Event classifications
Breakfast, meeting, and wedding ceremony are examples of event classifications. Basically, any occasion that can be held at your property for a group of guests. Event classifications are selected when blocking events, and display in a lot of documents such as contracts and BEOs.
If you take the time to provide helpful default information like start and end times on your property's event classifications, the time saved for every event that your team creates each day can really add up—and make you their hero. This is also where you enter average checks. These are used to forecast revenue in reports until the BEO has been detailed and the event is marked Done. So your Controller and GM will appreciate you for enabling a very accurate catering forecast.
Corporate vs. property event classifications
You can create corporate event classifications, but we recommend always using property-specific classifications because the average check for breakfast in Texas is probably very different than in Hong Kong.
Just like we discussed in the Setup Values lesson, some companies have a mandated list of event classifications that are not allowed to be modified, while other companies allow each property to determine their own list. So make sure you understand your company's policy before making any changes.
If you created your own property, we provide you with the most commonly used event classifications, including start and end times. They are created as inactive, so review that list, select Active for the ones you want to use, and add any others to fit your property.
Adding and detailing event classifications
The Director of Sales is very excited because she was asked if your property can host a quarterly fashion show for a famous local designer. Since this will be a regular event with the same setup and BEO items, she wants you to add an event classification for convenience and reporting.
To add the new event classification, on the Property page, point to the Event Classifications link and click the New button.
After entering the name, you have the option to provide a few default settings. All of the defaults can be changed by your team when they are blocking space if necessary. But it sure is nice to be able to tab right past lots of fields because they're already completed, so if 80% of the time something applies to this event, fill it in.
Start and end time - Lunch is almost always from noon to one o'clock, and a 24 hour hold is, well, all day. You know what to do.
Default Posted - We provide you with an Event Posting report that is typically run each day and put in the reader boards in the lobby and hallways to direct guests to their space. Or you might have an integration with your electronic reader board or property TV channel that automatically pulls the events each day. Select Default Posted if the event is usually included in these displays. Some properties never post breaks, setup/teardown, or 24 hour holds, so you would clear this check box for those event classifications.
Default Setup - Only assign the default room setup if it's used 95% of the time. A registration is almost always set up the same way, but meetings can vary so leave that default setup blank to make sure the one the customer asked for is assigned.
Average Checks - These can be entered as per person or per event. Take a look at your catering menus and determine the median price for what is typically sold for this event. If you have plated breakfast menus that range from 20 - 40, enter 30 as the food average check in the Breakfast classification and select Per Person as the factor. If you almost always sell an LCD projector for a meeting, enter the daily price of the projector as the AV average check and then select Per Event as the factor.
Default items
Do you find yourself adding the exact same meeting setup items for the BEO over and over again? Well cut that out. Add them one time to the event classification and then they will automatically be applied when an event is created. For example, you can add Iced Water, Glasses, and Candy Dishes to the meeting if that is your standard setup.
To add default items, point to the Event Classifications list on the Property page, and click the event classification name to open it. (Don't click the Edit link because you can't do this in edit mode.) Then point to the Event Classification Items link, click New, and select the menu or item. This is a very important feature if you sell packages—you'll learn more about that in the Packages lesson.
That's really all there is to it. Now go review all of your event classifications and make them sparkle.
Quiz time
- Creating corporate event classifications is the best idea because you only have to enter them once.
- True
- False
Summary
Spend a few minutes detailing your event classifications and you'll save hours of work for the team. If you're a brand new property, you haven't entered your menus and items yet, so make yourself a note to come back to the event classifications to add default items when menu entry is complete. We also remind you about this in the New Property Guide.
Next Topic > Users