how to book functions chapter 11 copyright 2008 delmar learning. all rights reserved

48
Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning. All Rights Reserved. How to Book Functions Chapter 11

Upload: easter-beverley-powers

Post on 27-Dec-2015

214 views

Category:

Documents


1 download

TRANSCRIPT

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

How to Book Functions

Chapter 11

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

What Is a Function?

• Any use of a banquet facility

•Room rented by client– May use at no charge

•Examples–

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

What Is a Function? (continued)

•Clients deal directly with the banquet office

– The banquet manager

– A catering and sales manager

– Group sales office• Depending on the size of the establishment

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

What Is a Function? (continued)

•Once an event is booked, the responsibility for the event’s success belongs to the BANQUET MANAGER

• Successful functions begin with proper booking of the event

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

What Must Be Known about Function Room Setups

•Regardless of the type of function, the person booking the function MUST KNOW SPECIFIC FACTS about the INDIVIDUAL BANQUET FACILITY

•First needed fact is the number of rooms available and capacity for either meal or meeting functions

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

What Must Be Known about Function Room Setups (continued)

•Second needed fact is the type of physical setups that will accommodate guests COMFORTABLY and EFFICIENTLY

•Third needed fact is equipment availability– Whether it has been assigned to another

function• How, where, and at what cost to obtain extra

equipment

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

What Must Be Known about Function Room Setups (continued)

•Finally—the manager will have to be able to perform the job WITHOUT having to ask any QUESTIONS about the room layout

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Room Availability and Capacity

•Function room—space calculated so that guests receive generally 8 to 12 square feet of space per person for a sit-down (plated) meal

•Formula is mathematically accepted, but the projected number of guests WILL NOT FIT INTO THE ROOM

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Room Availability and Capacity (continued)

• Experienced banquet managers know that each function is an individual party that may require different demands on the room, resulting in a different capacity for the room

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Room Availability and Capacity (continued)

•Factors such as– Location of exits, shape of the head table

– The traffic flow and dance floor

– The audiovisual equipment, type of function

must be taken into consideration before the realistic capacity of a room for each function can be determined

•“Moment of truth” occurs when the guests sit down and have enough room

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Types of Room Setups for Functions

•Guests DO NOT want to

– Be too crowded into a room• Fails that “moment of truth”

– Be in too big a room with extra space• Makes the event appear to be a failure

•Banquet managers must know how to use room space effectively in order to maximize revenue

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Types of Room Setups for Functions (continued)

• – Social events use round tables

• Weddings or dinners– Encourages conversation

– Business events use• Block tables

• T-shaped tables or e-shaped tables– Eliminates unnecessary conservation

– See Figure 11-1, Figure 11-2, and Figure 11-3

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Types of Room Setups for Functions (continued)

•Meeting setups—generally two types

– Theater style•

• Guests provided only chairs, ALL facing the same direction

– Used when attending a presentation

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Types of Room Setups for Functions (continued)

•Meeting setups—generally two types

– Schoolroom or classroom• All guests facing toward the front of the

room while seated at the tables for note taking purposes

• Used for teaching a seminar

• Uses the most amount of space, which lessens the amount of guests

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Types of Room Setups for Functions (continued)

– Place in front of the room• Guests seated only on one side of the table,

facing the other members of the party

– A trend at social events• A round table as the head table, placed in

the middle of the party, allows hosts of the party to enjoy themselves more

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Types of Room Setups for Functions (continued)

• – Flow of guests is important

– Be creative in using space• Lobbies or pools of hotels

– Position of food and beverage is important• Guest comfort and ease of service

• Minimize traffic jams

– Setup relatively easy• Only has a few tables to deal with

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Types of Room Setups for Functions (continued)

•Cocktail parties

– Should be fewer chairs than guests• Forces the guest to socialize

– A room can accommodate more guests than a sit-down (plated) dinner because less chairs are needed

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Types of Room Setups for Functions (continued)

•Once the banquet manager and the client determine the number of guests and type of setup desired, the manager can decide on which room accommodates the group comfortably and efficiently

•Manager must draw a diagram for the room setup to be correct BUT needs to know what equipment is available for setting up rooms

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Available Equipment

•The manager knows the capacity of ALL the rooms and the types of functions that may be booked into each room

•The manager next needs to know the types and sizes of tables available so that the function is planned with comfort for the guests and efficiency for the banquet establishment

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Available Equipment (continued)

•See Figure 11-5—types of tables

• Round ables create jovial atmosphere, encouraging conversation

– Come in two general sizes:• 60 inches in diameter

– Seats 8 guests

• 72 inches in diameter– Seats 10 guests

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Available Equipment (continued)

•Round tables

– Take up more space than rectangular tables

– Cannot seat as many guests as with rectangular tables

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Available Equipment (continued)

• Oblong or rectangular tables

– Three basic sizes:• 30 inches wide by 96 inches long

– An 8-foot table

• 18 inches wide by 96 inches long– 8-foot by 1½ feet or skinny

• 30 inches wide by 72 inches long– A 6-foot table

• See Figure 11-6

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Available Equipment (continued)

•Oblong or rectangular tables

– Guests require 24 inches of linear space to be comfortable

– An 8-footer will seat 8 people —4 on each side

– A 6-footer will seat 6 people —3 on each side

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Available Equipment (continued)

•Space between tables– When seated back-to-back

• With rectangular tables– 60 inches is recommended between tables

• With round tables– 54 inches is recommended between tables

– Experiment with the room• Set up the room to determine space

between tables

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Available Equipment (continued)

• Special-shaped tables

– Trapezoid, serpentine, quarter- and half-round tables are best used for setting up food or bar stations or to create interestingly shaped buffet lines rather than for the guests’ dining

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Available Equipment (continued)

• – Placed in the center of the head table

• Takes up 24 inches of space

– Place for notes of the speaker

– Light and microphone

• Podium—same purpose as a lectern– Takes up 24 inches of space

– Difference is that podium is FREESTANDING

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Available Equipment (continued)

• Microphones—manager must know– Different types of microphones– Where power source is– How to turn system on– How to adjust the volume– How to eliminate annoying feedback

•Common mistakes made with microphones– Adjusting the volume not loud enough– Setting microphone too far away from

speaker’s mouth

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Available Equipment (continued)

• Audiovisual equipment– Manager must know

• How to operate it

• Where to rent equipment not owned

– How much to charge the client for the rental

– Larger facilities have their own AV department• Price sheet for all equipment is available

• Employs staff to set up and operate equipment for an hourly fee

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Things to Keep in Mind

•Planning the correct setup of a function is an integral part of the success or failure of a business meeting or party

•Use common sense when booking rooms– Don’t put a wedding reception next to a

business meeting that ONLY has a pullout wall as a divider

• WILL NOT ABSORB SOUND AS PROMISED

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Things to Keep in Mind (continued)

• ALL equipment MUST BE in the room and thoroughly tested before guests arrive

•If equipment is rented, know how to operate it

•If owned, schedule regular maintenance

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

A Final Point about Room Setups

•Rule of thumb

– Function rooms are large enough to accommodate all guests comfortably

– Exception to the rule:• Press conferences are planned for a small

room to give the impression that the event was an overwhelming success

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Physically Setting Up theFunction Rooms

•Banquet manager should NOT set up the function rooms

•Banquet manager should draw a diagram of the room simply and concisely for the setup people to use and follow– Check the room after setup to make

sure the diagram was followed

– See Figure 11-7

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Physically Setting Up the Function Rooms (continued)

•Two final tips:

– Diagram should be on 8½-X-11-inch paper, able to be carried around

– Whenever feasible, suggest the same physical setup to the next client• Will cut down on labor costs

• Will increase setup crew’s morale

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Booking Functions

•Once the capacity and the use of the function room is known, the next task is to book functions

•Booking is done by a sales, catering, or banquet manager who knows

– Exactly what types of

– Accommodations for meetings

– Charges for services establishment offers clients

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Booking Functions (continued)

•Banquet managers work from

– Set-priced menus

•Caterers set prices on factors:

– How much demand for

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Function Book

•An organized system to keep bookings straight– Lists ALL rooms the establishment has

to rent on a daily basis• See Figure 11-8

•Today being replaced with computer software– Advantage: Backup copies of all

bookings can be saved and/or printed

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Function Book (continued)

• Does NOT provide information about the menu or the party

•Only provides

– Who reserved the room

– Whether it is a firm or tentative booking

– Approximate time and number of guests

•Main purpose is to avoid overbooking

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Function Book (continued)

•Care and storage of the book

– Such an integral part of the establishment• Kept in a permanent place in the office

– Locked away when nobody is in the office

• Only authorized people make entries– In pencil

– Identify themselves by placing their initials in the entry

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Qualifying Business

•Need a policy to determine the amount of money that must be made when a room is booked

•Once determined, the manager should attempt to book parties that will bring in the most revenue

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Qualifying Business (continued)

•Qualifying a client means to determine

– How much money the client will spend at the establishment

– Whether the client can pay for the party

•Once the business is qualified, a date can be entered into the function book as a tentative or firm booking

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

How Far in Advance May Banquets Be Booked?

•Determined by each banquet facility

– Develop a schedule that fits your business based upon demand for space

•Client agrees to pay a set amount, regardless if 1 person or 100 people attend

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Difference between Tentative and Firm

• Firm booking

– Easiest to understand

– Client gives a deposit for a party• Establishment enters into the function book

– The amount and date of deposit

– The word “Firm”

– Your

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Difference between Tentative and Firm (continued)

• Tentative booking– Enter client’s name into function book

– Client will have first refusal

– May be held for a week without a deposit• After a week, if still interested, deposit is

required

•Problems with tentative booking– Some dates are more popular than others

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Deposits

•Required for almost ALL banquet events

•Protect both parties

– Banquet house will not sell the date to another client that wants the same date

– Client will not cancel the event without losing the money they have put down for the event

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Deposits (continued)

• Refunds of deposits– Each banquet house must have its own

policies• No refund policy

• Refund if canceled within a certain time frame

• Refund if another group books that date

– Keep in mind what would be in • The best interest of the guest

• The best interest of the business

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Guarantees

•A promise made by the host of the party that a certain number of guests will attend

– Host pays for the number promised, UNLESS more guests attend

– Host will pay on the higher guest count

•A guarantee is usually required three to four days before the event

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Guarantees (continued)

•Establishments usually set up for 5 percent above the guarantee

– Helps forecast if more guests show up

– May charge 10 percent menu premium if guest count is beyond 5 percent of guarantee

•Key to managing successful banquets: Communication on informing guests of ALL policies when event is booked

Copyright 2008 Delmar Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Room Rentals

•Different ways to charge for room rentals

– Food and beverage package• In addition to room rental

– Just meeting room is used• No food and beverages offered

– Book a certain number of hotel rooms• The meeting room(s) are included