# Group & Event Booking Enquiries: done-for-you AI automation by BufferSol

> A done-for-you group and event enquiry automation is an AI agent BufferSol builds into your sales inbox, website forms, RFP portals and booking systems. It reads each enquiry for a wedding, conference, room block or private dining, checks dates against function space and room inventory, asks for missing details, and drafts a proposal from your packages for a sales manager to approve. It goes live in 3 to 6 weeks.

- Canonical: https://buffersoltech.com/done-for-you/hospitality/group-event-enquiries
- Category: Hotels & Restaurants
- Provider: BufferSol Technologies (New York; serving the US, UK, Ireland, Canada and the EU)
- Timeline: live in 3 to 6 weeks
- Pricing: quoted after a short scoping call

## Reply to every group and event enquiry with a real proposal, the same day

**Who it is for:** Hotels, venues and restaurant groups that receive enquiries for weddings, meetings, room blocks and private dining through email, web forms, Cvent and phone, with a small sales or events team that cannot reply to all of them quickly.

### Signs you need it
- Enquiries sit in a shared inbox over the weekend while planners contact other venues.
- Sales managers spend much of the day on small enquiries that never book.
- Quoting means checking the function diary, the room block and the food and beverage packages in three systems.
- Nobody can say how many enquiries came in last month or why they were lost.
- Follow-up after the first proposal depends on someone remembering.

## Business outcomes
- **Faster, more useful first replies.** Every enquiry gets a specific reply with availability and the next step, rather than a holding message, so planners keep you on their shortlist.
- **Sales time on the right events.** Enquiries are qualified on date, size, value signals and fit, so the team spends its hours on the bookings most likely to close.
- **A pipeline you can see.** Each enquiry, proposal and follow-up is tracked in your sales system, with lost reasons recorded instead of guessed.

## How it works today
1. Enquiries arrive through the website form, the events inbox, Cvent, venue listing sites and the phone.
2. A sales coordinator reads each one, checks the function diary and the PMS for rooms, and notes what is missing.
3. Questions about guest count, layout, catering and budget go back and forth by email.
4. The sales manager builds a proposal in Word or the sales system from packages and menus, then sends it.
5. Follow-ups and contract chasing happen when the team has time, which is rarely in busy season.

Hidden costs:
- Slow replies lose planners, who book the first venue that answers clearly.
- Senior sales time goes into enquiries that were never a fit.
- Inconsistent proposals leave revenue on the table and confuse returning clients.

## How it works done for you
1. The agent picks up each enquiry from email, web forms, RFP platforms and call notes, and extracts date, guest count, event type, rooms needed and budget hints.
2. It checks function space and room block availability in your sales and catering system and PMS, and places a tentative hold where your rules allow.
3. It replies within minutes with availability, the right package options and the two or three questions that matter for this event.
4. It scores the enquiry against your criteria, such as value, date need and repeat client, and routes strong leads to a named sales manager.
5. It drafts the proposal and menu options from your approved packages and rate rules; the sales manager edits and approves before it goes out.
6. It follows up on open proposals on a schedule you set, warns the team before option dates lapse, and records won and lost reasons.
7. Everything is logged in your CRM or sales system, with the original enquiry attached.

## What changes for the team
- **Sales or events coordinator.** Today: Reading every enquiry, checking diaries and sending holding replies. Done for you: Runs site visits, client calls and the details for confirmed events.
- **Sales manager.** Today: Writing proposals for small enquiries and chasing replies. Done for you: Reviews and approves drafted proposals and negotiates the larger events.
- **Director of sales or GM.** Today: Asking for pipeline updates in weekly meetings. Done for you: Sees live enquiry volume, conversion and lost reasons by segment.

## KPIs we measure
- **Time to first useful reply:** Minutes from enquiry received to a reply with availability, measured from inbox and form timestamps.
- **Enquiry to proposal time:** Hours from enquiry to proposal sent, by event type.
- **Conversion by segment:** Enquiries that become signed contracts, split into weddings, corporate meetings, room blocks and private dining.
- **Lost reasons:** A recorded reason for every lost enquiry, reviewed monthly with the sales team.
- **Lapsed holds:** Tentative holds that expired without any follow-up, counted per month.

## Industry data
- 71%: of surveyed US hotels had jobs they could not fill despite active searches (AHLA survey, December 2024 to January 2025) ([Hospitality Net (AHLA survey)](https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4125946/65-of-surveyed-us-hotels-report-staffing-shortages))

## Systems it connects to
Tripleseat, Delphi.fdc by Amadeus, Cvent Supplier Network, Oracle Opera PMS, Mews, SevenRooms, HubSpot or Salesforce, Gmail or Microsoft 365, DocuSign

## Guardrails
- Proposals, rates and contracts go out only after a sales manager approves them.
- Tentative holds follow your rules and expire automatically unless a person extends them.
- The agent never confirms a date as final; it states that availability is subject to contract.
- Every message and proposal is logged against the enquiry in your CRM.

## What teams say about this work
- Researchers who sent written enquiries to large hotels about hosting a business reception found responsiveness had barely improved over fifteen years, with many hotels missing the chance to win the business. ([Journal of Services Marketing (Emerald)](https://www.emerald.com/jsm/article/17/4/379/255120/Go-away-Don-t-bother-me-I-don-t-want-your-money))
- A test of upscale and luxury hotels found many lost sales by failing to respond adequately to enquiries sent through their websites and by email. ([Advances in Hospitality and Leisure (Emerald)](https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.1016/S1745-3542(06)03010-4/full/html))
- Hotels lose callers through unanswered and badly handled calls, which hits high-value enquiries such as groups and events that often start by phone. ([Marchex](https://investors.marchex.com/news-releases/news-release-details/marchex-institute-study-finds-hotel-and-cruise-industries-lose))
- Most hotels report open roles they cannot fill despite active searches, leaving thin teams to cover sales, events and operations at once. ([Hospitality Net (AHLA survey)](https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4125946/65-of-surveyed-us-hotels-report-staffing-shortages))

## Delivery: live in 3 to 6 weeks
1. Week 1: discovery, access and a baseline of today's numbers.
2. Weeks 2–3: build the agents and connect your systems, with your rules and approvals.
3. Weeks 3–5: test on your real history, then pilot on live work with your team reviewing.
4. Weeks 4–6: staged go-live, training, dashboards and handover.

## Executive Ask questions for this workflow
- How many wedding enquiries came in this month, and how many got a proposal within a day?
- Which group enquiries are waiting on us right now, and what are they worth?
- Why did we lose the corporate events we quoted last quarter?

## Frequently asked questions
### How long does it take to set up?
Most venues are live in 3 to 6 weeks. We load your packages, menus, room types, rate rules and qualification criteria, then connect the inbox, forms and your sales and catering system. The agent drafts replies and proposals for your team to approve first, and starts sending first replies on its own once you are happy with them.

### What does it cost?
It depends on the number of properties and outlets, the enquiry channels and which sales, catering and PMS systems need connecting. We review a sample of recent enquiries and proposals, then give a fixed quote. It is quoted after a short scoping call, so the full cost is clear before the build starts.

### Does it work with Tripleseat or Delphi?
Yes. The agent reads function space and bookings from Tripleseat or Delphi.fdc, room availability from Opera, Mews or your PMS, and writes enquiries and proposals back as leads or tentative bookings. If you work from a spreadsheet diary and Outlook today, it can use those while you decide whether a sales system is worth adding.

### Will it send prices without our sales team seeing them?
Only if you choose that for simple cases. By default, first replies share availability and package names, and full proposals with rates go out after a sales manager approves them. Some venues allow standard private dining menus to go automatically; that rule is written down, applied consistently and every message is logged.

### Can it handle enquiries that come in by phone?
Yes, if calls are recorded or routed through a system we can connect to. The agent reads the transcript, creates the enquiry with the details captured, and sends the caller a written follow-up with availability and next steps. If a call needs a person, it books a callback slot in a sales manager's calendar.