Wedding venue scalping on rise in Shanghai

ashin@信王子

Jiang Weitao and his fiancee are considering changing their wedding date.

Their dilemma is the lack of available banquet venues in Shanghai.

"Although our wedding day is still months away, it is still quite difficult to book a restaurant for our banquet," the 31-year-old IT engineer said.

An increase in the number of couples seeking to tie the knot this year has led to a shortage of wedding facilities in the city.

The problem has given rise to a new business: "wedding banquet resales."

In a wedding banquet resale, a couple pays for the use of a facility that has already been booked.

In most instances, transactions occur between couples and unauthorized resellers. Couples pay for the banquet space, plus an additional amount for the reseller's services.

The year is considered lucky for weddings because 8 is regarded as an auspicious number and because of the Beijing Olympics.

Shanghai marriage registration officials said they have already seen a higher-than-average number of marriages in the first four months of the year.

Hotels and restaurants have also reported more wedding reservations this year.

"Wedding banquet facilities have been fully booked for several months," a representative of the Shanghai Helen Hotel said.

To locate a suitable venue, Jiang and his fiancée turned to the Internet.

"After entering the key words 'wedding banquet resale', I found thousands of listing," Jiang said.

One web-based reseller, who declined to be named, said he began reselling wedding banquets last year.

He charges couples a "brokerage fee" and makes about 1,000 yuan (US$145) on each transaction, he said.

"It all depends," he said. "The brokerage fee will be higher for some high-quality restaurants."

But the new business is not without its risks, he said.

"It's a risky undertaking since I must pay a deposit of 3,000 to 4,000 yuan to reserve a wedding banquet space."

If he is unable to sell the space later, he said he loses that money. "The hotel would not pay the money back."

In Shanghai, the average cost of a wedding banquet exceeds 187,000 yuan, according to a recent official survey.

Many couples say they are willing to spend this amount of money because a wedding is a once-in -a- lifetime experience.

In their quest to celebrate their special day in style, these couples are not deterred by high prices or extra "service fees."

Representatives from a wedding industry association said that banquet scalping should be strongly condemned. However, at present, there is no regulation outlawing the practice.