Banquets

What it does

Banquets is where you sell and run the hotel’s function spaces: weddings, receptions, parties, conferences and meetings. One booking can hold several functions over several days, such as a mehendi, a sangeet and a wedding.

A booking starts as an Enquiry. Putting it On option holds the venue until a time you choose, and Confirmed holds it for good. Each function has its venue, time, layout, guaranteed plates per diet (veg, non-veg, Jain), menu, extras, and instructions for each department. The Function Prospectus (FP) is the sheet every department works from. When the event is over, you complete the booking and issue the tax invoice.

Who can use it

• Front desk: takes enquiries, puts them on option, confirms them, records payments and issues the FP.
• Managers: also cancel a confirmed booking, Complete & invoice, void a payment, refund, see Reports and set up venues, menus and extras.
• Admins (owners): also set the Rules: GST, the payment schedule, cancellation and the option length.

Only if your hotel has it

Banquets is switched on per hotel. If you do not see it, ask Upstay to switch it on.

Where to find it

Back office → Guests → Banquets. Owners and managers also have Banquets in the rail.

How to set up your venues, menus and extras

1. Open Banquets and click Setup.
2. Under Venues, click Add venue. Enter the Name, and under Seats in each layout enter how many it seats in each layout it can do. Leave a layout empty if the venue cannot do it.
3. Enter the Usual hall rental, Set-up before (min) and Clear-up after (min). The venue is busy for those minutes before and after every function.
4. For a hall whose partitions open, tick its parts under Made of. Booking the whole hall then books every part, and a booked part makes the whole hall busy.
5. Click Add venue.
6. Under Menus, click Add menu. Enter the Price per plate (before tax) for Veg, Non-veg and Jain, and the Courses, one course a line, for example “Starters (choose 3): Paneer tikka, Hara bhara kebab, Corn tikki”.
7. Under Extras, click Add extra for things you charge for, such as a DJ, a stage or décor.

How to set the rules (owners)

1. In Setup → Rules, answer the GST question: Yes, above ₹7,500 or No, ₹7,500 or less. This fills in the rates for food, hall rental and services. Check them with your accountant; you can change each one.
2. Under Payment schedule, set what a confirmed booking pays and when, for example 50% on confirming and 30% 15 days before. Anything short of 100% is due on the day of the first function.
3. Under Cancellation, add rules such as “cancelled 30 days or fewer before: keep 50%”.
4. Under The rest, set how long an option lasts, how many days before a function the FP must be current, and the kitchen’s overset.
5. Click Save rules.

How to take an enquiry

1. Click New enquiry, or click + Enquiry in an empty cell of the diary to start one for that venue and day.
2. Enter the Client name, Mobile and the Event.
3. Optionally fill in the First function: the Venue, Date, From, To and Guests.
4. Click Create enquiry. The booking opens.

An enquiry holds nothing. If someone else holds the venue, the booking says so: it is a second option.

How to add the functions

1. In the booking, open Functions and click Add a function.
2. Choose What it is, the Date, From and To (a “To” before the “From” runs past midnight), the Venue and the Layout. The form shows how many the venue seats in that layout.
3. Choose a Menu. Its plate prices are copied onto the function, and you can change them for this client.
4. Enter the Plates guaranteed for each diet. The client pays for at least these.
5. Add extras with Add from the list… or Something else.
6. Write what each department needs to know under For each department.
7. Click Add function.

How to hold the venue and confirm

1. Click Put on option, choose Hold until and click Hold the venue. If nobody confirms by then, the hold ends by itself and the desk is told.
2. When the client says yes, click Confirm.
3. If the venue is already held by another booking, Upstay refuses and names it, for example “Durbar Hall is booked for BQ-0001 Sharma–Verma wedding (Sangeet, 2026-11-20 20:00–01:00).”

How to take a payment

1. Open Money and click Record payment.
2. Enter the Amount, choose How (Cash, UPI, Card, Bank transfer or Cheque) and add a Reference if there is one.
3. Click Record payment. The Payment schedule shows which steps are paid.

How to issue the Function Prospectus

1. Open FP and click Issue FP 1.
2. Click Print to print it for the departments.
3. If anything changes later, the booking shows Changed since FP 1 with a list of what changed. Click Issue FP 2 to send the new version.

How to run the day

1. Click Today. Kitchen today and Kitchen tomorrow show how many veg, non-veg and Jain plates to prepare, including the overset.
2. The Run sheet lists each function in time order with its set-up time, layout, menu, extras and each department’s instructions.

The front desk’s Today also shows Functions today when there is a function today or tomorrow.

How to complete and invoice (managers)

1. After the last function has started, open Money and click Complete & invoice.
2. Enter how many were served for each diet. Plates are billed at the guaranteed number or the count, whichever is higher.
3. Click Issue the invoice. The invoice takes the hotel’s next invoice number. Click Invoice in the booking to print it.

Tips & good to know

• The Diary shows enquiries as a dashed outline, options in amber and confirmed bookings in green. A combined hall’s parts show as Busy when the whole hall is booked.
• Proposal prints the quote for the client, with the payment schedule.
• A payment is never edited or deleted. A manager can Void it with a reason, and it stays on the list struck through.
• Mark lost asks why. The reasons appear in Reports under Why business was lost.
• Cancelling a confirmed booking suggests how much to keep from your cancellation rules. Pay back the rest with Refund.

Troubleshooting

• “Set your banquet GST rates (Banquets → Setup → Rules) before issuing an invoice.” → An owner answers the GST question in Setup → Rules.
• “Add at least one function first: there is no space to hold yet.” → Add a function before putting the booking on option or confirming it.
• “Complete it once the last function has started.” → Wait until the event has begun.
• “Nothing has changed since FP 2.” → The FP is already current; print it instead.
• “No veg price” on a function → The menu has no price for that diet. Edit the function and enter the price per plate.

Related features

• Front desk dashboard
• Finance
• Hotel website
• Plan an event