The way to upsell event guests without being pushy is to move the offer from the table to the booking. A server suggesting a more expensive bottle mid-service feels like selling. A guest browsing drink packages and premium options three weeks before the party, on their own phone, in the venue’s branding, feels like planning a good night. Same upsell, opposite experience.
Why pre-arrival upselling works
Guests choosing in advance are in an anticipation mindset rather than a bill-watching one. They commit to shared bottles, wine with each course and add-ons they would rarely order on the night, and because the choice is theirs and unhurried, it never reads as pressure. A Holiday Inn hotel reported a 251 percent uplift in drinks pre-order spend after moving drink choices ahead of arrival, without changing the menu.
What to offer, and how
- Table drink packages. Shared lists let one confident guest lift the whole table’s order, which is where joiner nights make their margin.
- Premium swaps. A better wine, a champagne arrival, a cocktail on seating. Presented as options during pre-order, not interruptions during service.
- Course add-ons. Cheese boards, dessert wine, late-night food. Small per-head numbers that compound across a hundred covers.
- Self-payment. When each guest pays for their own choices in advance through Prinq, upgrading is a private decision, which removes the social pressure that suppresses spend.
Keep it honest
Show prices plainly, make the standard option respectable, and never pre-tick anything. The revenue comes from making upgrading effortless, not from making declining awkward. The venue banks the uplift before the event, the bar preps to known demand, and guests arrive to exactly what they chose.
How guest pre-ordering works or estimate the uplift for your venue.
Jake Crimmin, Hospitality Events Specialist, Creventa. Jake works with hotels and venues on event operations, focusing on how pre-orders and allergen data flow from the guest through to the kitchen.
