In our latest interview, we spoke to Shriti Chhajed to understand more about her startup and her journey as an entrepreneur. She is the founder of BookEventz – India’s leading network of trusted venues. Her startup simplifies all event-related issues with fully managed venues. Let’s read more!
Excerpts from our exclusive interview with Shriti
Tell us a little bit about yourself and how did you come up with the idea of a startup?
Well, I am from Indore and have done my engineering from SGSITS, Indore in 2007 and MBA from SP Jain Singapore – Dubai in 2010. After acquiring 5 years of experience in Tech & Marketing in the Corporate world, I started my venture, BookEventz.com in 2013.
We started with Urbnrestro having restaurant reservation & banquet listings. The pivot happened to BookEventz (venue booking platform) which came as a solution to big unsolved problem both from customer and venue owner’s side with all players just doing a lead gen business.
How the BookEventz has grown over the years?
Banqueting is a very fragmented and unstandardized space. Our aim since the start was to help the user in the entire booking process. From helping the customer discover and negotiate the final price, to assisting them with a venue expert who goes along with them to recce, today, we have our properties under the brand BookEventz Flagship. The company provides venues and services for events like weddings, birthday, corporate parties and more. Today, with over 3,50,000 customers & 500 corporates events organised, BookEventz is India’s leading network of trusted venues with 60+ BookEventz Flagships under its brand.
What are the challenges that are faced by banquet market today?
There are so many standalone banquets and there is no standard brand to give a structure to it. This issue makes venue services very unpredictable for customers. In such a scenario, customers are always apprehensive to give a final Yes to any venue.
BookEventz recently had a lift-off. Would you like to explain that for us?
The brand has always been marked with the dictum of outstanding services, from our customers, in the zone of venue bookings and event assistance. We now proudly take it to the next level with fully managed venues called BookEventz Flagship venues. This progress is based on the sole purpose of making the joy of celebrations more fulfilling with comfort and ease of services. These venues are fully managed from bookings assistance to event coordination by the experts until the end of the event day.
How is BookEventz Flagship different from standalone banquets?
Unlike standalone banquet, BookEventz Flagships come with a lot of features like:
i) Highest standards of professional conduct: The entire booking process is dealt with extra care by trained and vigilant venue managers. Assigned event coordinator help you coordinate your entire event, being a single point of contact between verified photographers decorators, caterers, makeup artists, anchors & more.
ii) Value for Money: Customers get the best quality branded venues at the best price deals.
iii) Standardization and documentation: Same facilities across all venues with proper documentation.
At last, your journey has been full of new experiences and learnings at all stage. Where do you want to see yourself professionally 5 years down the line?
5 years down the line, we expect BookEventz to become the largest event company in India. We want to see BookEventz Flagship as the largest and most trusted network of venues across India. We want to establish ourselves at such a position that if anyone thinks of doing an event, BookEventz flagship should be at the top of the mind recall.
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