Venue management software for New Zealand function venues, lodges and clubrooms

Built for a venue where one person does everything

In many New Zealand venues the person answering the enquiry is also the person setting up the room, running the bar roster and chasing the balance. Software that needs a full time administrator will not get used. The test is simple: can that one person reply to a new enquiry with availability and a price in under five minutes from their phone.

That means the calendar, the packages and the client history must sit in one place and work on a phone at the venue, not only on an office computer. It also means sensible defaults. If your exclusive use Saturday package always includes the deck, the lawn and the lounge, the software should apply all three when you pick the package rather than asking every time.

Sample booking a New Zealand venue system should produce

Exclusive use wedding weekend for 90 guests at a Waikato lodge, Saturday ceremony and reception with a Sunday barbecue

• Illustrative prices before GST, not a rate card.
• Over NZ$1,000, so the buyer's name and address belong in the taxable supply information.
• A NZ$1,000 bond is recorded separately as security, not as part of the price.

Exclusive use, accommodation and the weekend wedding

A lot of New Zealand wedding venues sell the whole property for a weekend: ceremony and reception on Saturday, rooms for the wedding party, and a recovery barbecue on Sunday. That single booking touches the event calendar, the accommodation and sometimes a separate chef.

Your venue software should treat the weekend as one booking with several parts, each with its own time and price, and block every space involved on both days. If a Sunday morning yoga group can still book the lounge while the wedding party sleeps upstairs, the system is not modelling exclusive use, it is just listing rooms.

Clubrooms and community halls work the other way round: many short bookings, often recurring. A weekly Zumba class, a monthly committee meeting and a 21st on Saturday night all need clear start and finish times, cleaning gaps and a bond for the larger events.

GST at 15% and the taxable supply information rules

Venue hire, catering, bar sales and equipment hire supplied by a GST registered business carry GST at 15%. Registration becomes compulsory once turnover reaches NZ$60,000 in the last 12 months, or is expected to in the next 12.

Since 1 April 2023, Inland Revenue no longer uses the old tax invoice format. Registered businesses provide taxable supply information instead, with more detail required as the value rises past NZ$200 and again past NZ$1,000, where the buyer's details must be included. A wedding or a corporate dinner will nearly always cross that higher line, so your invoice template should include the client's name and address by default.

Deposits need care too. Inland Revenue's interpretation statement on deposits explains when a deposit triggers the time of supply, and the answer depends on whether it is a part payment or held as security. Record bonds and deposits differently in your software, and keep records for seven years as Inland Revenue requires.

What to test in a demo before choosing venue management software in New Zealand

Special licences need dates in the booking, not a sticky note

If a function happens somewhere that is not covered by an on licence, the organiser or caterer usually needs a special licence from the District Licensing Committee. Councils such as Christchurch ask for applications at least 20 working days before the event, and working days exclude weekends, public holidays and the period from 20 December to 15 January.

That summer gap catches people out. A wedding on 24 January needs its special licence application well before Christmas. Good venue software lets you add a task with a due date to the booking, so the application deadline appears on the calendar alongside the event rather than in someone's memory.

• Apply at least 20 working days ahead; larger events often need more time.
• Working days skip weekends, public holidays and 20 December to 15 January.
• Late applications are only considered if the need could not reasonably have been foreseen.

Bonds, cleaning and the morning after

Halls and clubrooms that host 21sts and private parties usually take a bond against damage and extra cleaning. The bond is the easiest thing to lose track of: it is taken months before, nobody remembers the amount on the Monday, and the refund sits in someone's inbox for weeks.

Record the bond on the booking with its amount, how it was paid and the refund due date. After the event, the person who checks the hall marks it clean or notes deductions with a photo, and the refund goes out the same week. Clients notice that, and so do the people they recommend you to.

Where Venura fits for a New Zealand venue

Venura keeps enquiries in a pipeline and bookings on a calendar that warns before a double booking, then turns each booking into a quote, an invoice with your GST at 15% on each line, and receipts. Deposits and part payments are tracked per event, event sheets go to the team on the night, and staff roles keep the numbers private where you want them private.

It runs on the web, Android and iOS, documents go out by email or WhatsApp, and there is a free 30 day trial. Pricing for New Zealand venues is quoted on request. Venura does not connect to Xero or your bar POS, so keep your accounting and till systems as they are and use Venura for the booking side.

Moving from a paper diary without losing a booking

Pick a quiet month to switch, usually winter for most venues. Enter every confirmed booking for the next 18 months first, with deposits paid and balances owing, then the open enquiries. Run the paper diary and the new system side by side for two weeks and compare them every morning.

Once the two match for a fortnight, retire the paper diary and stop taking bookings anywhere else. A venue with two sources of truth will double book eventually, however careful the team is.

Venue management software questions from New Zealand