Enquires by Month Year on Year Summary

This report shows how your enquiry activity compares to previous years, by arrival month and by status. View the activity either by number of bookingsClosed Also called an enquiry. A piece of business that consists of one or more events over one or more days. Can be of any status, for example Prospect, Definite, or Lost/Cxl. or by revenue. Start with the graphical overview, then look into booking details in the data table.

All Enquiry Analytics reports help you understand your demand patterns, which helps you create a better Demand Forecast.

Use the Enquiries by Month Year on Year Summary to quickly find trends and changes in booking activity year over year. Then investigate further by looking at individual bookings. This helps you assess what sales and conversion actions you need to take.

View this video for an overview of Enquiry Analytics reports:

See Multi Property Mode to learn how this page functions when you have access to several venuesClosed Any business that sells function space. For example, hotel, conference centre or a sporting arena..

Using Enquiry Analytics

Using the Graph

  1. On the Trend Analysis menu, select Enquiry Analytics, and click Enquiries by Month Year on Year Summary.
    The Enquiries by Month Year on Year Summary page is displayed.
  2. Click one or more filter buttons to review or select the filter options based on how you want to view the data. If you select consecutive years, the system rolls up the data for the years selected to give a total.
    See Filters for more details.
  3. Select to view data by number of Enquiries or by Revenue values.
  4. In the graph, click any status in the Legend to hide it in the chart.
  5. Hover over a bar to view the data values.
  6. Click the chart context menu to select a format to export the chart for presentation purposes.
  7. Click the PDF option to convert and save the current page as a PDF file.

Using the Data Table

  1. Click the Data table tab.
  2. To export this data for further review, click Export to Excel. The data table Excel file downloads.
  3. To see details, click a blue, linked number to view a Bookings Report on these values.
    The Bookings window displays.
  4. Click Export to Excel in the Bookings window to export this specific data for further review.
  5. Click Close to exit the Bookings Report window.
  6. Click the PDF option to convert and save the current page as a PDF file.

Data Details

Graph

Column Description
Number of Enquiries The sum of bookingsClosed Also called an enquiry. A piece of business that consists of one or more events over one or more days. Can be of any status, for example Prospect, Definite, or Lost/Cxl. that start in the month and year displayed. For example, the month of April includes a booking that starts on April 30 and lasts four days. A booking starting on March 31 and lasting four days is included in the month of March.
Months / Years The month and year in which the events start. By default, the data is for the current year plus the previous two years.

Data Table

Column Description
Booking Arrival Month The month in which the first day of an event occurs.
Booking Arrival Year The year in which the first day of an event occurs.
Definite The number of bookingsClosed Also called an enquiry. A piece of business that consists of one or more events over one or more days. Can be of any status, for example Prospect, Definite, or Lost/Cxl. for which you received a signed contract. All statuses are taken from your Sales and Catering systemClosed The system that you use to manage the bookings for your function rooms. Also known as a diary management, or meetings and events reservation system. Examples include Delphi and Opera..
Tentative The number of bookings that are verbally confirmed. You have sent the client a contract.
Prospect The number of bookings that are unconfirmed. You have no verbal or written confirmation for these bookings, but you might hold space provisionally. This includes Enquiry status, if you select to include it in the Settings tab of Database Setup.
Lost/Cxl

The number of bookings that have one of two statuses:

  • Lost: the client decides not to hold a prospect or tentative event at your venue.
  • Cxl (Cancelled): the client cancels an event for which you have a signed contract. A cancellation fee might apply.
Turn Down The number of bookings for which you decided not to offer availability. This can be because you don't have the space available, or because you believe it is not the right piece of business. Also known as denials.
Grand Total The sum of enquiries for all statuses.

Best Practices

Look for Trends and Changes in Booking Activity

Compare this year's activity to previous years. Has the overall amount changed? If so, is there a clear trend, either up or down? Is the trend the same by number of bookings and by revenue?If the amount is the same, has the amount by status changed?

Investigate Trends and Changes

To help you forecast demand, use the Data Table tab to investigate trends and changes in more detail. If there are unusual changes, were they due to one or two unique bookings?Are the changes global or are they limited to specific Market Segments?Or do external events explain the changes, like a new or refurbished competitor or a general downturn in business?

Decide on Actions or Investigate Further

This analysis might be enough to help you decide on actions. For example, for a month with much higher booking activity than in the past, you focus on converting high-value business. For months with weak demand, you add sales and marketing activities.

In other cases, you need to understand your booking activity better and use other Enquiry Analytics reports.

Here are a couple examples:

  • You are concerned about weak demand for a month. But you haven't been able to pinpoint the shortfall, so you use the Enquiries by Month by Attendee to better understand the demand for that month.
  • For an upcoming month, you are unsure if you can book enough new business to achieve the same Definite volume as in previous years. Use the Enquiries by Month by Lead Time report to understand how many bookings you usually receive in this time. Use the Conversion reports to understand how much of your on books bookings usually convert.