Hotel banquets and events: how to answer booking calls
Sado AI team · · 4 min read
In short
A banquet hall enquiry isn’t an ordinary booking: behind one call is an event for 50 or 200 people, and the caller is comparing several halls at once. On the first call, learn five things: event type, date, guest count, budget per person, and name and number. Quote prices from your price list as “from … per person” and leave the final estimate to the manager. The main goal is to book a hall viewing. Call back undecided clients within a day or two.
Why a banquet call is different
A room is booked for a night or two; a banquet is a lot of money in one evening. Someone planning a wedding, a birthday or a company party usually calls three or four halls and goes to the first one that gives a clear answer and invites them to see the hall. If the call goes unanswered, or they hear “the manager will call you tomorrow”, they go to see another hall.
Five things to learn on the first call
- Event type: wedding, birthday, company party, seminar. The hall, menu and decoration depend on it.
- The date and a back-up date. Saturdays go fast, so ask for a second option.
- Guest count, even a rough one: 40 people and 250 people need different halls.
- Budget per person: “Roughly how much per person are you planning?” It helps you pick a menu quickly.
- Name, number and a good time to call. Finish by offering a specific viewing time: “Could you come and see the hall tomorrow at five or on Saturday at ten?”
A sample call: a company New Year party
Caller: Assalomu alaykum, we need a banquet hall on 27 December, for our company.
Sado: Va alaykum assalom, Gulzor Hotel banquets. How many guests will there be?
Caller: About sixty.
Sado: For sixty, the Zumrad hall fits. The manager will check 27 December. Roughly how much per person are you planning?
Caller: Around 350 to 400 thousand.
Sado: We have a menu at that price, with the hall and service included. Would you like to see the hall? Tomorrow at five or Saturday at ten.
Caller: Saturday at ten. My name is Nodira, my number is 97 400 11 22.
Sado: Fine, Nodira, you’re booked for Saturday at ten. The manager will check the date today and call you.
The operator didn’t confirm the date itself: the manager checks hall availability. But the client left the call with a clear step, a viewing on Saturday. Prices are only an example.
How to quote a price by phone
- Give a range from the price list: “Menus start from this much per person.” Never make up numbers.
- Say what the price includes: the hall, service, basic decoration. If music, flowers and the cake are extra, say so.
- Don’t promise a discount: the manager decides after seeing the estimate.
- Send the final estimate in writing: after the viewing, the manager sends the menu and price by Telegram or email.
Calling back clients who haven’t decided
A banquet decision takes days: the family discusses it, or a manager at the company has to approve. Don’t just wait:
- Call everyone booked for a viewing the day before, as a reminder.
- Call those who saw the hall but didn’t reply within one or two days: “Do you have any questions left?”
- Before the autumn wedding season and before December, call clients who held an event with you last year: they may choose your hall again.
- Never call again anyone who said “don’t call me”.
Handing the calls to an AI operator
An AI operator for incoming calls answers every call at once, in the evening and at weekends too, when people plan banquets after work. It asks the five questions, answers from your price list and records the viewing time. When a client is ready or asks for a person, it transfers the call to the manager by your rule.
The answers are in the portal’s Requests section, and if you use Bitrix24, a lead or deal opens in the CRM. Reminders and follow-ups go out through AI outbound calls. Try it live or call 78 778 01 23.
Questions
Can the operator book the date itself?
If hall availability changes often, the operator records the request and the manager checks and confirms it. That way no date is promised to two clients.
Which voice suits wedding enquiries?
You choose: Malika (female) or Shohruh (male). Both speak Uzbek and Russian; you can listen to them on the home page.
How much does a banquet call cost?
Sado charges only for talked minutes: 800 so‘m a minute. For example, a four-minute call costs 3,200 so‘m, nothing next to the value of one banquet.