Before jumping into the South Asian wedding market, there are some business and process implications that hotels/venues should consider:
- long sales cycle – It can take anywhere from 1-3 months. There will be multiple meetings and site visits.
- multiple contacts – catering managers might talk to the parents, siblings as well as the couple.
- 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.
- expect clients to negotiate throughout the event – before, during, and even after.
- 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.
- 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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