If you look online, you’ll probably find that there are many wedding venues with lodging in all areas of the country and world. Some wedding venues may find it easy to differentiate themselves if they’re located in a destination where they don’t have a lot of competition or if they have a concept that’s so unique that it speaks for itself. Other venues may struggle to define what it is that makes them special enough to ask wedding planners to book them instead of booking their competition.
When you own a wedding venue, you need to keep in mind what makes your venue different from the other venues. For some, this may be as simple as providing exceptional customer service or offering in-house catering to simplify wedding planning decisions. For others, this can be as complex as offering unique services that most venues wouldn’t think to provide like couple’s massages with rare techniques or a photo booth that snaps pictures automatically at no extra charge.
Should a Wedding Venue Have Lodging?
In the wedding industry, there are all kinds of choices venue owners have to make. If you’re struggling to decide whether you even need lodging for your event space, you’re not alone. Some wedding venues prioritize including a place for guests to stay. On the other hand, certain venues like courthouses are not designed to accommodate guests after the wedding is over and may have limited space.
Once you answer the question of whether you need lodging, you should consider whether it’s enough to have lodging on-site. You may want to differentiate your venue further by offering different types of rooms for guests like pet-friendly rooms, family-friendly rooms, and accessible ones that comply with standards set forth by the ADA. No matter how you decide to make your venue stand out from the rest, you should stay true to your vision and preferences. After all, it’s your business and you will find that most people want to support a business that seems authentic based on the values of the CEO or owner. If including lodging feels authentic to your vision, we say go for it!
Maintain Your HVAC Systems
When you have a wedding venue that also has lodging, you’ll want to make sure that the HVAC system is well-maintained. Following the protocol for maintaining a ductless AC is as important as maintaining the heating system. For wedding venues with lodging, climate control can make or break word-of-mouth marketing after a wedding party leaves.
Keep Every Inch Clean
They say cleanliness is next to godliness. That cannot be understated when preparing your wedding venue for the big event. Unless the theme of the wedding is Halloween, nobody wants cobwebs on the ceilings or a coat of dust on the windows. The better-looking wedding venues with lodging are, the more likely the guests are to come back again.
Before the wedding, you should schedule a drain cleaning service and other cleaning tasks. The last thing anyone wants is a drain to back up due to overuse. An overflowing sink or clogged toilet could ruin the wedding for everyone. Calling in a plumber ahead of time is a key first step in preparing a venue for the guests’ arrival.
During the wedding, be prepared for people to make a mess. Weddings usually get rather messy as everyone begins the celebrations. Having someone on duty to clean up spills or other accidents ensures everyone has a good time without worrying about stepping in someone else’s slice of wedding cake.
After the wedding, the situation may look dire. All the guests will have gone home and there may be quite the mess left over. As tough as it is to knuckle down and work after an evening of partying if everyone comes together and pitches in their fair share of cleanup duties, you will be home before you know it.
Renovate Your Bathrooms
Depending on the location of the wedding, it may have been a long time since prospective wedding venues with lodging have had their bathrooms renovated. The pipes may be old, the toilet may need to be replaced, and the head of the sink may not operate properly. This is something to take into account when potentially dozens of guests will be using the facilities for hours of partying. Small plumbing repairs made before a major event begins could be the difference between a wedding running smoothly and an entire bathroom being unusable due to old equipment breaking down.
While you’re renovating the bathrooms in your venue, you can still provide facilities for guests to bathe and use the restroom. You can use luxury portable toilets to replace the regular restroom. You can also partner with nearby businesses to see if they are okay with sharing their facilities.
Provide Ample Parking
A wedding may be an intimate affair that involves only a handful of people, but a wedding can also morph into an extravaganza with dozens and dozens of people all trying to be the first one inside the venue. If even half of all these guests drive to the venue on their own, the situation can quickly spiral out of hand. Wedding venues with lodging should be prepared to accommodate a large number of guests if the wedding becomes so much more than a few friends and family coming together to celebrate.
Not having enough parking space could give the venue a poor first impression for all of these people. One of the ways to ensure that the guests’ experience starts well is by ensuring the parking space is well maintained. Asphalt parking lot maintenance should be a vital part of any prospective wedding venue. Every small positive detail could make it more likely that other people are willing to consider the venue for their own wedding experience.
Add Decorative Elements
The first thing anyone searching for potential wedding venues with lodging is the decorations. What about this specific venue warrants investing time and money into using it for the biggest day of two newlyweds’ lives? Making your venue stand out from the rest could be the key to locking the transaction down.
One way to beautify the venue is to focus on the exterior. The outdoor elements are the first thing anyone is going to notice. Consider contacting a stamped concrete company to add a walkway around the property. A fancy stone walkway would add some serious flair to the exterior of the building and has the added benefit of giving guests the ability to stay out of the grass and keep their outfits clean.
Redesign Your Interior
If you don’t have an interior decorating or design background, you can hire interior design services to improve the way your wedding venue’s interior looks. Since prospective guests will judge wedding venues with lodging by their appearance, it pays to invest in a quality design that reflects modern practices and sensibilities. Even if you have a simple venue that advertises itself as minimalist, thoughtful interior design can still elevate it to the next level. When your venue’s interior looks expensive, you can increase the price of the experience.
Add a Deck
Some wedding venues with lodging may benefit from having an outdoor space where guests and the wedding party can congregate or get some fresh air after a long night of partying at the reception. If you have a small lodging space, this can make it feel like the lodging is more expansive and able to comfortably accommodate a decent number of guests. Although you won’t be able to have guests sleep on the deck if your insurance policy prohibits it, you will be able to offer some peaceful spaces for the bride, groom, and wedding attendants to get away from all the hype if they need to do that. This can make your venue more appealing if someone seems like they’re on the fence about booking it.
Before you start to create a deck as a DIY project, you should consider hiring a deck builder or qualified contractor to help you with the task. After all, building a deck is not an intuitive project. You’ll need to know about different types of deck coatings and designs for decks that can support the number of people your venue can hold if you want it to work out for the best.
Repair Your Roof
For those who have an outdoor wedding venue without lodging, roof repairs may not be that important. However, for wedding venues with lodging, hiring a roofing company to repair the roof and maintain it can make a world of difference. If you don’t get your roof inspected regularly, you may need to contact a roofing contractor for an emergency repair in the middle of a wedding. This will make your guests feel unsatisfied and hurt. It can also put your company at risk of liability if someone gets injured on the premises because you’ve failed to maintain the roof.
Although roof repairs can be as simple as replacing a few shingles, you won’t want to attempt to do them yourself unless you’re a trained professional in that field. Since the roof is so high and potentially unstable, you could fall and injure yourself if you’re not used to doing work on a roof. Additionally, roofs are an important part of any structure that protects the contents inside from the harsh elements outside. If you mess up the roof while you’re trying to fix it on your own, you may spend more time and money repairing it later than you would have if you had called the professionals to help you in the first place.
Spruce Up Your Landscaping
When you have to complete tasks like scheduling commercial lawn irrigation for your wedding venue, it can feel like a chore you may rather skip. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t want to miss out on the opportunity to make the landscape look as good as possible at one of your wedding venues with lodging if you’re a wedding venue owner. Although guests may spend a lot of time in the housing component of the venue, they’ll also probably want to take pictures of the wedding party and guests in the great outdoors while they’re staying at your venue or the lodging on the site.
When you neglect to maintain the landscape of your wedding venue, you’ll find that wedding planners and spouses-to-be may be hesitant to book their event at your venue. After all, if the yard is ugly, poorly maintained, or otherwise not appealing, guests and wedding party participants may think that you don’t invest enough time or money into maintaining the rest of the venue. Although folks shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, they will judge a venue by the state of the grass, flowers, plants, and shrubbery.
If you want to avoid this level of scrutiny, you should spruce the landscape up regularly. You can also keep your venue looking fresh on the outside by adding new trees or plants to the area. If you bought a venue that has lodging for weddings from another owner, you can distinguish the new direction of your company with some thoughtful changes in landscaping decisions.
For wedding venues with lodging, having a place for guests to sleep can seem like all one needs to do to stand out from the crowd. Upon further inspection of the market for wedding venues, wedding venue owners and companies will notice that it takes a lot more to make a lasting impression on potential clients who are considering throwing their wedding at your venue. Nowadays, many venues offer lodging or have nearby hotels and other short-term lodging options that make it so that your venue wouldn’t be as unique if it had a sleeping area for wedding guests and the newlyweds.
To make a wedding venue that has lodging seem worth booking and interesting, you need to combine quality service, great amenities, and some touches that speak to your specific target audience. Not every bride and groom will be interested in every venue. The best venues are the ones that don’t appeal to everybody while simultaneously attracting exactly the type of people you want to consistently book your venue and recommend it to their acquaintances and friends.