Whether you’re opening a new hotel or planning to have a hotel party for your next event, there are ways to make the event a success that start from the moment you decide to have a party.
To make the event run smoothly, you can hire a hotel event planner for your next epic party. When it comes to the organising event, a planner will remember all the details that you might forget if you’ve never organised a party previously. You’ll still need to make some decisions as the host of the event.
Choosing a theme
While you might think it’s enough to have your party at a lavish hotel, you need a theme for your event. You can reflect the area’s history or something noteworthy about the city surrounding the hotel. The party could surround a local holiday or center on the pool itself. Your guests will enjoy themselves more if you have a theme with decorations and lavish entertainment.
Finding a good DJ
You’ll want to bring in a DJ to do more than throw on a CD filled with music. The entertainment he or she brings should fill the space with excitement and a vibe that makes everyone want to dance. A party without some kind of music is a dull affair that guests will remember for all the wrong reasons.
When to send out invitations
The invitations and promotion of the event should start about eight weeks before the event. There should be plenty of promotion and buzz around the event to maximize the exposure especially if it’s a party for the hotel itself. Along with invitations, you’ll want to connect with people on social media, send out press releases to newspapers and contact relevant magazines and online publications in the industry.
Hire a photographer
For your event, you should hire a photographer. This should be a professional who will give you the best pictures of your event. It’s an investment that can bring benefits long after the event itself. You can add it to the hotel’s website, send them to the media and use them for social media campaigns.
The cost of the photographer will pay for itself with your first marketing campaign after the event where you tell people about the spaces you have available for theirs.
Decorations
The decorations you choose will depend on the type of event that you have. For a pool party, you can bring in pool accessories like beach balls and floating drink trays. Don’t forget to decorate the area around the pool with fun decorations like grass, tiki torches or strings of lights over the pool, so it can go from day to night easily. You want to choose decorations that will be visible at night. Lights are a great way to decorate.
Drinks
For the party, you’ll need to decide whether you’ll have free drinks or charge for them. An open bar can be a great way to show your guests a good time while it means that you’ll have to purchase enough alcohol and supplies for the entire night.
Estimate how many people will show up at the event and ensure that you won’t run out of drinks. If you run out of drinks, people will head to other events instead.
Who to invite
This will depend on who you are trying to impress. You’ll want to invite anyone who is involved in the hotel like investors or stockholders. Reporters, influential bloggers, and other media types who will report on the stunning event should be invited.
Hostesses and staff
To have a great event, there should be a team to take care of the guests.
Invite influencers and brand advocates to mingle with the guests. Many hotel guests seek alternative ways to meet new business connections. Events and parties are a fun way to help your hotel community gain exposure.
Train the team on tasks that will add value to the party and the hotel. Provide swags that help promote the event or party.
After the party
Once the event is over, your job isn’t done. You can still use all the photos and guest’s comments about the event to promote the hotel. Before the guests leave the hotel’s parking lot, have the valet put a thank you note in their vehicles along with complementary gifts. They don’t have to be expensive gifts to have an impact.
An awesome hotel party starts with the planning of the event. Make sure you’re hiring an event planner as well as the right staff to make the event a success.
Is your hotel utilizing events and parties to attract new and renewed customers?
About the author
Are Morch specialises in social media management for hotels. He works closely with hotels to create social media strategies that fit their needs and properties. Through social media, hotel blogging and hotel communities, Are identifies the values that will make your hotel’s performance stand out. He helps hotels build a social media foundation that impacts occupancy and revenue, and makes the social media tasks for your hotel easier.
