Top Tips for Venue Upkeep During a Busy Holiday Season
Running a venue is no easy feat. In addition to the typical business operations, marketing, and sales needs, you also have to maintain the property itself. Otherwise, all the ads and promotional materials will be for nothing if you can’t wow a prospect for their first venue tour!
During the slow season, it’s simple enough to keep things in order. Since you aren’t constantly moving things around, pulling things out of inventory (and possibly not putting them back, whoops!), and welcoming people onsite, maintenance usually ends up being a minimal task.
However, when the busy season picks up (especially around the holidays), all of that upkeep becomes a necessity. When you’re hosting multiple events per week, you and your team must have a strategy in place to turn the venue around in an efficient manner. There isn’t time for a deep cleaning between back-to-back events, so property maintenance procedures are a venue owner’s best friend. Knowing who is responsible for what will keep people accountable and ensure that your venue is always in tip-top shape for its visitors.
Here are four ways to streamline venue upkeep in the busiest of seasons.
Create a must-do list for the start and end of each event.
There’s a good chance you already have some kind of cleanup procedure for each event, but it’s essential to have it written out with staff assignments. Not only will this ensure everything gets done on time, but it will also make it much easier to onboard new hires when the time comes.
After every event, you likely have the same recurring tasks: take the trash out to the dumpster, break down any custom installations, put away furniture, clean the bathrooms, tidy up the main areas, and so on.
Even so, you should still aim to be onsite 30 minutes to an hour before the next event to tie up any loose ends. You may have left the venue spotless on Saturday night, but if Sunday morning is windy, you may have to pick up errant branches or trash that blew in overnight.
Stage your venue with on-trend rental equipment.
While couples like to talk about the perks of a “blank slate” venue, the reality is that they need some inspiration to get their creativity working. Fill your space with rental equipment that is clean and simple, avoiding any thematic elements that could seem overdone to a couple. It shouldn’t trump their vision, but rather provide a look at how the venue looks “in action.”
If you don’t have rental equipment onsite, consider tapping into your network to see if you can establish a partnership with a local rental company. Many are willing to provide some staging rentals if you display their company information, so it can be a positive move for both parties.
To take it a step further, you could also bring in a local designer from your preferred vendor list to work their magic on your venue. A gorgeous tablescape or a lush lounge space can go a long way in showcasing your venue’s beauty to its visitors!
Keep the lights on.
There’s something powerful about seeing a venue lit up as opposed to one that looks dark and unused. Turn all of the lights on—yes, the bistro lights, the chandeliers, the outdoor lampposts—and your property will get an instant upgrade, even for the surprise visitors who decided to “pop in” for a look around (you know the ones!).
If possible, see if you can hook up your lighting equipment to a remote device so you can save the time and trouble of manually hitting every switch. That way, you can turn the lights up for a big moment or set the mood with a dimmer from anywhere onsite.
Don’t forget the personnel.
If we’re being honest, most guests view the staff as “part” of the venue. They don’t know your team personally, so the way your employees interact with them becomes part of the greater venue experience.
Thus, it’s essential to ensure your staff is trained and professional in every regard. They should be consistent in their customer service approach, as well as how they present themselves. Things like wet hair, wrinkled attire, or chipped nail polish may seem like small potatoes, but they ultimately fit into your venue’s overall aesthetic.
You are selling an experience at your venue, so your team needs to understand the expectations set for their time onsite. It doesn’t mean everyone needs to show up with designer clothing, but they should always appear clean and put-together.
Venue upkeep doesn’t need to feel like a burden on top of the demands of busy season. All you need is a strategy in place and a reliable team to execute it.
Dixie Bagley is the owner of The Farm in Rome, Georgia - a European farm estate with lodging set in the northwest Georgia mountains. The venue focuses on working with couples who want to give their guests a relaxed but thoughtful countryside weekend wedding experience. Having been in the wedding industry for 12 years, Dixie is a master of multi-tasking and wants to make everyone feel at ease. Dixie is an active entrepreneur in the wedding industry. In addition to owning and operating a venue, she also owns The Sweet Bar Bakery, Tillman Hangar, Dixie Events Planning and Business Consulting, and she holds a degree in exercise science from the American Council of Exercise and is launching her new initiative, The Southern Wedding Collective.
