Publish a group bookings page before October: capacity for each room, set menus with prices per person, what is included, deposit terms and which December dates are still open. Ask for the date on the enquiry form.

The first party calls of the season

The office manager who organised last year's holiday party has the job again, and starts in September. By October she wants three venues on a shortlist.

She works through restaurant and venue sites in one sitting, asking each the same things: how many fit, what the set menus are, the price per head, and whether the dates are free.

A site that says only to call about groups answers none of those. The call becomes a voicemail and a missed callback, while two other venues have already answered by email.

How a shortlist gets made

A shortlist is a comparison, and comparisons are made from facts written down. The office manager may keep a small table: venue, room size, menu price, what is included, dates available.

A venue whose site fills in every column goes into the table straight away. One that needs a call to fill any column goes on a list of things to chase.

The choice may not be hers alone. A page she can forward to whoever signs off makes the venue's case in a meeting its staff never attend.

What a group bookings page should answer

Write the page around the questions callers ask, in roughly the order they ask them:

The fifth item is the one many sites leave out. A caller whose date is gone learns it in a minute, and one whose date is open calls ready to book.

Prices on the page

Owners often hesitate to publish group prices, worried that a quote depends on too many things. A starting price with what it depends on answers the caller without fixing every detail.

The office manager has a budget per head before she starts. A menu at $45 per person, with what that includes, tells her at once whether the venue is in range.

Without a price, finding out takes a call, and a venue that needs a call before it can be compared is easy to pass over.

Open dates without a calendar puzzle

A live booking calendar is not needed. A short list of December evenings marked open, one room left or booked does the job, and anyone on staff can update it.

Put the date of the last update at the top, and change it every Monday through the fall. A list nobody has touched since August sends people toward dates already taken.

The list helps staff too: whoever answers the phone sees at a glance what to offer.

A worked example

A wedding venue near Vernon occupies a restored barn with a main hall for 150 and a lounge for 40. Weddings fill its weekends from May to early October, and winter is quiet.

A few years ago it began taking holiday parties. The website said only that the venue was now booking parties for December and to call the events coordinator.

Each fall the coordinator spent weeks returning calls. Many ended within a minute, because the date was gone or the room minimum was well above what the company had in mind.

The site now has a holiday parties page with both rooms' capacities, three menus with prices per person, the room minimums, what comes with each room, and the deposit terms.

A list of December Fridays and Saturdays sits below, updated each Monday. The enquiry form asks for a first and second choice of date, the number of guests and the company name.

Calls now begin with the date and the numbers settled, because the page answers the questions that used to fill the first five minutes of every call.

Date requests without phone tag

Every enquiry should be answerable in one message. That means asking on the form for a date and a second choice, the number of guests, and a name and phone number for the person deciding.

Reply with availability and a price in the same message, and offer to hold the date for a set number of days. One email can settle what a week of voicemails would not.

Answer within one working day. In September the office manager is still comparing, and a clear early reply sets the standard for the others.

Holding dates fairly

Two companies sometimes want the same Friday. Decide in advance how that is settled, usually by whichever deposit arrives first, and say so on the page.

Give provisional holds an end date, and send a reminder the day before one expires. A hold that quietly lapses, or one nobody remembers making, is how an evening gets promised twice.

January counts too

Some offices hold their party in January instead. A line saying January dates are open, perhaps with a lower minimum, speaks to them as well.

After the season, replace the December list with the date next year's bookings open. Last year's menus left on the page suggest that nobody is minding it.

The counter-case

A small restaurant that takes one group a night in a back room, with a menu that changes daily, may not want fixed set menus on its site.

It can still publish the room's capacity, a typical price per head, the minimum spend and the open dates. Those four facts cover most of what an office manager compares.

A venue that prices every event individually can say so, give a starting price and explain what moves it. The aim is to start the conversation with the facts in hand.

Ready for the first calls

  1. List the questions callers asked last season.
  2. Publish the capacity of each room, seated and standing.
  3. Add set menus with a price per person.
  4. Explain the minimums, the deposits and what is included.
  5. List the December dates with their status.
  6. Ask for the date and guest numbers on the form.
  7. Update the dates every Monday through the season.

Step five matters most to the calls themselves. Once a caller can see that her date is open, the conversation starts at the menu rather than at whether the venue can take her.

A form that asks for the date, the guest numbers and the kind of event before anyone replies is the remedy proposed in venue enquiry forms that do not ask the date.

Frequently asked questions

When do office managers start booking holiday parties?

Many start looking in September and want a shortlist by October. The venues that answer their questions on the website are the easiest to put on it.

What should a group bookings page include?

Capacity for each room, set menus with prices per person, minimums and what is included, timing limits, the open December dates and the deposit terms.

Should a venue publish its group prices?

Yes, at least a starting price per person and what it depends on. A planner with a budget per head can then tell at once whether the venue fits.

Do we need an online booking calendar?

No. A short list of December evenings marked open, one room left or booked, updated every Monday with the date shown, does the job well.

What should the enquiry form ask?

The preferred date and a second choice, the number of guests, the company name, and a name and phone number for the person making the decision.

How do we handle two requests for the same night?

Decide the rule in advance, usually the first deposit received, and publish it. Give every provisional hold an end date and a reminder before it lapses.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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