“Eventhalls.com is an online website where customers can view the availability of banquet halls/event spaces to make a reservation for their party event. The website will display the calendar of banquet halls, making it easy for potential customers to browse through the different locations, view pictures, check their available dates and make a reservation. Think of hotels.com for banquet halls.”
One of the key learnings from running a restaurant and catering parties was observing the high demand for banquet halls to host parties. Now obviously this was Pre-COVID, but one can expect similar demand once the COVID pandemic is over. During our experience we noticed that banquet halls are in so much demand that the availability of a banquet hall usually determines the date selected by the customer for the event.
For example, if a couple planned to get married the summer of 2021, they would start calling multiple banquet halls a year in advanced to check their availability for the summer. Usually most halls are booked a year in advanced and couples and wedding planners might need to call up to 30 halls to ask for their availability. The first thing that comes to mind is how inefficient this process is…. also, if I were the banquet halls, I will be so irked by the number of phones calls I get everyday just to tell requesters that we are booked for that date. I couldn’t imagine as a business owner having to hire a receptionist, who spends majority of the time telling people sorry we are booked for that date, seems like a waste of resources.
This had us thinking, since event spaces are similar to hotels i.e. customers need to rent the space for a predetermined period, why don’t we have a solution similar to Hotels.com for banquet halls, where customers can view the availability of all banquet halls and event spaces. Customers can select a date and view the halls that are available, which will make the process more efficient for both parties.
Business Idea
What it is
Eventhalls.com is an online website where customers can view the availability of banquet halls/event spaces to make a reservation for their party event. The website will display the calendar of banquet halls, making it easy for potential customers to browse through the different locations, view pictures, check their available dates and make a reservation. Think of hotels.com for banquet halls.
How it works
- Banquet hall accesses the eventhalls.com website and creates a unique login and password
- Banquet hall uploads the necessary information about the event space including pictures, description, address, phone, price, FAQs etc
- Banquet hall has the ability to update the eventhalls.com calendar whenever a date is no longer available
- A potential customer planning an event visits the eventhalls.com website to view banquet halls available for their dates of preference
- Customers can filter results by location, date, hall size, price etc
- Customers can now reduce their communication from potentially 30 event halls to 2-3 locations that are available on their preferred date
Benefits
Customer:
- Save time by avoiding to call numerous halls to check for availability
- Customers can easily view promotions/hall discounts
Banquet Halls:
- Free exposure on the website to attract potential customers
- Save resources spent hiring a receptionist to answer multiple calls that don’t lead to sales
- Fully maximize available dates because customers can efficiently filter by the date the space is available
Eventhalls.com Revenue Model
- Advertising revenue generated from banquet halls
- Charge banquet halls for premium listing on the website
- Gain advertising revenue from other party vendors such as DJs, floral designers, planners, caterers etc
- Accept hall rental payments from customers and receive a commission from the banquet hall
- Use the eventhalls.com technology to branch out to other businesses such as reservation for DJs, barbers, hair stylists, wedding planners etc.
- Develop a loyalty membership program that will be sold to event planners to receive banquet hall discounts
- Negotiate with banquet halls to host their website on the eventhalls.com platform which will reduce the hosting and website maintenance fees banquet halls spend on their primary website
