How your PMS can make sure your guests’ weddings run like clockwork – while maximising both operational efficiency and revenue

Many of our customers earn a substantial part of their revenue from weddings – naturally complex events in which nothing can be left to chance. Hotel event management software with bespoke wedding planning capabilities will make your events team’s life smoother while ensuring a peerless day for the happy couple and their guests.

Weddings are multi-stage and multi-process events where almost every aspect has an impact on a different, but overlapping, area of a hotel’s operations – be it room allocations, menus, room and meal packages, payment schedules, staffing, event room set-up, seating plans or entertainment.

Sophisticated wedding planning software is essential

Many hotels also need to ensure that their regular guests aren’t adversely affected by the event, and that non-wedding bookings aren’t prejudiced by wedding room and table allocations. Therefore it requires sophisticated event planning software to meet all these demands and ensure nothing is left to chance or slips through the net.

The best wedding management solutions for hotels will simplify complicated, multi-stage processes into a simple, easy to use package which automatically breaks down multiple tasks while allocating costs and tasks to the right departments.

Elements which a good hotel wedding and events module will always incorporate include:

• A flexible booking planner, where you can allocate staged payments, dedicated packages for room and table bookings as well as included or excluded meals and drinks for the organiser’s guests, and you can set aside rooms for the event dynamically, so you don’t lose out on regular bookings.
• A professional function sheet with all the elements necessary to ensure the smooth running of any wedding, such as:
  – Event details: the event date, number of guests, and any special requests
  – Room setup: seating arrangement, AV requirements, and any special room needs
  – Menu: the food and drink menu, including any dietary requirements
  – Staff requirements: how many staff are needed, what their roles are, and any special guest requests
  – Running order: start and end times, and a detailed timings plan
• A dedicated task diary, breaking the event down into specific tasks allocated to the staff working on the event
• A templated package planner, for the hotel to share with the wedding organiser, covering everything from budgeting and stage payments through to the details of rooms, included meals and drinks, inventory, running order, seating plans, and anything else needed to make the event a success.

“Flexibility and the ability to customise are crucial”

“At Rezcontrol, we pride ourselves on the level of customisability and flexibility we offer,” said Sarah Cade, MD of Avondata Systems Ltd. “It’s really rare for a hotel on our books not to be able to satisfy an event organiser’s request. So for example you can add menu items for specific events, or modify drinks packages – we operate a tick box system so you can save all the options you like, and then choose which ones to display for each event.”

A seamless connection between front desk and back office

Much like the image of a swan swimming serenely on the surface of a lake while its feet paddle furiously below the surface, for a wedding to be effortlessly smooth and elegant takes a lot of hidden legwork. This is where wedding planning technology comes into its own, connecting the customer-facing front of house with the back office detail.

This connection should cover items such as:

• Wedding payment requests – complicated to calculate manually, an event management module such as Rezcontrol’s will automatically work out deposits and stage payments, and send automatic payment requests with secure payment links, reminders and receipt confirmations.
• Event stock control – Rezcontrol’s “absorption” feature allows you to post F&B sales from your POS system to an event without applying charges that have already been accounted for in the event account itself. Only amounts over and above what is included in the event will be applied, as a supplement. This means that you accurately record stock whilst keeping revenue correct, saving huge amounts of time on what would otherwise include manual processes and adjustments.
• Function sheet reporting – beyond being a handy planner for front of house staff, Rezcontrol’s function sheets will aggregate critical information directly from the reservation. As well as making life smoother for your guests, the module will collate information and can provide operational logistics for front of house and details on food and beverage selections to assist the kitchen and bar.

A close eye on detail – and the whole event trail stays in one place

Weddings, and wedding management software, rely on getting the small but important details, and this is where your PMS event module can help. You should therefore consider these aspects of your chosen system’s event capability:

• Can it manage both bedrooms and event spaces together? Rezcontrol features one simple booking process for both bedrooms and event spaces together, so you can always see your overall capacity in the context of the event which has been booked.
• Can you see wedding event and bedroom reservations on the same page on the planner? This will mean you don’t have to hop between platforms, and risk losing a vital element of the booking.
• Does it offer versatile templates and packages – making it quick and efficient to put together fully-branded event quotes and invoices for the wedding?
• Does it enable multi-stage payment scheduling for the happy couple? This removes headaches for both the hotel and the event organisers, knowing the financial side is taken care of automatically, with automated reminders and payments, and a 3D secure payment link.
• Can it generate promo codes for specific events? This enables guests to book and pay for their own rooms at a wedding if needed. Rezcontrol’s event management solution will also only show available rooms for the event date, at the negotiated rate, avoiding the potential for mistakes or disappointment.

With the events module being part of the PMS, the whole event trail, including all bedroom reservations, remains in one place, with all correspondence, billing, payments and reminders related to the event filed together – giving you, the hotelier, ultimate peace of mind that your guests’ wedding will not only go to plan but there will be nothing missed, either for them or for your business.

Not a customer? Call us on +44 (0)330 223 1456 or email sales@rezcontrol.com – you can also book a chat or contact us for a demo.