Twelve questions to ask before you book any 360 photo booth

Written so you can paste them into an email and send them to every vendor you are considering, including us. The answers sort production companies from a guy with a platform in his trunk in about ten minutes.

Price

1. What is the all-in number for my actual hours, in writing?

Not the base package. Your real coverage window, plus idle time if you want them set before guests arrive, plus travel to your venue, plus whatever backdrop you have actually chosen. Published idle rates in this market run $50–$100 an hour and travel runs $20–$200, so the gap between the headline and the invoice is routinely several hundred dollars.

2. What is on your add-on list, and what is included?

Backdrops are commonly $300–$1,000 extra, extra hours $100–$200. If a vendor will not send the whole list, assume you will meet it later.

3. What is the retainer, and what does cancelling cost?

Deposits in this category range from $200 to 35% of the booking. Ask what happens if you move the date — once, free, subject to availability, is a fair answer.

The look

4. Can the LEDs run my colors, or do they only cycle?

The single cheapest upgrade in this category and the one most operators skip. Programming the ring to your palette takes about fifteen minutes and changes every frame of every clip.

5. What lighting do you bring besides the platform?

If the answer is “the ring light on the booth,” expect flat clips. You want to hear about a key light on the subject and some kind of accent or wash behind them.

6. Can I see a delivered clip, not a showreel?

Ask for one raw delivered file exactly as a guest received it. Reels are cut by marketers; delivered files are the product.

People

7. How many attendants, for the whole time?

One attendant means the booth is unattended every time that person needs a break. Two is the difference between a line that moves and a line that gives up.

8. Will the person I am speaking to be at my event? If not, who?

Ask for the name of the lead attendant in writing two weeks out. Inconsistency between the salesperson and the crew is one of the most common complaints in this category.

9. What will your crew be wearing?

A trivial-sounding question that tells you instantly whether the vendor has worked in rooms like yours.

Logistics and risk

10. When exactly do the files arrive?

The industry standard is the gallery “on the Monday after.” Ask for a time, not a day of the week, and get it into the agreement.

11. Can you send a COI naming my venue, and a footprint diagram?

Luxury properties require a certificate of insurance naming them as additional insured. Twenty-four hours is a reasonable answer. “What is a COI?” is a reason to end the conversation.

12. What happens if something goes wrong?

The most revealing question of the twelve. You are not looking for a promise that nothing will go wrong at a live event — that promise is worthless. You are looking for a specific, written consequence. Ours is that the package is refunded in full.

How to read the answers

A vendor who answers all twelve quickly, in writing, with numbers, is a vendor who has systems. A vendor who answers in adjectives — amazing, unforgettable, premium — is selling you a feeling and will improvise the rest on the night. The price difference between the two is usually smaller than the difference in how your evening goes.