What a banquet hall website needs

A banquet hall website has to answer two questions before anyone writes: is our date open, and will our guests fit. Then it should take an inquiry that already includes the date, the guest count and the type of event, so you can reply with a quote instead of a list of questions. Capacity by room and setup, photos of the rooms set up for real events, and a calendar of open dates do most of that work.

The inquiry: date, guests, event type

These three answers tell you whether you can host the event and roughly what to quote. Put them first on the form.

The date, with room to move

• The date they want
• How flexible they are: this date only, any weekend that month, or any Friday or Sunday
• Afternoon or evening, and roughly how many hours

A couple who would take a Friday instead of a Saturday is a booking you can make even after the Saturday is gone. Let them say so.

The guest count

Ask for their best guess as a single number. A wide range like "somewhere between a hundred and two hundred" can span two different rooms. If children affect your pricing or your seating, ask for adults and children separately.

The event type

Give a short list to tap: wedding reception, quinceañera, sweet sixteen, baby shower, birthday, anniversary, graduation, corporate event, fundraiser, holiday party, memorial luncheon, and "other." The event type changes the setup, the hours, the bar and the menu, so you need it before you quote.

What they need from you

• Your catering, or an outside caterer if you allow one
• Bar service, and what kind
• Tables, linens, decor, a dance floor, a ceremony space
• How they'd like you to reply: call, text or email

Say on the page how soon you reply, and, if that's how you work, that nothing is booked until the contract is signed and the deposit is paid.

Capacity, by room and by setup

A single "holds up to" number doesn't tell a planner much, because the real number depends on the setup. List each room with its capacity for the setups you actually offer:

• Seated dinner with a dance floor
• Seated dinner without one
• Ceremony or theater seating
• Standing cocktail reception

Use the numbers you really seat comfortably, and never more than the occupancy limit set for the room. If rooms can be combined, give the combined numbers too. A simple floor plan for each room, showing tables, the dance floor, the head table and the bar, helps a planner picture the night faster than a paragraph does.

If you have guest minimums or a food and beverage minimum on peak dates, say so on the page. People would rather know before they fall for the room.

Photos that show the room

Close-ups of centerpieces don't tell anyone whether their guest list fits. Photos of the whole room do.

• The room set up for different events, from the entrance and from the head table
• The empty room in daylight, so people can picture their own setup
• The details planners ask about: the dance floor, the bar, the bridal or family suite, the stage, the lighting at night
• Outside: the entrance, the parking lot, the drop-off area

Google's help page on Business Profile photos says photos should be in focus and well lit, without significant alterations or excessive filters. Use the same honest photos on your website and on your Google profile, so the hall people tour matches the hall they saw online.

Open dates people can see

When open dates are visible, people plan around them instead of asking about one date at a time.

• Show booked dates as taken. You mark them yourself when a date is settled.
• Show holds differently, if you hold dates while a contract is pending.
• Point from a booked date to the nearest open ones, so a taken Saturday leads to an open Friday instead of a dead end.

A calendar only helps while it's current. One that hasn't been touched in three months is worse than none, so give one person on your team the job of updating it every time a contract is signed.

The questions planners ask every time

Answer these on the site and you'll field fewer of them by phone:

• Can we bring our own caterer, cake or alcohol, and is there a fee for it
• What time vendors can start setting up, and when the event has to end
• What comes with the room: tables, chairs, linens, setup and cleanup
• Decor rules: candles, confetti, hanging things from the ceiling
• How deposits and payments work, and the cancellation policy
• Parking, and how many cars the lot holds

If you run your own kitchen, put the catering menus on the site as text, not as a PDF. The advice we give restaurants about menus applies to banquet menus too.

Accessibility

Anniversaries, memorial luncheons and big family events bring older guests and guests who use wheelchairs. Say what's true about your entrance, restrooms, parking and seating. Google Business Profile lets you set accessibility attributes with specific criteria, for example a wheelchair-accessible entrance that is three feet or one meter wide with no steps or stairs. Use the same facts on your website and your profile.

Languages

If your staff speak Spanish or another language with the families who book, say so, and offer the inquiry form in that language too. A family planning a quinceañera may find it easier to write in the language they speak at home.

What to leave off

• A PDF brochure as the only place your packages live
• Autoplay video with music
• Stock photos of a ballroom that isn't yours
• An inquiry form that only asks for a name, an email and a message

For what we build for venues, see websites for event venues. If most of your inquiries arrive through Facebook and Instagram, read do you need a website if you have Facebook.

See your hall on a real site

We build the first version of your website free, in 2 days, with your rooms, your capacities, your photos and an inquiry that arrives with the date, the guest count and the event type. You click around it, then decide. If it isn't for you, you owe nothing. Get your free preview.