Get Your Hotel, Restaurant, or Venue More Business from Event Planners with These 4 Easy Website Updates

Jun 6, 2023 | 0 comments

While marketing is important, once you get someone to your website, make it is easy for them to work with you. For busy planners, they want the details cleanly and clearly laid out, with minimal needs for a back and forth interaction. While it may feel necessary to get all of the details from someone in exchange for information, the reality is that those longer interactions simply aren’t how things work anymore. There are so many websites that give you all the details in a few clicks, that as a business you need to keep up. So here are some simple upgrades to make sure you don’t lose business from the website viewing stage.

Invest in lots of quality photos of your space

Seasoned event planners need to have a sense of a potential space. It’s important for someone to see set up options like a registration or gift table, while also understanding how the room looks, and what the layout options are.

Having quality photos on your website is important because these details might be needed for preparing a proposal that goes on to an executive or other decision maker. It also simplifies the process as a whole. Keep in mind that sometimes this stage may happen before a planner reaches out to you for availability. Diagrams, photos, square footage and pictures of set ups are a huge help, and can quickly convince a planner if the space is right to book.

Clarify In-House, Public-Facing Events from Private Event Options

Many times websites will say “events”, but that link is for in-house events like themed brunches, musical acts, or other public-facing activities to draw in the public. All too often businesses bury the private event information at the bottom of the website, or less obvious places that are not clearly demarcated on the home page. Don’t make planners have to dig for information about a private event if you’re looking to get more of their business. An easy way to differentiate these two is say something like “Upcoming Events” and “Private Events”. Indicators like this help clarify which type of event you’re referencing, and allow planners to more easily find details they need.

Have updated menus on your website

Please, please, please! Put your updated menus with pricing on your website! If a professional planner is short on time, they will skip you, especially if they need to work quickly. Needing to reach out to the planner or venue coordinator, can add unnecessary wait time. Even if the planner wants to hear about your menus, they may have found another website with all the details and move forward because the process is simpler. It may seem like a pain to update your menus, but you absolutely need to prioritize it – you don’t know how much business you might be losing because you are not providing access to basic details.

Minimize the Questionnaire

Many times when doing a preliminary search, planners need to get a sense of pricing and not all places list the full details. It’s understandable that not every date has the same rental cost or food & beverage minimum, and that’s fine. But if a planner is only looking for a little information, but still has to submit an extensive inquiry it might be a hindrance. Of course the business wants to know as much as possible, but it doesn’t help if someone has to make up information, which really puts everyone back at square one. By having a simpler questionnaire, or a more open option it can make the process more approachable.

Put Your Contact Details at the Top of Your Website

It may seem like an aesthetic choice, but from a planner’s perspective, having to click and scroll just to find where you are located, or to contact you via email or phone is annoying. Make it easy for people to reach out to you and keep those details front and center!