Hosting Weddings: Tips for Guest House Owners

Offering a wedding service at your accommodation establishment can be an effective and enjoyable way to build your business and make money. Weddings are considered one of the most important events in people’s lives, and many couples go all out to have the perfect wedding day. This means that the stakes – and potential rewards – are very high for any wedding service provider.

Before you begin advertising your accommodation as a wedding venue, think very carefully about whether you have the personality, skill, patience and creativity to be a wedding host. Be aware that you will have to take an active role in organising aspects of the event, usually months or even years in advance. If you feel like taking the plunge, here are four tips to consider.

Play to your strengths

These days, many wedding couples are looking for something a bit more unique and personal than the traditional “white wedding” at a bland, functional hotel. Use your venue’s unique style, charm, facilities and location to your advantage and tailor the wedding services around what you have available. Don’t try to predict and cater for what you think the “typical” wedding should be; rather advertise your strengths and attract the people who are genuinely interested in your offering.

Offer package deals

For your guests, the biggest advantage of hosting a wedding at a guest house is that the venue can offer a far wider range of services than simply a location. They will expect additional facilities and deals, like the opportunity to book rooms for the night and to use common areas like lounges exclusively. Create a package deal for your venue that includes as many options and additions as you can offer from the facilities already available to you.

In most cases, if your venue is small enough, the package should include hiring the entire venue for a set period of time, with usually six to eight hours centred on the event. It is also worthwhile to extend your package overnight and include all of your available rooms in the deal, especially if you have a honeymoon suite. The last thing the wedding party wants is strangers checking in to the guest house while their reception is underway.

You can also be creative. Consider offering the bride a room at your guest house the night before, so that she can arrive well in time and be relaxed on the morning of the event. If you serve breakfast to wedding guests who stay the night, make it extra special by serving champagne and wedding cake along with the usual fare. And be sure to point out any extra services that you normally offer, like airport transfers and swimming pool facilities.

Find trusted vendors

Planning a successful wedding is all about finding the right vendors – the people who provide services like catering, flowers, photography and decorations. It’s possible that your prospective wedding couples will already have vendors in mind, but it makes an excellent impression if you can recommend trusted people who you have worked with before. This can take a lot of the hassle out of the process for you and the couple.

Contact wedding vendors in your area and speak to them about what they offer. If possible, ask them to visit your venue and demonstrate some of their services – they should be happy to do so. Also, always make sure that you study their portfolios carefully to make sure their style and services match your venue. The upshot of finding reliable vendors is that you can enter into a business partnership with them, where you agree to work together on weddings and negotiate a lower overall price for the prospective couple.

Set the rules – but be flexible

House rules are vital for any hospitality establishment, and this is equally true when hosting a wedding. You must ensure that you stay within the law when it comes to matters like smoking, noise pollution, parking and other nuisances. However, wherever it is feasible, be flexible with your rules to cater to guests’ reasonable extra needs. If your curfew is 10pm and the wedding party wants to celebrate till 11pm, let them. If you usually don’t permit children but the couple wants to bring their young daughter, allow it. Don’t let yourself be walked over, but don’t be unnecessarily rigid either. Find a happy medium that will make both you and your guests happy – and that will let them enjoy their special day.

The part-time University of Cape Town Guest House Management short course is presented online throughout South Africa and starts on 12 March 2012. Contact Tamsin on 021 447 7565 or visit www.getsmarter.co.zafor more information about the course.