The problem
A village hall or community center lives on hire income, but the booking secretary is usually a volunteer with a paper diary. Answering 40 hire inquiries a month by phone and email at about 10 minutes each (checking the diary, replying, confirming) takes 400 minutes, nearly 7 hours a month, and a double-booked Saturday upsets two hirers at once.
What the AI does
Hallmaster is a UK booking system for halls and community venues. Its site says it puts a real-time availability calendar on your website, lets hirers make a booking request directly from the calendar (if enabled) or take provisional bookings 24 hours a day, which you then confirm, and checks for clashes so rooms aren't double booked. Confirmations go out as pre-formatted emails, regular hirers and their bookings are managed in one place, and reports show booking patterns and occupancy for the trustees. Rooms are unlimited on every plan.
A worked example
A village hall in Shropshire with a main hall, a committee room and a kitchen takes about 40 hire inquiries a month for parties, classes and meetings. The booking secretary is a retired volunteer.
Before
About 400 minutes a month on inquiries and the paper diary: 6.7 hours
After
About 3 minutes per request to check and confirm: 120 minutes, 2 hours
What it's worth
About $93£70€83A$134C$132 a month in volunteer time saved, against about $21£16€19A$31C$30 for Hallmaster. 4.7 hours a month saved (6.7 minus 2), valued at an assumed $20£15€18A$29C$28 an hour; this is time freed for the volunteer, not cash. The Booking System Only plan is $259£195€232A$374C$367 a year including VAT (about $21£16€19A$31C$30 a month), with a 90-day free trial.
How to set it up
- Start Hallmaster's 90-day free trial and set up each room with its hire rates and opening hours.
- Enter all existing bookings from the paper diary, including regular weekly hirers.
- Add the availability calendar to your website and decide whether hirers can request bookings from it or must ring first.
- Write your confirmation email to include the hire conditions, access arrangements and who to call on the day.
- Run the paper diary alongside for a month, then retire it.
What goes wrong
- The calendar is only right if every booking goes into Hallmaster, including ones taken by phone or at the door.
- Provisional bookings and requests still need a person to confirm them; check them at least every couple of days.
- Hire agreements, insurance checks and licensing conditions (alcohol, music) are separate from the booking itself.
- Invoicing is a separate, dearer plan ($371£279€332A$536C$525 a year); this plan only handles bookings.