Event Reservation Software for Venues & Banquet Spaces.

A reservation moves through three states, and most disputes come from blurring them. An enquiry is a question about a date. A hold is a promise you make for a short time, with an end. A booking exists when the advance is received and a receipt has been issued. Put the rule in writing on the quote: 'held until 6 pm on Tuesday, confirmed only when the token is received'. A 48 hour hold and a token of about 30% of the total are common starting points, and Kaliquid's tentative hold releases the date by itself after 48 hours unless the advance is recorded. Whatever numbers you choose, the date must come back to the calendar without a person having to remember it.

Double bookings are rarely a software bug. They happen when two people take a booking at the same time from different doors: a phone call to the front desk, a WhatsApp message on the owner's phone, a walk-in on a Sunday afternoon, an Excel file open on two laptops. Test any system with two logins. Book Hall A for Saturday 13 February 2027, evening, on one screen, then try the same slot on the other. You want a refusal before saving, not a red cell the next morning. Then try a full-day booking over an evening one. One double-booked Saturday in wedding season is a Rs 6,30,000 problem: two families, one hall, a refund, a make-good and a review nobody forgets.

Take a hall-and-food package of Rs 6,00,000 at an ordinary venue. GST at 5% adds Rs 30,000, so the total is Rs 6,30,000. A 30% token is Rs 1,89,000, and about Rs 9,000 of it is tax, because GST on a service advance falls due when you receive the money and the receipt voucher should show it. How the client pays matters too. Cash of Rs 2 lakh or more in a day, per transaction or for one event is not allowed under Section 269ST of the Income-tax Act (current sources number it section 186 of the Income-tax Act, 2025), so a Rs 1,89,000 cash advance leaves almost no room for a second cash payment on the same event. UPI is convenient, and from 15 October 2026 the government-announced MDR of 0.4% applies to UPI merchant payments above Rs 2,000, capped at Rs 300 a payment. On a Rs 1,89,000 payment the cap applies, so you pay Rs 300, unless your account sits in the small merchant tier that receives up to Rs 1 lakh a month at zero.

Cancellation is where good relationships end, so decide the ladder before the booking. An example, not a rule: retain 10% of the package value when notice is 90 days or more, 25% at 60 to 89 days, 50% at 30 to 59 days and 75% under 30 days. A client cancelling on 5 January 2027 for a 13 February function gave 39 days notice, so 50% of Rs 6,30,000 is Rs 3,15,000. The advance of Rs 1,89,000 does not cover it, and the ladder says the client owes another Rs 1,26,000. That is where Section 74 of the Indian Contract Act matters. Courts have long held that even where the contract names a sum, the party can claim only reasonable compensation for the loss it actually suffered. If you resell the date for Rs 4,80,000 two weeks later, your loss is nearer Rs 1,50,000 plus documented costs than Rs 3,15,000. Keep the enquiry log that shows the buyers you turned away.

Auspicious dates change the game. Fifteen good Saturdays a year attract three or four enquiries each, and the hold clock becomes a source of conflict. The rule that ends arguments is simple: the first advance received wins, not the first enquiry. Give every waiting family a numbered place, offer the date down the list with a 24 hour window, and record each offer. Timestamps on receipts and holds settle a dispute in a minute, where memory takes an afternoon and a phone call to the owner's brother.

General schedulers such as SimplyBook.me, which is free for 50 bookings a month and then EUR 11.90 to 49.90 a month billed yearly, and Zoho Bookings, which is free for one user, are good at appointments: a tasting, a site visit, a call. They do not hold a hall by slot, issue a package invoice with GST or run an advance schedule, so they suit the front of your funnel and not the calendar itself. Kaliquid is built for the calendar side: Pro is Rs 999 per hall per month, or Rs 750 per hall per month billed yearly, Enterprise is custom, and it includes conflict warnings, 48 hour holds, WhatsApp receipts, UPI QR and a multi-hall dashboard. It does not sell tickets. For a public show, use a ticketing tool for the tickets.