Providing flowers for hotels

[OB1]

I've been asked to prepare a proposal for a major hotel chain with a property in Ottawa. They forwarded me their international guidelines for all botanicals....15 pages long! Basically it is for the provision of arrangements for 20 areas in their public spaces, lobby, corridors, etc.
I met with my contact yesterday, and have been working up some prices, which turn out to be considerably more than usual because of the various limitations set by corporate head office. ( Because they own many hotels in the city, there are strict rules about flower and container choices, so they can not be confused with their "competition".)
On one hand I am anxious to get this contract, knowing that the weekly provision of flowers to a very good and well located hotel could be good for exposure, cash flow, and product rotation, but on the other hand, I clearly remember the hassles associated with hotels being very demanding, and expecting "one hour ago" service, from when I worked at another shop that relied heavily on hotel contracts.But that was long, long ago, and I imagine things have probably changed since then.
Any advice from those of you who provide hotels with flowers weekly?
Would you be willing to share their approximate budgets?
They told me no budget has been set, that those numbers will come from my proposal. That sounds iffy to me...seems like a corporate multi-national would have some sort of budget in mind, and not just give me what I want. The only number I could get from anybody was 50$ a week, and we all know how ridiculous that is.
Any advise greatfully recieved!
JP

 

[anytimeflowers]

Joanne,

Do you get Florist's Review. The marketer of the year does hotels, you may just want to give them a shout and see if they would give you any more info. I REALLY like their whole business model. http://www.floristsreview.com/main/june2010/FeatureStory0610.html

I would tell them $1500 - $2000 per week, with freshening done. The sizes in the different areas vary, most that I have seen, (I have zero experience with this), are quite grandiose in the lobby and the ocassional pieces of course match the size of the space. The lobby pieces HAVE to be at least $300-$500 each for their sheer size. They are CRAZY if they think $50 would cover.

Do they have their own containers that you do a drop-in? Do you get to use the same flowers though-out or do you have to match color schemes in different areas?
I think that I would get a "recipe" worked up for each piece, ie how many focals, linear, etc. then add them up for the whole shebang in general. I would figure it so that those main florals can be purchased in bulk, and then fill with other unique in season flowers and foliage. Also, using some of the weaving techniques can fill with drama as you well know, so I would keep that in mind.

You are so good at answering questions like this, .......what would YOU do?