Event pros: planning bookings for peak-season weekends

Plan your peak-season weekends months ahead: open a booking call service so hosts can reach you early, book each confirmed event yourself as one slot on its date, and decide in advance your rules for those weekends, such as a minimum number of hours, how long you hold a date for someone who hesitates, and whether you take two events on the same day. The best dates go first; clear rules let you fill them with the right events instead of the first request that arrives.

Summer Saturdays and the end-of-year party season are the dates hosts ask for first. Without rules, a short booking can take a Saturday that a full wedding would have filled, or two events can end up too close together to travel between. A few decisions made before the season, written in your descriptions, protect those dates and save negotiating each request from scratch.

An event date isn't booked like a haircut: you need to know the occasion, the venue, the hours and the guest count first. Create a short booking call service that hosts book online, by phone or video. On Book, each service has a name, a price and an optional description shown on your public page. Say in the call description that the event date is confirmed after the call.

Durations and prices are examples: set your own. Separate peak and off-season services let you show the difference in price and minimum hours clearly.

When a host confirms, book the event yourself from your calendar: create a slot on that date covering your time on site, set-up and pack-down, with one place, and book the host into it. First and last name are required, email and phone optional; enter the host's email so they receive a confirmation with a calendar file. With one place, the slot is full and no longer shown on your page, so the date can't be booked twice.

A couple or a company may want a few days to decide before they commit. If you hold a date, book it yourself in their name with a note such as "option until Friday", and say in your description how long you hold dates. If they don't confirm by then, cancel the booking from your bookings list and tell them, since Book doesn't email clients about changes. A short, fixed hold period keeps your best dates from sitting idle.

A two-hour booking on a peak Saturday can cost you a full-day event. Say in the peak service description what minimum you accept on those dates, and keep shorter formats for weekdays or quieter months. If you price peak dates differently, use separate services so hosts see the right price from the start, rather than finding out on the call.

Taking a ceremony in the morning and a party in the evening can work, but only with enough time to pack down, travel and set up again. Decide your minimum gap and the distance you'll travel between events, and check both before you confirm a second booking on the same date. Book doesn't stop slots of different services from overlapping, so look at the day in your calendar before you book.

The booking note is optional, reaches you in the new booking email and appears in the host's calendar file. Ask in the booking call description for the date wanted, the venue and town, the start and end times and the number of guests, so you can check travel and set-up before the call even starts.

Peak weekends fill themselves; Sundays, weekdays and the months before and after the season need a push. Open off-season services with a clear price, mention them in your booking call description, and suggest them to hosts whose first choice is already taken. Hosts can't move bookings online: they contact you, and you move the event from your bookings list. Book costs €5/month, everything included: unlimited services and bookings, no commission, no contract.