Comparison
Creventa vs Spreadsheets
Every venue that switches to Creventa was running events on spreadsheets first. The Wolseley Hospitality Group, Malmaison and Hotel du Vin, Derbyshire County Cricket Club, Tottington Manor, The Kingfisher: all of them managed pre-orders, dietaries and table plans in Excel, Word and PDF templates emailed back and forth. Spreadsheets do work. The question is what they cost.
What the spreadsheet process actually involves
A typical large event runs like this. The venue emails the client a menu PDF and a blank spreadsheet. The client forwards it to guests, chases stragglers, and consolidates replies by hand. The venue receives the spreadsheet, checks it, queries the gaps, and then retypes everything into kitchen sheets, function sheets, place cards and a table plan. Every late change means editing several documents and hoping nothing falls out of sync.
Tottington Manor described the failure mode precisely: “One change didn’t always update across all the reports, leading to mistakes during service.” Derbyshire County Cricket Club put it more bluntly: “It was all on spreadsheets and it left a lot of room for error.”
The four real costs
Hours. Tottington Manor spent several hours preparing each 70 to 80 guest wedding; with Creventa it takes 30 minutes, across 50 weddings and 700 events a year. The Kingfisher spent an entire shift preparing each Christmas party; now about an hour. Balmer Lawn Hotel recovered 2 to 3 hours every week on place cards and kitchen reports alone.
Errors. Spreadsheets are retyped at least twice: once by the client consolidating guests, once by the venue building reports. Every retype is an error opportunity, and errors surface during service, in front of the guest. Creventa reports are generated from guest-submitted data, so accuracy is 100% by construction; nobody retypes anything.
Allergen risk. An allergy note in an emailed spreadsheet is a liability, not a record. Creventa captures allergies and dietaries against each named guest, separates medical allergies from preferences, flags them on chef reports, food pass sheets and place cards, and gives the venue a documented, compliant audit trail.
Revenue. A spreadsheet cannot sell anything. Creventa’s drink pre-ordering lifts wet spend by 251%, because guests choose premium bottles and packages before arriving. Accurate pre-orders also cut food waste by around 20%, since kitchens prep against confirmed orders instead of estimates.
Feature comparison
| Spreadsheets | Creventa | |
|---|---|---|
| Guest data collection | Client chases guests by email | Guests self-serve via branded link or QR code, three automatic reminders |
| Consolidation | Manual, by client then venue | Automatic |
| Late changes | Edit every document by hand | One change updates every report live |
| Allergen record | Notes in cells, no audit trail | Documented per named guest, compliant, flagged everywhere |
| Kitchen reports and place cards | Built by hand for every event | Generated in one click |
| Drink pre-orders | Rarely attempted | Built in, 251% wet spend uplift, a result reported by a Holiday Inn hotel using Creventa |
| Cost | “Free”, paid for in hours and risk | From £74/month per venue, see pricing |
What venues say after switching
“It literally does my job for me, and it does the client’s job for them too” (The Wolseley Hospitality Group). “Christmas time, which used to be a big stress point, would now be unmanageable without Creventa” (Malmaison and Hotel du Vin). “Excel spreadsheets, name cards, and triple-checking work made everything much harder. Now guests upload everything themselves” (The Kingfisher).
Where Creventa stands out
- Guest pre-orders, allergens and dietaries captured against every named guest
- Drag-and-drop seating with printable, brand-styled place cards
- One-click chef reports, food pass, run sheets and function sheets with zero retyping
- Built by hospitality people who have run and operated venues for decades
Frequently asked questions
Our spreadsheet process works. Why change?
It does work; most venues ran this way for years. The question is whether the hours spent chasing, consolidating and retyping, and the allergen risk of data sitting in email threads, are worth what they cost. Creventa keeps your way of running events and removes the manual admin.
What does switching involve?
Most venues are live within a week, some within hours. Creventa migrates your menus, packages and existing bookings, and training is included, so you never start from an empty system.
What if guests will not use an online form?
Guests just click a personalised link or scan a QR code; there is no login or app. Hosts can submit choices for their guests, and the venue can enter details directly for anyone who cannot. Creventa runs events at the Royal Opera House, where the average attendee is in their late 70s.
Sources and last reviewed
Competitor details on this page are based on each provider’s public website and marketing materials, last reviewed July 2026. If anything is out of date, let us know and we will correct it. Creventa results such as wet-spend uplift, time saved and reduced food waste are typical outcomes reported by customers and vary by venue and event.
Competitor details on this page are based on each provider's public website and marketing materials, last reviewed July 2026. If anything is out of date, let us know and we will correct it. Creventa results such as wet-spend uplift, time saved and reduced food waste are typical outcomes reported by customers and vary by venue and event.