart, weekday or weekend, and included staffing. Start with the hours you currently cannot sell to the public.
Questions to consider
Which screen hours are genuinely unsellable to a public audience? What is your true marginal cost of opening a screen with a projectionist and one staff member? What contribution would you accept before it becomes worse than staying closed?
What could be measured
Enquiry volume, qualified enquiries, conversion, average booking value, contribution after staffing, public-screening displacement, food and beverage upsell, AV upsell and otherwise-unused screen hours sold.
What is currently known
The tariff and its structure are published directly by the venue, so the mechanism itself is clearly observable.
What has not yet been reported
No utilisation or incremental revenue results are currently published. A published tariff is not revenue growth until utilisation changes.
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