NHS Test & Trace app launched and dovetails with Hostology
22 Sep 2020
Tomorrow the NHS test & Trace App is launched, including instructions for any venue to register and encourage the collection of contact details for their visitors. Every venue must download and display the NHS Poster (it contains a QR Code), in both the Management Offices any other public/guest entry point. Any visitor can then download the App and scan the QR code to add their details.
However – the NHS state that all venues must offer a manual alternative.
And this is where our new consent gathering feature can help. Hostology’s powerful collaborative supplier and guest management tools offer you and your customer full supplier and guest-list management, not to mention built-in consents and compliance to cover licensing, insurance and dietary complications.
With Hostology powering up your venue, your party hosts and couples can gather consent and phone numbers for each party lead on their guest-list, then download the attendees to allow you to mark each guest’s time-in / time-out.
Get started and download your QR poster here:
https://www.gov.uk/create-coronavirus-qr-poster
FCA test Case on business Interruption – High Court judgement released
16 Sep 2020
Yesterday – the 15th September – the FCA published the long awaited High Court judgement to the long running test case on business interruption.
It seems that the outcome for each business will depend upon the wording of your individual business policy. You can read more about the findings here.
And you should also hear from your insurer within 7 days – we suggest chasing them if you don’t!
We’ll be discussing the judgement at our next Hostology Collective webinar – 24th September at 11:30am
Do join us.
Write to your MP
11 Sep 2020
As we head into the seventh month of exclusive-use venue restrictions we urgently need government action
Are you a venue or a wedding related business? We need you to write to your local MP and ask the government to listen and to understand our sector.
We urgently require:
Financial support – local and national
An agreed roadmap
Acknowledgment that we can deliver Covid-secure events
Use our template
To speed things up we have drafted a template letter that you can use. All you need to do is download it, then add your venue logo, date, your details and send.
You can find your local MP’s contact details here: https://members.parliament.uk/FindYourMP
Download your template here:
Template_LettertoMP_10September2020_FINAL – PDF
Template_LettertoMP_10September2020_FINAL – Word
Hostology Collective: don’t miss our webinar series!
27 Aug 2020
Join us over at the Hostology Collective to view our series of live webinar sessions. Twice a month we review updates from our sector, assisted by our established group of experts, each with the experience to help to guide us through these tricky times.
We do hope that you’ll be able to join us and welcome to the conversation!
Up Next:
Thursday 8th October, 11.30 am – Hostology Webinar Series:
Sign up to The Hostology Collective to watch all our webinars
Thursday 27th August, 11.30 am – Hostology Webinar Series: 18- Focus on delivering safe events
Thursday 13th August, 11.30 am Hostology webinar series: 17 Event Sector Updates, Focus on WVSG
7th May at 1.30 pm – Hostology webinar series: 7 – Government action with Harriett Baldwin MP
23rd April at 11.30 am – Hostology webinar series: 4 – Financial Support Revisited
Hostology Collective: How to watch our webinar series so far
27 Aug 2020
Over the past few months, we’ve run a series of live webinar sessions, each with an experienced expert to help to guide us all through these tricky times.
To catch up on the discussions sign-up to The Hostology Collective:
Join the Collective
Today’s webinar is another must-watch. Full of updates from experts and positive news from venues too.
We are excited to welcome David Chapman from UK Hospitality Wales, to update us on his ongoing discussions with the Welsh Government – and where weddings of 30 are still the norm.
William Johnson of Wetherby Hamilton will be on hand to help us to unpack the High Court’s recent judgement on the FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) test case regarding business interruption insurance. And, Richard Cramer from Front Row Legal gives his take on postpones and reports on his discussions with the U.K. Government. We also heard positive tales of innovation from Elmore Court and Iscoyd Park.
This week the CMA published their wedding-specific guidance for those events affected by COVID-19.
During today’s webinar, we examine the impact on our sector, with contributions from Charles Courtenay (Michelmores and WVSG) and Robina Hussein (Front Row Legal).
And for those of you beginning to open up for business, expert – Alan Law (risk assessment) provides useful advice about how to run a COVID safe event.
Thursday 27th August, 11.30 am – Hostology Webinar Series: 18- Focus on delivering safe events
Wedding receptions are back on – albeit for just 30 guests. During today’s webinar, we heard from risk assessment expert Alan Law on how to deliver a covid safe wedding for 30. Watch the recording for his answers to your frequently asked questions.
And we heard from Nina Beer (Occassion Queens) and Sarah Hayward (Event Producer) on Love My Dress’ campaign to focus attention to the financial support badly needed by our sector. Listen in for some startling revised statistics on the value of the wedding-sector and the findings of their most recent supplier survey.
Duncan Clarke gave us an excellent update on the ABWB’s communication with government, and the successful first phase of the newly formed Wedding Venue Support Group (WVSG).
With over 170 pledges WVSG have reached their initial target to commission expert advice, further pledges will help translate the advice into developing a fair and robust contract between venues, suppliers and their customers.
Click here for full information on the work of the WVSG and links to pledge your support to your industry.
USEFUL LINKS
Alan Law – tips for delivering a safe wedding for 30
#whatboutweddings – Subscribe to campaign updates at www.whataboutweddings.co.uk
WVSG – Pledge your support the Wedding Venue Support group – https://wvsg.org/
Thursday 13th August, 11.30 am Hostology webinar series: 17 Industry Updates, Focus on WVSG
During today’s webinar, we hear from Charles Courtenay about the newly formed Wedding Venue Support Group (WVSP). Updates from the ABWB and Nina from Occasion Queens updates us on the critical What about Weddings campaign.
From today’s webinar, we can firmly conclude that we need to continue to bang the drum for the wedding industry and make sure that our voices are heard.
We are hopeful that the government announcement tomorrow bring will bring us some much-needed luck.
To read more about the work of the WVSP, click here for full information and links to pledge your support to your industry.
During today’s webinar, we covered the whole host of topics – with an update from :
James Paxman, Duncan Clarke, Will Johnson regarding the CMA and insurance, Alan Law on Health and Safety, Richard Cramer regarding contracts.
Tamryn Settle (Love My Dress) and Nina Beer (Occasion Queens) provided valuable feedback and advice directly from couples plus, updated us about their hugely successful campaign ‘#Whataboutweddings’. To read more and to show support find more details here.
During this week’s webinar, we hear from Health and Safety expert Alan Law about what to do if there is an outbreak of Covid-19 within your venue. Mark Bishop, from PKF Francis Clark, simplifies VAT and Stuart Owens from the ABWB updates us on the progress that is being made in government.
We will be joined by Ben Cowell, Director General of Historic Houses and members of the ABWB Venue Committee, both with updates and more details on the valuable work that they are doing for the industry. And Risk Assessment expert, Alan Law, will be back with a practical interpretation of the current guidance.
This week (23rd June) government announcement has opened up many questions about the future of running weddings and events.
Today’s webinar session is filled with encouraging updates from the ABWB regarding the roadmap and time scale for the wedding industry to reopen.
Watch now to hear first hand on the progress of the ABWB – with members of the venue committee on hand to share and discuss the exit roadmap.
Plus, Sebastian Fenwick, alongside Historic Houses, shares his update on the legal advice he has commissioned for couples affected by insurers refusing to payout.
To view the documents referenced during today webinar, please sign in/up to The Collective.
We are thrilled to welcome Love My Dress and Occasion Queens to week twelve of our webinar sessions.
The Future of Weddings Survey – Results & Insights
Love My Dress and Occasion Queens are excited to present highlights from their recent survey, ‘The Future of Weddings’. With responses from more than 1300 brides, looking at everything from adjustments couples are prepared to make for their wedding to go ahead and what’s important to them and what’s worrying them right now plus insights into the all-important things venues can do to bring confidence to couples, this is an invaluable look into the future of weddings through the eyes of your clients.
What will venue life look like after business returns to normal? And how can the predictions we make now impact venue success the next few months and beyond?
We are joined by Olivia Riddiford-Mills of Host Venue Consultancy to discuss; Venue Predictions Post Pandemic.
Olivia Riddiford is the founder of Host Venue Consultancy and its sister multi-award-winning planning company Host Weddings & Events. With over 12 years of experience working within venues, Olivia fully understands the bridal buying process and operational logistics in both large and small wedding venues. Along with her skill set in planning weddings and selling them, she has the perfect tools to mentor others to achieve top results.
And, to follow on from the helpful advice from Jane Randell at Farrer & Co, Richard Cramer from Front Row Legal discussed useful information about how to future proof your booking terms and conditions.
For more help, please do visit: www.legal-surgery.com.
Please do join us and do extend our invitation to anybody within your network who could benefit from the support and advice that The Hostology Collective offers.
Thursday 28th May, 11.30 am Hostology Webinar series: 10 COVID SAFE – Health & Safety with Alan Law
For week ten of our webinar series, we were joined by Health and Safety expert Alan Law from AFL Associates.
Part of any reopening plan will be executing a robust Health and Safety strategy, to keep your team safe and to reassure customers that they can do the same for their guests.
During today’s webinar, Alan Law shares his insights into what at Covid-19 wedding safe plan might look like, and we hear an update from Duncan Clarke, from the ABWB.
We were joined by wedding experts: Love My Dress founder, Annabel Beeforth, Senior Writer, Tamryn Settle and Nina Beer from Occasion Queens.
The session explored how couples are feeling and how you can best communicate with your customers going forward.
Love My Dress will be publishing their insights and conclusions from the valuable focus group that they conducted just last week. Please sign up to Love My Dress to find out more.
Jane provided us with valuable insights in response to couples who want to postpone or cancel their events inline with CMA guidelines.
We also discussed future scenarios venues might face such as how smaller events could or will be contractually bound with an aim to help you to make the right decisions for your business based on the information available to us.
7th May at 1.30 pm – Hostology webinar series: 7 Government action with Harriett Baldwin MP
Harriett represents the Treasury Select Committee. Harriett presented a useful update on what action is being taken by the Government to persuade the insurers to step up. Harriett Baldwin was very clear about her recommended next steps, namely that every venue is encouraged to write to their Member of Parliament and to articulate the distinct issues facing wedding / exclusive-use event venues.
To speed-the-plough we have written a template letter which you are welcome to download and use: Write to your MP: Template Letter
During our sixth webinar session, Kelly provides valuable advice about how to continue to market your venue during the lockdown.
Kelly offers a range of one consulting and training services for venues more information can be found on her website:
Charlotte and Naomi updated us on the current discussions in their community and lead venues through some of the things they should be thinking about, to both reassure their couples and an encourage new ones to choose their venue.
23rd April at 11.30 am – Webinar series 4: Financial Support Revisited
During our fourth webinar, we were joined by Daniel Cherry from Lloyds Commercial Banking and John Haines from Ducketts Chartered Accountants to discuss financial support during the current CV-19 situation. Topics covered include a vital update on the UK Government Furlough Scheme as well as the CBILs loan application process.
In addition to the incredibly helpful advice presented by John Haines from Ducketts Chartered Accountants, Ducketts are happy to help with regards to CBILS applications.
If you would like to discuss this further, then please contact Martyn Wright on 07598 890019 or email on martyn@chrisduckett.co.uk.
17th April at 11:30 am – Webinar series 3: Focus on legal Issues
Emma Hardcastle is joined by Jane Randell from Farrer & Co and Will Johnson from Weatherbys Hamilton, to discuss event postponement and cancellations in the light of the Covid-19 ‘lockdown’.
Thanks to all for joining and taking part in a useful discussion. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up-to-date with the latest recordings and head to our social media channels to find out about our next webinars – links in the footer.
8th April at 2:30 pm – Hostology Webinar series 2: Focus on Insurance
Josh Dugdale of founder venue, Wasing Park, was joined by Will Johnson from Weatherbys Hamilton to discuss issues around insurance, covering wedding/event insurance as well as venue and estate policies.
2nd April at 11:30 am – Hostology Webinar series 1: Focus on financial support
Hostology founder, Emma Hardcastle, was joined by John Haines from Ducketts Chartered Accountants. John gave us some very good advice on how to prepare for a loan application and on a myriad of other issues, from government support to postponement strategies, insurance and managing the team through the lockdown.
Emerging from Lockdown – Delivering a COVID Safe Wedding for 30 guests (FAQ sheet)
19 Aug 2020
Last week the U.K. government announced that weddings for up to 30 guests are now allowed. Yippee!
Alan Law, a Health and Safety expert, has kindly put together a useful FAQ document to clarify answers to the most common questions that he has been asked since this announcement.
Please click the link here to read.
To contact Alan, please email: info@alanlaw.co.uk
‘The wedding’s off!’
5 Aug 2020
Last week’s government announcement felt like a bit of a blow to the wedding sector. Since then our hope is that the government has begun to listen to our pleas for support.
And there has been a response from the media who have shown support to our industry by detailing some the struggles venues, couples, suppliers and planners are facing at this time.
Emma Hardcastle, (founder of Hostology) was interviewed by Dailymail Online about the ripple effect the government announcements have on the industry and the support required, read the full article here.
Wedding Venue Support Group (WVSG)
5 Aug 2020
We are very happy to be supporting the work of the Wedding Venue Support Group (WVSG) – as the founders explain:
‘The ABWB Venues committee have set up Wedding Venues Support Group, a special purpose Members company, to take further advice from Michelmores and Jonathan Kirk QC., the leading Consumer Law silk, star rated and the only Tier 1 Q.C. in his field.We want a categoric understanding of the fair application of the CRA to wedding contract refunds. The CMA advice is Guidance, not law. It is unbalanced as between Insurers, Couples and Venues. Authoritative clarification of the underlying Law is essential for all involved with weddings, Couples, Venues, other suppliers and Insurers.That is our aim and we will shortly be setting out our strategy in detail. We will appeal for funds from venues who wish to share the advice and legal defence against unfair claims. Thanks to Hostology we will be putting on an explanatory Webinar and Q & A, with a panel including Charles Courtenay, Lead solicitor and Venue Owner. WATCH THIS SPACE and support the Industry.’
Ahead of this webinar please do read this important information: click here
Provisional Membership Application and Conditional Pledge: click here
Please join our webinar to hear more about the initiative: click here to join at 11.30 am on the 13th August 2020.
What About Weddings?
30 Jul 2020
IT IS TIME TO TAKE ACTION
Over the past few weeks Love my Dress alongside other industry professionals have been campaigning for the wedding industry to be recognised by the government.
Collectively, we are seeking answers from the government; Couples and businesses need clarity to be able to move forward. We need a roadmap, updated guidance and a timeline. There needs to be parity for all couples, particularly as the guidance currently excludes faith and cultural ceremonies, and couples and businesses need choice.
To read more about this, please read their full article here.
In the meantime, there are two things that venue owners can do to help:
1. Write to your local MP
2. Share your own experiences under the #whataboutweddings hashtag and tiles. The wedding industry is worth £10bn annually to the UK economy, much of this has been lost. What will you loose if we do not have a reopening road map soon?
Emerging from Lockdown – updates and advice for venues
25 Jun 2020
During today’s webinar session, we learnt about the encouraging updates from the ABWB regarding the roadmap and time scale for the wedding industry to reopen.
However, while some critical alignments have been established, there are still some crucial issues that you will all be asking: ‘how do I enforce social distancing at a wedding?’ and ‘how can I keep our staff safe?’.
To find out more about what the future of weddings will look like, you can watch our webinar here but in the meantime, please do read these supporting articles for helpful advice.
The Collective: Exiting from Lockdown – update your Health and Safety Policy
1 Jun 2020
Thank you to those that joined our excellent session Alan Law, Health and Safety expert from AFL Associates.
If you missed it, please do catch up here.
Alan provided some very clear, recommended next steps and encouraged all venues to update their Health and Saftey policy and create a ‘COVID Secure’ policy to help to protect both customers and staff.
To help, Alan has provided a Health and Safety template which you are welcome to use and guidance from NHS Test and Trace:
New feature: Food & Drink Templates and an integrated Itinerary
20 May 2020
We are excited to release the first past of our new Food & Drink and integrated Itinerary tools for the management for your events. The new workflow includes full templating so you can set everything up once and then put your feet up… well maybe.
You can find everything you need to know about our new feature release by visiting our help desk.
The Collective: The insurance industry – an update from the Treasury Select Committee
7 May 2020
We were very grateful to have some of Harriett Baldwin’s time today. Harriett is the MP for West Worcestershire and a member of the Treasury Select Committee.
Harriett updated us on the Committee’s progress with regard to investigating the insurance industry, encouraging them to take responsibility where policy detail dictates that a payout is due. As a result, with regard to Business interruption insurance and Wedding insurance, the government is taking the following actions:
Business interruption insurance:
The FCA is putting a test case through the courts, which if successful could pave the way for businesses to receive insurance payouts.
Wedding / Event insurance:
The Financial Ombudsman is being resourced to deal with all customer complaints about insurers. The advice is to encourage your customers who have been rejected by their insurance companies to seek redress from the ombudsman. Visit https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/
And if you missed the session with Harriett you can catch up here:The Hostology Collective
The Collective: Exiting from Lockdown – a template letter for your MP
7 May 2020
Thank you to those that joined our excellent session today with Harriett Baldwin, MP for West Worcestershire and member of the Treasury Select Committee.
Harriett was very clear about her recommended next steps, namely that every venue is encouraged to write to their Member of Parliament, to articulate the distinct issues facing wedding / exclusive-use event venues.
To speed-the-plow we have written a template letter which you are welcome to use:
And to add important context please do encourage them to watch the recording of the session with Harriett – below.
The more clearly we can get the message through to Government, that as an industry we can make weddings safe, the better.
The Collective: Marriage Licences – write to your MP for support
21 Apr 2020
Calling all venues!
During a recent webinar, the discussion turned to complications surrounding the logistics of obtaining a marriage licence in the UK.
Under the restrictions imposed upon them by Covid-19, Registrars are no longer able to issue or accept new registrations which could cause problems for couples who have postponed their wedding until later on in the year.
Venue partner Anselm Guise of Elmore Court has started a campaign to raise awareness of this issue:
‘I am concerned that people will not be able to have the legal license in place for the registrars as currently the GRO (General registration office) is not accepting any new registrations and that includes any registrations that need to be made because a license has expired. If the license were to be extended for a long enough period this issue would go away and not require the GRO to start taking new registration again.
As you will see in the letter it only requires a tweak but as fast as I am aware as things stand all of us licensed premises could have a major problem on our hands with our postponements and I think it wise to pre-empt this. Certainly my local registrars are very concerned.
Anyway, I’ll leave it with you. I hope my worry is unfounded as some seem to think!’
If you are a venue, or a couple hoping to marry this year, please do write to your local MP to ask for support. And feel free to use Anselm’s letter below as a template.
With many thanks,
Emma Hardcastle, Founder and CEO of Hostology
Template_Letter_NOTIFICATION_OF_MARRIAGE
The Collective – join the conversation
27 Mar 2020
As venue owners – Hostology was design by venues, for venues – we really do understand the enormous emotional and administrative overhead that the Covid-19 outbreak has thrown at all of us. To help us all through this very difficult phase in our histories we have put together some advice and support for our community in The Hostology Collective.
Alongside the event scheduling and planning tools within the Hostology Platform, we hope that it will help your venue to navigate the coming weeks and months as calmly and efficiently as possible. The community is free and open to all but to start a conversation or add a comment you need to register – follow the links to do so.
VISIT THE HOSTOLOGY COLLECTIVE
Hostology was born from our shared experience. Looking beyond the current crisis, through The Hostology Collective, we aim to extend this experience to the wider community, connecting venues with each other in imaginative ways that encourage each to thrive. Advice is peer-to-peer because who knows better.
Come and see us!
14 Jan 2020
Do come to one of our launch events throughout February. Join us from 12-2pm for light refreshments at either Iscoyd Park (Wrexham/ Shropshire borders), Wasing Park (Berkshire) or Elmore Court (Gloucestershire).
You’ll be able to meet the team and find out how easy it can be to integrate the Hostology Platform into your business processes. You’ll also have the chance to tour our partner venues and to hear first hand how Hostology will transform your business.
We hope you can make it!
CLICK A LINK TO BOOK YOUR PLACE
5th February 2020 – Join us at Iscoyd park
24th February 2020 – Join us at Wasing Park
25th February 2020 – Join us at Elmore Court
Designed by venues, for venues
9 Oct 2019
Designed by venues for your venue. Not a phrase to be used lightly, but we really have spent many happy hours with our partner venues’ teams to understand how best to incorporate their workflows and best practice into The Platform.
We hope that we have succeeded. Either way we are excited about the results and would love your venue to join us!
Welcome to Hostology
5 Oct 2019
Hostology was born from our partner venues’ shared experience. Our aim is to equip all venues with the tools and services that they need to succeed; a smart management platform, backed up by a friendly members forum – The Collective.
Our hope is that both The Platform and The Collective will extend our member’s wealth of experience to the wider community, connecting venues with each other in imaginative ways that encourage each to thrive.
We hope that your venue will join us.
