How do Opportunities work?

Why we created Opportunities

Event organisers usually enquire with several venues at once. For one reason or another, those venues can't always take the booking. The date might be taken, the budget might not work, or the venue might not reply in time.

We want every event organiser to have a great experience and find a venue that is available and fits their budget. Opportunities help with that, and they connect you with organisers who are already looking for a venue like yours.

How it works

1. An event organiser creates an event brief and enquires with their first choice of venues.
2. We check their responses after 24 hours.
   • If they've already received 3 or more responses, no Opportunities are sent.
   • If they've received fewer than 3, our matching algorithm finds the 3 next-best venues for their brief. These are venues they haven't already contacted.
3. We check again every 24 hours, for up to 2 more rounds. If the organiser still has fewer than 3 responses, we contact another 3 venues. Once they reach 3 or more responses, we stop sending Opportunities for that brief. In total, up to 9 additional venues can be contacted within 72 hours of the organiser's first enquiry.
4. If your venue is one of the matches, we'll email you and add an Opportunity to your dashboard.
5. You respond using the form on VenueNow, the same way you respond to Concierge enquiries.
6. We send your response to the event organiser by email, as long as you're available or have offered other dates and times.
7. If the event organiser wants to connect, they reply to that email and you continue the conversation with them directly. Their contact details are also unlocked on your enquiry dashboard.

Responding to an Opportunity

The response form asks you to:

• Confirm your availability for the organiser's date and time, or offer other dates and times that suit
• Give an Estimated Spend for the event
• Add any extra information for the event organiser, such as function packs, menus, room options or special offers

Tip: There's no deadline to respond, but the faster you respond, the more likely you are to win the booking. Other matched venues may be responding at the same time, and more venues are contacted every 24 hours until the organiser has enough responses. A quick, detailed response gives you the best chance of standing out.

FAQs

Do I pay commission on Opportunities?
No. Opportunities are commission free.

Is there a deadline to respond?
No, but the faster you respond, the better your chance of winning the booking.

What if I'm not available?
Please still respond through the form. We won't send your response to the event organiser. It does let us know you've seen the Opportunity, so you won't get follow-ups from the VenueNow platform or our team.

Why can't I see the event organiser's contact details?
Contact details unlock once the event organiser replies to your response. After that, you'll find them on your enquiry dashboard. We keep them hidden initially for privacy reasons until the event organiser has opted in to connecting with you.

Does every event brief create Opportunities?
No. Opportunities are only sent when an event organiser has received fewer than 3 venue responses. If they have 3 or more responses 24 hours after their first enquiry, no Opportunities are sent. We check again at each later round, and stop as soon as they reach 3 responses.

How many other venues receive the same Opportunity?
Each round sends the Opportunity to 3 venues. Depending on how many responses the organiser receives, that's anywhere from 3 to 9 additional venues in total.