6 Things To Know Before Getting Into the South Asian Wedding Market

Before jumping into the South Asian wedding market, there are some business and process implications that hotels/venues should consider:

  1. long sales cycle – It can take anywhere from 1-3 months. There will be multiple meetings and site visits.
  2. multiple contacts – catering managers might talk to the parents, siblings as well as the couple.
  3. expect clients to negotiate – comparison shop, ask for cost reductions and concessions. This is not to be overlooked – negotiation can wear down some catering managers.
  4. expect clients to negotiate throughout the event – before, during, and even after.
  5. outside catering is a deal-breaker. The majority of South Asian weddings require outside catering. Most clients will forego a venue that doesn’t allow outside food.
  6. the existing preferred vendor list won’t apply to South Asian weddings. Not all properties have a separate list, but that’s what it would require – a separate list.Check out our article, “South Asian Weddings: Untapped Profit Potential”.

{About the South Asian Wedding Market}

  • $5B industry (USA)
  • average wedding budget $65,000 (>2x the average Western wedding budget)
  • 69.37% population growth

Samta Varia is the Founder & CEO of ShaadiShop. ShaadiShop is like hotels.com for South Asian-friendly wedding venues. They drive active, qualified leads to venues.

(Shaadi = marriage/wedding in Hindi)

South Asian weddings aka Indian weddings (though it’s not just Indian weddings – Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Sri Lankan, Nepali, Bhutanese, Maldivan)

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