What are Shoulder Nights & How to Manage Them

Planning an in-person meeting is a balancing act — choosing the right destination and venues, coordinating with attendees, and managing budgets down to the smallest detail. But there’s often one factor that slips under the radar: shoulder nights. 

Shoulder nights are the extra nights attendees stay before or after a meeting. They might seem minor, but can quietly drive costs up if left untracked or unknown. When managed strategically, they can save money, ease travel, and even improve the attendee experience. 

As an Executive Assistant or meeting planner, visibility into shoulder nights is an easy way to demonstrate control, foresight, and strategic value. 

Why shoulder nights are often overlooked

When planning a meeting, the spotlight naturally lands on the core details: agendas, venues, and travel logistics. But that focus can make shoulder nights easy to miss.

Attendees might extend their trips on their own (especially executives or VIPs), or visibility can get lost between travel, procurement, and planning teams. But shoulder nights don’t always happen by choice. They’re often the result of how the agenda aligns with attendee travel options — for example, an 8:00 am meeting start may require attendees to arrive the night before, while cross-country or international attendees might need to stay an extra night. These factors can add hidden costs that aren’t immediately obvious when reviewing room blocks or flight itineraries.

If you use multiple systems to manage bookings or track everything through email threads and spreadsheets, it’s easy for shoulder nights to slip through the cracks. When attendees book independently, planners often don’t see the full picture until after confirmations arrive. 

Managing shoulder nights effectively shows you’re thinking beyond logistics. You’re anticipating budget pressures before they arise and helping leadership see the full picture of every meeting.

Key takeaway: Overlooking shoulder nights doesn’t mean they go away — it just means they show up later on your budget report. Often, it’s not that planners miss them; it’s that fragmented data makes them hard to track until it’s too late.

How shoulder nights affect your meeting budget

Shoulder nights influence more than just hotel costs. They ripple across nearly every budget category.

• Accommodation and venue: Extra nights can push you past contracted blocks or negotiated rates, and early arrivals or late departures may increase turnover fees.
• Flights: The timing of your meeting can affect airfare totals. If attendees must arrive early or depart late, those shifts can increase overall costs — small changes that add up at scale.
• Per diem or meals: Longer stays mean added expenses for meals, ground transport, and incidentals.

Pro tip: Track the true average cost per attendee, including shoulder stays, for an accurate view of total spend. This insight also helps justify future budget requests and negotiate smarter rates.

How to strategically manage shoulder nights 

1. Identify the opportunities early 

Review past meeting data to spot trends in extended stays. Pay attention to attendee origins and time zones to predict where shoulder nights are likely. For example, someone flying from San Francisco to New York will need to arrive the night before, while a colleague from Philadelphia can travel the same morning.

Pro tip: Add an “arrival and departure flexibility” question in your pre-meeting survey to anticipate travel needs upfront. 

2. Understand the company policy and communicate early

Communicate your company’s travel policy clearly around what qualifies as a company-covered expense versus a personal one. You can include these guidelines in your meeting brief — setting expectations upfront keeps everyone aligned and prevents confusion later about what’s covered (and what’s not).

Partner closely with your Finance and Travel teams to confirm how approvals work. Some companies cover an additional night if it lowers airfare, while others require pre-approval. Aligning on these details before purchases are made helps you stay on budget and avoids uncomfortable reimbursement discussions later.

3. Negotiate smartly 

When contracting with hotels, discuss shoulder night rates upfront. If your group size warrants it, request your negotiated rate to extend one night before and/or after core dates.

Use data to support your request. Review past travel patterns or meeting locations to show arrival and departure trends. For example, if half your attendees are flying cross-country, it’s reasonable to request your contracted rate for the night before. Negotiating this early prevents last-minute rate surprises and helps you forecast a more accurate cost.

4. Use technology 

Platforms like TROOP help you visualize how travel patterns affect total spend. TROOP highlights when shoulder nights might occur, so you can model different scenarios and build them into your Estimate and Working budgets before Finance asks the question.

Planning shoulder nights as a meeting planner

Shoulder nights may seem like a small detail, but they’re a powerful indicator of your planning maturity. Identifying them early, negotiating strategically, and using technology to increase visibility turns a hidden cost into a managed opportunity. 

By planning for shoulder nights instead of reacting to them, Executive Assistants and meeting planners can keep budgets balanced — and stay one step ahead.