Beyond the actual wedding, Indian weddings offer more revenue streams for venues:
- F&B
- Sleeping rooms
- Concierge
- Parking
- Catering sales
{F&B Revenue}
Some Indian weddings host breakfast in the hotel restaurant, for their guests. While it is more common to setup a hospitality room, distributing breakfast vouchers instead, is starting to gain traction as it’s a lot easier for the families rather than arranging and hosting a whole separate meal.
Additionally because many Indian weddings have large breaks in-between the events it’s pretty common to see guests gathering and enjoying a drink or a meal in the hotel bar or restaurant.
{Sleeping Rooms}
Sleeping rooms are any hotel’s bread and butter. The thing that makes Indian weddings so great is the efficiency of the business. They come along with the needs for all of the services in large volume, making them VERY efficient leads.
Most families setup a contracted room block which is another fantastic guaranteed source of revenue.
{Concierge}
Most Indian weddings distribute welcome bags to all of the guests staying at the host hotel. And they enlist the help of the concierge and bellman team for this. Most venues charge $5+ per bag.
{Parking}
Simply because Indian weddings have larger guest counts compared to other weddings the revenue from parking is higher.
{Catering Sales}
And of course last but not least is Catering Sales and the function space required for the ceremony and reception. But many Indian weddings also have a lunch after the ceremony which is also outside catered; and an excellent source of revenue as the lunch fees are on top of the ceremony fee.
And all of this is just the wedding day. Some couples will host their sangeet, garba or mehndi at the venue as well and even better for venues, those events are on Thursday or Friday nights – so great occupancy on typically less popular days!
{Indian Weddings, RevPAS and Profitability}
For full service hotels RevPAS is an important KPI. And yes RevPas is higher on in-house catered weddings but what about overall revenue? And what about profitability? What Indian weddings lack in higher RevPAS they make up for in volume.
Additionally, profitability on an in-house catered wedding will vary based on the selected menu whereas for Indian weddings there’s only labor. Plus Indian weddings have an open bar and Indian people love their Black Label as well as premium brands.
{Take Aways}
Indian weddings offer several revenue streams or hotels – primarily in Catering Sales and sleeping rooms but F&B, parking, and operations. Indian wedding leads thereby are very efficient leads since they come with all of these service needs attached.
I hope this article has been helpful to you. If you have comments, questions or stories you’d like to share, feel free to post them in the comments below. Follow ShaadiShop on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest – whatever your preferred media is, as we frequently publish articles for venue sales and catering teams.
Schedule a demo to learn more about marketing your venue on ShaadiShop. We offer low investment packages for venues just starting out in Indian weddings as well as options for venues looking to increase marketshare and still options for venues that are knee-deep in Indian weddings seeking consulting and more personalized services.
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About ShaadiShop
- over $3MM F&B + sleeping room revenue for venues in 2.5 years
- over 6000 Facebook followers
- RFP system built into website; leads sent directly to venues
We work with venues that are:
- are just starting out in the Indian wedding market
- host a few Indian weddings a year and want to increase marketshare
- host several Indian weddings a year and need help with lead pre-qualification and personalization
Wherever you are with this market we have a unique solution designed for you.
Contact us for more information about our packages and services.
{ShaadiShop Testimonials}
“We just booked a full Indian wedding through ShaadiShop at the Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort. In addition to the business, we appreciate the exposure ShaadiShop creates about our venue, as the couple didn’t know about our resort until ShaadiShop told them about us. Additionally, we appreciate the pre-qualification work that ShaadiShop does to match couples and venues that are a good fit for each other. We had all the info needed to conduct the initial meeting. What a great service for venues to market to the South Asian community!” – Angie Florence, Catering Manager at The Waterfront Beach Resort, Huntington Beach, CA
“We’re so glad we joined ShaadiShop to market this hotel to the South Asian community in the Orange County area. Every wedding we close from their leads returns more than 3x our investment. Moreover, they pre-qualify leads and educate consumers creating a much better sales cycle for our catering team. Venues looking to reach this market, join ShaadiShop!” – Ryan Hurd, Catering Sales Manager, Wyndham Anaheim Garden Grove
“Shaadishop helped me not only find venues but also understand how they work, the fees, and tips that I wouldn’t have otherwise known. Definitely a need service in the desi community. “ Hinna S., Bride
“Cannot say enough good things about the service from Samta and ShaadiShop who helped us research venues for our wedding this year. We wanted a non-hotel venue, and to get married within 6 months. ShaadiShop immediately found us venues, contacted them and educated us about all the things we needed to think about while selecting a venue. They put all the info together in a fabulous, super impressive, spreadsheet that helped us compare venues – seriously amazing and such a great help. Working with them made the whole stressful process MUCH easier and I can’t believe it was all free! ShaadiShop’s website is fantastic and such a great service for South Asians – so glad I found them!” Anjli S., Bride
“We’re so glad we used ShaadiShop to book our venue. The info on the website is amazing and then they gave us such personalized attention! They were such a valuable resource for selecting venues, helping us understand policies and logistics. Their suggestions saved us a lot money too! They really understood us, what we wanted and helped us get it. AND it’s free! So glad there’s a service like this for South Asians. Awesome that there’s something like this for South Asians!” Janki K, Bride
“I worked with ShaadiShop to find a venue for my daughter’s wedding. The website is easy to use and has so much useful information. ShaadiShop made everything easy for me – getting quotes, suggesting venues, explaining fees and policies. Most importantly, my daughter and son-in-law are happy with the venue. ShaadiShop is a great and service for our community. I’m so glad I found them!” Charu S., Bride’s Mother
Cover image: Opening Bar