What are you charging for prints sold through hotel or restaurant consignment in LA?
Got approached last month by a boutique hotel near the DTLA Arts District wanting to display and sell a few of my night landscape prints on consignment. Their proposed split was 60/40, their favor. I asked around and got wildly different answers about what's normal here.
My work isn't cheap to produce. A single final image can represent three or four hours of driving out to Joshua Tree or Anza-Borrego, a full night of shooting, then careful stacking and processing back home. When someone offers "great exposure to our guests" as part of the deal, I have to weigh that against actual costs. Gas alone to a dark sky site and back is not trivial.
I ended up countering at 50/50 and they went quiet. Maybe I read it wrong, maybe that's just how it goes with hospitality consignment in this city.
Anyone here doing consignment with LA hotels, restaurants, or office spaces? What split are you actually getting, and did you have to negotiate hard for it?
Hey! The fact that you stopped to do the math before signing anything puts you in a much stronger position than most artists who just say yes to "exposure."
60/40 in the hotel's favor is steep. For context, here's where hospitality consignment typically lands:
- Hotels and restaurants are not galleries. They aren't staffing salespeople or running opening nights. The typical split for hospitality venues is 70/30 to 80/20 in the ARTIST's favor, sometimes even 85/15. A gallery earns 50% because they actively sell. A hotel lobby earns less because the art is decor that happens to have a price tag.
- Counter at 70/30 your favor and frame it around your production costs. You can say it plainly: "Each image represents a full night of driving and shooting in the desert, plus processing time. At 60/40 I'd be losing money after production and framing." Real numbers make the conversation concrete, not adversarial.
- Propose a 90 day trial with 3 to 5 pieces. Short commitment protects both sides. Ask them directly: how many pieces have they actually sold in the last year? If the answer is vague or zero, that tells you everything about how much "exposure" is really worth here.
- Price your prints at full retail on the wall, not at a consignment discount. The venue gets their cut from the retail price. If you drop your price AND give 60%, you're paying them to hang your work.
One more thing worth locking down in writing before anything goes on the wall: who covers damage, theft, or insurance while your work is displayed? A simple one page consignment agreement that names the split, the term, liability, and payment timeline (net 15 after sale, not net 60) saves you from every headache that shows up later.
Want help drafting the actual counter-proposal or consignment agreement? I can write one for you based on your numbers
Other resources you might find helpful:
- Pricing work for a venue that discounts without asking you — How to price prints for consignment venues that discount, and whether to markup to protect margin or price at target and accept losses.
- One Painting Sold for $141,500 in a Texas Town of 87 People. The Print on Demand Math Behind It Changes Everything. — Case studies of artists selling single images across multiple mediums/price points—exact strategy applicable to consignment print pricing and catalog building.
- What are floral painters actually charging for commissions in LA right now? — LA-based artist shares concrete commission pricing strategy and calculation methods for large commercial work, directly applicable to consignment negotiation.
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