By Val, Director of Customer Success, North America West
Event Temple provides a powerful, flexible way to create and manage documents for every booking. In this masterclass, we’ll walk through the key steps and best practices for creating, customizing, and using documents effectively.
1. Prerequisites & Setup
You must have admin (or chain admin) permissions to create and edit document templates.
Before building templates, create a test booking with:
Account and contact
Events with rental / F&B / AV charges
A simple room block
This lets you preview how merge fields and chapters populate in real time.
2. Using Event Temple’s Starter Templates
Start from Event Temple’s built‑in templates (proposal, contract, BEO) instead of building from scratch.
You can see chain‑level templates (usable by multiple hotels) under the “Chain” view.
3. Merge Fields & Custom Fields
Merge fields can pull from: client, account, booking, user, organization, event, invoice, document, and room block.
Custom fields with a defined “merge field name” can also be used in documents (e.g., DJ name under booking).
Custom field types include: single/multi‑line text, number, checkbox, date, currency, pick list, user, and contact.
4. Images, Layout & Page Breaks
Use the “Image” chapter to add logos; “use organizational logo” pulls from Organization → General Settings so the same template auto‑brands per hotel.
Use columns to align hotel details and client details side‑by‑side in contracts.
Add page breaks strategically so printed documents don’t cut tables or clauses mid‑page.
5. Room Block Sections
The “Room Block” chapter can display:
Contracted / blocked / picked up
Subtotals / grand totals
Occupancy (single/double/triple/quad)
Vertical by date, if desired
Column labels (e.g., “Arrival Date” → “Check‑in Date”) can be renamed in the display options.
6. Events, Spaces & Menu Items
The “Events & Spaces” chapter can show date, time, event name, space, expected/guaranteed, event type, setup, and event custom fields (e.g., “cake”).
Menu items can be:
Grouped by event
Filtered by revenue category (e.g., show only room rental in a proposal)
Shown with subtotals, totals, and taxes as needed
Hiding certain categories lets you send a high‑level proposal (e.g., only rental, not full F&B breakdown).
7. Signatures, Due Dates, Pick Lists & Checklists
Each signature block is defined as either “client” or “vendor” (hotel); you cannot route one document to two different clients (e.g., bride & groom separately).
You can add a document due date merge field to clarify the deadline for signing.
Pick lists in contracts allow pre‑set choices (e.g., reservation type: call‑in vs. rooming list; cake by venue vs. couple) with custom descriptions.
Checklists can be used for simple yes/no operational items (e.g., bus parking needed / not needed).
8. Proposals vs Contracts vs BEOs
Many properties:
Send a proposal first (with or without signature)
Then send a contract once the client confirms
Or skip directly to a BEO in some workflows
Event Temple supports any of these patterns; decide at the organizational level.
Save finalized layouts as templates (e.g., “Hotel Proposal with DJ Information”, “Contract – Three Sister Mountain Hotel”).
9. Banquet Event Orders (BEOs)
BEOs typically include:
Property and client details
On‑site contact and event coordinator (using built‑in custom fields)
Timeline, itemized food, beverage, AV, and misc sections
Billing instructions and event notes
Signatures
For packages:
Enable “packages” in the menu chapter
Optionally hide package item pricing or hide items entirely, showing only package names and totals
Serving time can be configured per line item and displayed on the BEO, especially for items like coffee/tea service.
Event notes can be added at the event level (e.g., “extra table for DJ”) and pulled into the BEO’s notes section.
10. Multi‑Language Templates
Set a secondary language under General Settings (e.g., Spanish).
Use “Translations” to auto‑translate menus, packages, room types, spaces, and revenue categories; the system assists with translations.
Clone an existing template (e.g., BEO → “BEO – Spanish”). Menu and item names will use translated versions, while your own static text still needs manual translation.
11. Document Types, Filters & Guest Portal Visibility
Configure the document types relevant to your property; archive types you don’t use.
In the Documents list, filter by document type (e.g., only BEOs) and export them as a single combined PDF for internal teams like kitchen.
Control which document types are visible in the Guest Portal (e.g., show proposal & contract, hide BEOs from clients).
12. Handling Allergies
Option 1: Create a custom field at the event level (e.g., “Allergy”) for complex programs where attendance varies by event.
Option 2: Create a booking‑level allergy field if the same group and restrictions apply across the entire booking; then surface that field in your documents.
13. Limitations
You cannot automatically merge or combine two separate document templates; you must copy and paste chapters/text between them.