How Can Standalone Banquets Make Banquets Sector More Organized The sector is very unorganized in the ways it deals its day to day business activities and this is how one can combat it
By Shriti Chhajed •
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Today, around 70 per cent of existing banquets are standalone banquets which accounts for three fourth of the industry. A shortcoming in the services of these Banquets causes chaos and makes the Banquets Sector more unorganized.
Banquets are highly unorganized in their practice of services.
Customers are not clear about the point of contact once they enter the banquet. Roles of the people on site are either not well defined or they are not trained to understand customer needs. Customers either have to speak to multiple people or there is not enough staff to take their queries
Why Does the Issue Exist?
Most of the banquets today are either owned by Caterers or Real Estate owners so there is a lack of expertise that is required for establishing a good Hospitality Business.
This is majorly side business for the banquet owners which they sideline and it leads to an unorganized setup.
There are no specific standards followed, the banquets are run in their own traditional fashion and limitations.
The approach limits Banquet halls occupancy rate to only wedding seasons which restrict the banquet owner to recruit staff/professionals for a temporary period of time
Challenges Faced by Industry Players:
As there is no availability of software and technical support there arises a problem of Double booking
Pencil booking also knew a provisional booking due to bookings in cash as there is no system of online payment
No proper documentation which results in time mismanagement and allotment of slots to the customers
How the Issue Can be Addressed by the Industry Players
Highest standards of professional conduct and transparency should be followed by the existing industry players
Technical support or software should be put to use that controls booking slots and timings for each venue so that there is no overlapping in the booking slots.
They need to adopt simple costumer solution where they just have to fill in the requirements about area preference, budget, a number of guests expected, an occasion they are planning to celebrate, their food preference and they get the list of their banquets on the portal. This makes it easy for the customer to shortlist the banquets as per their requirements event before they pay a visit.
Venue manager with thorough knowledge about the venue should be assigned as the primary point of contact for the customer and has final authority to close the deals on the venue. This saves a lot of running around and trouble for the customers who walk in the venue.
The assigned event planner helps the customer with booking verified in-house photographers decorators, caterers, makeup artists, anchors and coordinates all the arrangements for the events.
Value for money deals for customer with higher rate occupancy at Banquets
Differential pricing for the mutual benefit of Banquet owners and customers.
Standardization in services: The focus remains clear with excellence in service at each across all venues with the same level of assistance and responsiveness.
Corporate and mix of businesses will solve the problem of low occupancy for the venues.
When the Banquets market will gain stability and will become more organized?
Currently, the sector is much unorganized in the ways it deals its day to day business activities. With the above-mentioned solutions and an approach that involves expertise and technological support, the industry players will be able to grow and form a more organized Banquets sector as a whole.
