Stag weekend planning – managing number changes
There you are confidently pulling the strings as a cool and capable bestman, when all of a sudden the boys aren’t getting back to you as they should with confirmations of attendance for the impending stag do, the sods. Don’t worry this is fairly standard, when you’re dealing with a group or range of stags there will be degrees of urgency which don’t necessarily represent yours. It’s not a reflection on you or the groom, just a relaxed approach to deadlines. When you haven’t been a bestman, you don’t often realise the genuine investment it takes.
So efficiency is key. There are a trio of basic rules we recommend at StagWeb. Obviously the first is book with us and we’ll help you take care of it. Then what we advise, once you’ve informed the lads what the plan is, book for your potential maximum numbers. Even if you’re not entirely sure book for the likely maximum and you won’t lose out on availability, it’s much easier to release space than try to add it later on. In our case you only pay a budget friendly deposit regardless of group size, you won’t be penalised for any number changes (and others won’t be penalised for pulling out – leaving a bad taste in their mouth about the whole experience), you can make changes up to 5 weeks before your stag do.
Give the boys enough info to make a committed decision (we provide detailed invites for our clients) and deadlines to get back to you, let them know the date, the cost and when they need to have their readies … ready. For example tell them you need to know about attendance within 10 days – which should be enough time, then tell them you need cleared payment into your account 6 weeks in advance of the stag date. That gives you a few extra days for any necessary mopping up. Be ruthless at this point, if they haven’t paid cut them loose for the time being and tell them they can try and add on later if it can be done.
If you follow that basic approach you’ll be in control of numbers, budgets and expectations. That puts everybody in the best position. Remember it’s better you have a smaller group size with everybody clued up and confirmed than chasing around a bigger group size, using up lots of time, losing potential confirmations and hitting you personally in the pocket. Shackle the hassle with some smart pre-emptive planning.
If in doubt talk to us about it, you’ll see how we go about it and why we consistently set the standard in stag weekend planning. And just so you’re in the know, here’s why booking with StagWeb is simply just better …
- small single deposit to cover the whole group
- you receive group friendly tools and payment reminders which help you stay on top
- you can make number changes up to 5 weeks before (drop outs don’t get penalised)
- no punitive payment scheme
- the very best industry leading financial protection for all client monies (ABTA no. W7797)
- deposit guarantees
- dedicated, expert, highly trained, professional account manager for you
- check out our site and you’ll see
Oh and … We’re the best at what we do, so whatever your number challenges you can rely on us to assist every step of the way.
Side note about individual payment systems when it comes to number changes …
We’ve looked long and hard at individual payment systems and deliberately avoided them because in our opinion they don’t serve you as bestman or the boys themselves. It may seem like it’s a lot easier but just look into it and you’ll see the considerable flies in the ointment. The bottom line is you can’t manage events with high expectations using individual payment procedure to drive the event finances without the requirement for severe financial conditions. Whether that’s keeping hold of individual deposits or bringing the balance due date forward by a long way, we’ve seen 8 weeks+ in some cases. And guess what, using these systems, if numbers change your price and event execution will change considerably, prices will undoubtedly go up quite a bit and you might not even end up with what you originally booked with no opportunity to cancel it. Despite it appearing easy on the surface it’s a lot more complicated underneath, and the flipside to any personal deferment from the bestman is that it’s not going to make you popular if you put the boys in a potentially negative position. And guess what, the likelihood is you’ll end up chasing them anyway. Read the small print and it’ll become obvious. Honestly, we could do it, and the advantage from a marketing point of view is that you get all individual’s contact details and that’s potentially valuable for future marketing but we don’t believe it’s a good, beneficial system and speaking for ourselves we’d never put marketing before service. The stag is a group experience and part of the bestman’s role is to coordinate the group, just get them to send a cheque or bank transfer into you and you can manage it from there, minimising any potential penalties and taking due credit. Simple really.
