Venue booking system: 10 questions before you choose

Before you compare anything

Write down who books your space (companies, couples, hobby groups, therapists) and how a request reaches you today: phone, e-mail, a social media message. The system has to fit your requests, not the other way round.

The questions are for you. Use them with any software, including ours.

Requests and calendar

1. Can the customer send a request on your own website? A form or widget on your site keeps the customer with your brand. Check that it shows only free times and that a customer can join a waitlist when the time is taken.
2. Is a double booking technically impossible? Looking at a calendar is not enough. Ask whether overlapping times are blocked at database level and whether prep and cleanup buffers are counted.
3. Does the request have fields, not only free text? Guest numbers, layout, catering and accommodation as fields mean the quote does not start from zero.

Price and quote

1. Where does the price come from? A good system calculates the amount from your own price rules (hourly, day, per person, season, weekday, extras). An AI may write the text, but it must not propose the sum.
2. Who approves the quote? By default a person who has reviewed it should send it. If the system offers automatic quotes, that should be a switch you choose, not the default.
3. What happens when you change prices? A quote that was already sent must not change by itself when you edit the price list.

Deposits, invoices and VAT

1. How does the deposit work? Ask where the money goes (your own payment provider account or an intermediary), whether the booking is confirmed only after the payment is confirmed, and whether the cancellation terms are shown on the quote.
2. Are invoices and VAT right for Estonia? Check the reference number, VAT shown separately and how the data reaches your accountant. Test an e-invoice export with your operator before you rely on it.

Event day and your data

1. Does it help on the day itself? A run sheet, a kitchen sheet and a guest list save phone calls. They should come from the confirmed booking, not from typing it again.
2. Who owns the data and what does it cost? Ask about export, the monthly fee, any commission (Saalo has none), how to cancel and what happens to your data after a trial. Compare the full price, not only the first plan.

How Saalo answers these questions

Saalo is built for venues in Estonia and the Baltics. The request comes from your own page, the price is calculated from your rules, the quote text is an AI draft that a team member reviews before it is sent (by default), the customer accepts through a link, deposits can be requested to your own Montonio account (live payments are in pilot), and the run sheet and kitchen sheet come from the confirmed booking. The monthly fee is fixed with no commission, and the first 30 days are free with no card.

Some things are still in progress: Google and Outlook calendar sync is in beta, and the e-invoice XML has not yet been tested with an operator. We say so here so you can weigh it.