FINALLY... Intelligent Event Planning

In the event and catering business, the No. 1 cause of stress is time. Whether it’s a wedding or a business lunch, everything must run like clockwork. There never seems to be enough time for all the event planning, contract writing, room preparation, on-site coordination, and everything else that goes along with a successful event and happy clients. And just when you think you can relax, it’s time to clean up the room and get ready for the next one.  

Now hotels have the perfect solution for managing meeting room sales and catering operations — IQbanquet, available from Deerfield Beach, Fla.-based IQware. Designed specifically for the hospitality industry, IQbanquet provides your sales and management team a suite of powerful tools to efficiently handle every aspect of your operation, saving you significant time and headaches while increasing your profitability and service levels. 

Integrated directly into the IQware Property Management System (PMS), IQbanquet delivers a wide range of features designed and proven to streamline event management, from sales tracking to resource planning.

“This business is all about maximizing time and the bottom line,” says John G. Denver, Vice President, Business Development for IQware. “IQbanquet provides you with the ability to optimize the time of not only your sales and management team, but also your support staff. About 35 percent of the cost of an event is the labor, and that is something that is often overlooked when planning an event.

“With IQbanquet, everything is timed down to the second, keeping the event running flawlessly, while providing management with the information needed to make good decisions,” Denver adds.

From Inquiry to Event

The IQbanquet difference begins as the event is being created. Too often in the hospitality industry, initial inquiries are just written down on paper, and then later checked for availability and placed into the hotel’s database. With IQbanquet, the client’s information is directly entered into the system as it’s provided. If the guest is a returning customer, all of his/her information is automatically filled in. The sales staff can immediately check not only the availability of meeting space, but also the number of sleeping rooms that can be blocked off for the event.

“With IQbanquet, the rule is you only have to touch the information once — there’s never any need to re-enter data on different forms or in different programs,” adds Dan Brown, Director of Sales for IQware. “Our inquiry tool has a depth that no one else has. Times, dates, locations, and space: All the information is right up there on the screen for you. And because of the automation in the system, when the inquiry is sold, an event listing is automatically created, taking you into the next step of the process.” 

During the initial inquiry, the customers also are asked which features they are interested in, such as dining plans, bars, or anything else your property has to offer. When there is a possibility of a double booking, the system uses this information to automatically prioritize the events in terms of which would be the most profitable — taking into consideration not only the event itself, but also the guestrooms being booked. All of the sales staff’s notes are automatically uploaded into the banquet staff’s instructions, ensuring the customer’s needs are all taken care of.

You also can pre-load customized packages in IQbanquet. So if a customer calls about the “ABC Package” listed in your marketing materials, that event can be created in a single click of the mouse. Similarly, with returning customers IQbanquet can “clone” a past event with one push of a button.

The system’s artificial intelligence also creates a much more refined contract creation process. Based on your contract templates, it will only include those sections that are relevant to the current event. That means the sales staff doesn’t have to manually go through and edit each contract to delete irrelevant information, and you don’t confuse the customer by leaving information in that doesn’t apply.

“It’s all about time: We’ve found these features can save an average of three to four weeks over the course of a year,” Brown says. “With an extra month of time, imagine how many extra calls your sales staff can make, and how much that translates into bottom-line profits and savings for you.”

Intuitive Functionality

IQbanquet was developed for the hospitality industry as a Windows-based system, making it intuitive, easy to use and easy to learn. Many of the other sales and catering software packages on the market started off as DOS-based systems and were later converted, losing much of the Window functionality in the process.

With IQbanquet, you can have multiple windows open on the screen at the same time, putting all the information right in front of you, without having to close out other screens to move forward.

It also includes an intelligent cut-and-paste feature, so the system brings all the data assigned to an event, function or task along with it. Or if a time is changed on the event itinerary, each step in the process is automatically updated with a new time down the line.

“The functionality of IQbanquet is stellar compared to other systems, because it is using Windows the way Windows was meant to be used,” says Francois Greffard, VP – Operations for IQware. “If you can learn how to push the Tab button, you can use the system. There’s a lot of power, a lot of tools, a lot of reporting you can use built into the right-click button.”

There are 132 hard-copy reports built into the system, with more than 1,000 variables you can change. You can see how events are performing against budgets. And the system gives you precise GRC for each market segment, so management can see which markets to target to increase revenue without raising prices. 

Most importantly, because IQbanquet is integrated into the IQware PMS, all the information is updated in real time. Other interfaces only update once per day. So you aren’t waiting until the next morning to check which rooms are still available, or worried about double booking.

Contact Management & Marketing

IQbanquet also serves as a contact management system — all interactions, including phone calls, office visits or emails with the client are tracked. While many systems are integrated with Outlook, much of the client contact information can be lost or misplaced when staff changes.

Sales can look up past events by contact, and with a right-click on the mouse, immediately recreate the event and every task associated with it.

“With IQbanquet, contacts are matched to the client, not the salesperson,” says Greffard. “This means you can see the same information from any computer, and you don’t have to repeat client information gathering when someone leaves or is out of the office.”

This contact management system also opens up the powerful marketing functions of IQbanquet. With just a quick search, IQbanquet can find any past client that hasn’t been contacted in the past 24 months, for instance. In just minutes, it can merge this list with a personalized letter or a brochure. From there, it’s just a matter of stuffing envelopes to get your marketing materials in front of your clients.

“In marketing, you are going to be the most successful with the people you’ve done business with in the past,” Brown adds. “With IQbanquet, you can find and reach those people with a direct marketing piece or an e-blast in just minutes. IQbanquet is an amazing time saver for your sales and marketing teams, and contributes directly toward increased profits and a better customer experience.

“Want to serve up increased sales-and-catering satisfaction, repeat business and referrals? Give yourself the gift of IQbanquet for 2011,” Brown adds.

About IQware

Deerfield Beach, Fla.-based IQware has been “Helping Hospitality Partner With Intelligence^SM” for 25 years. Today, more than 5,000 end users utilize IQware software to help best market and manage more than 120,000 rooms generating more than $3.5 billion in gross room revenue. IQware brings with it more than 300 years of combined experience managing hospitality properties and developing and supporting related software. “Built By Hoteliers For Hoteliers,” IQware’s Global Property Management System and more than two dozen add-on modules optimize operations at properties of all types − limited- and full-service hotels, resorts, condo-hotels and timeshares — and all sizes — from regional hotel chains to multi-property management companies to small independents IQware is Your Single-Source Technology Partner through ongoing customized training, user-driven technology development, 24x7 support and lifetime software upgrades. Looking for a competitive edge? Look no further. IQware “Helps Hospitality Better Find, Book, Host, Know & Keep Clients.” IQware solutions offer numerous ROI-generating tools including e-marketing, four-tier yield management, Web-Rez, packages, loyalty points, IQDestinations and IQLink — which pushes your existing PMS inventory directly to the most effective and profitable Intranet, GDS and Extranet channels.. And because IQware’s Global Property Management System has served as the heart of so many hotel operations for a quarter century, today IQware also can provide the lifeblood for Condo Management, Point Of Sale, Sales & Catering, Online Reservations, Spa Management, Marina Management, Central Reservations System and e-CRM electronic (Customer Relationship Management). IQware takes technology partnering to a new level − just ask our ever-expanding family of clients conducting business in two dozen countries. For more information, visit www.iqwareinc.com or call (877) 698-5151.

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