This articles explores where, why & how you create itinerary templates on Hostology.
- What are Itinerary Templates and why create one?
- Considerations when Creating a template
- Creating the template
- Adding the template to an event
- Academy Video Guide [New]
- Next Steps
What are Itinerary Templates, and why create one?
The Hostology platform is designed to make planning simple. In Hostology, the "Itinerary" is referring to the itemised plan for the actual day(s) of the event. This is the key information for your customers, as it helps them see how the event will unfold and also contains the key information for you and your planning team.
This is why the Itinerary is seen as the "Backbone" of Hostology and a really important area to understand and utilise, to really improve the event planning process for your team, and also your customers!
In the Itinerary, you can add all the details, adding items from speeches to putting up port-a-loos! (Your customers don't need to see this though!) and also adding in bespoke food and drink choices, linking to the correct parts of the day.
Why a template though? If you want, you can always add bespoke itineraries and start from scratch for each event - check out this article here for how to do this!
However, to save time and simplify your planning journey, you can create an itinerary template on Hostology. An itinerary template is a saved version of an event itinerary, which you can import on to events at the click of a button. So once you've made it once, you don't need to start from scratch each time. Think of them as a saved version of that function sheet or word/excel document you used to use! But with some extra useful features that come with using Hostology and link up across the platform, automating some of that repetitive work and saving you time.
An itinerary template is primarily made up of:
- The Template - This is the overall name for the template, including the duration (in days)
- Itinerary items - These are the specific items that make up the template, e.g. "Guests arriving @ 11", "main event @ 12" "speeches @ 13"...
Considerations when Creating a template
When creating a template, the first consideration is how many days you want to create the itinerary template for.
Itinerary templates are matched to your event duration (see creating an event here for more info). So if your usual event is 3 days (e.g. They arrive day 1, Event day 2, leave Day 3) - you would want your itinerary to be 3 days, even though the "Event" might be just 1 day. This means you can see and plan the arrivals and manage the expectations of your customers - as well as easily track and plan the event internally.
Only Super admins and Venue Admins can create and edit itinerary templates. Venue Users can see the templates, but will not be able to edit them.
ALL users can add a template to an event - and then edit them to make them bespoke at the event level.
You can create as many templates as you like! You can create templates for when guests are staying vs day events. Different templates for a 2pm vs 6pm start. etc!
If you have multiple venues, you will need to create a template for each venue, as they can run as separate businesses. If you have multiple venues, and use the same templates for all of them. Let us know and we can do some handy time saving work in the back to copy and paste them.
If you want to discuss with a Hostology team member the best way to set up your templates based on the way your venue works - email us at support@hostology.co.uk, or send us a message using the help button in the bottom left of the page.
To create the template, first you need to go to Venues and select your venue. Then click on 'Planning' and 'Itinerary Templates':
Once you are on the itinerary template page click on 'Add new'. You will then need to fill out the required information and click 'Save and add to template' to save and create your template.
You can edit and delete your template by clicking the 3 dots next to the template you want to edit or delete.
Once you have created the template, you will then land on a page with the amount of days. You will see the option in each day to "Add itinerary item".
This will then open a pop-up box for you to add in the details of the itinerary item, including:
- Name - What is happening? e.g. "Speeches", "Prepare Rooms", "Guests arrival"
- Location - Which part of your venue is this happening? e.g. "Reception" or "Dance Floor"
- Start/End time - When does it start/end (NB End is optional)
- Permission settings (Visible, editable, status) - See below for more details.
- Notes - These notes are for reference, customers can see if shared.
- Catering - See below for more details
Add these details in and then press save at the bottom (this will be blue once you add / change details). The itinerary item will now appear in the view of the itinerary template.
You can add as many template items as you like to the day. You can also edit them once you have added, by clicking anywhere within the itinerary item box:
When adding an itinerary item, there is a section of Permissions/Settings. These are:
- Visibility - This toggle will allow you to set the visibility of the itinerary event to internal (only venue can see) or visible to all (Your Customer/Host can also see)
- Edit-ability - If you set this toggle to locked only venue users will be able to edit the itinerary event, but if you set the toggle to unlocked your host will be able to edit the itinerary item
- Status - This allows you to set the itinerary event as a draft or confirmed
Top tip! - If you are letting your customers edit, set the status to "Confirmed". This means when they edit it, it will become a draft, and can make it easier for you to track and see changes.
Lastly, you can add in food and drink to the template. This data will pull through from your food and drink section - see here for how to add and create Menus/Individual items.
Click the food and drink item and this will be added to the itinerary item. Once you press save, you will also see the Knife and fork icon appear to show there is catering for this part of the day. You will also have the choice to mark the item as "Externally catered" if a supplier or customer is bringing the food, separate to your business.
Top Tip! - Only add food and drink into the itinerary template if you have these at the specific times for "Most events". Otherwise, it can be simpler to add in food and drink once discussed and planned with your customer - at the specific event planning area.
Adding the template to an event
Once you have done this and created your template, it is now time to use it on the event! You can learn more on how to do this in this article here.
Now you have created an itinerary template, you might be interested in one of the following steps:
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