Salon: Event venue booking marketplace

The idea

Salon connects event organizers with venue owners and managers. Organizers find a venue, talk to the venue’s team and send a booking request. Booking an event space is not like buying a product. Before saying yes, the venue needs the event details, such as the type of event and the number of guests. Events can be planned months ahead, and both sides need a clear agreement.

What we built

We did not build the marketplace from scratch. Sharetribe handles users and listings, as well as messages and transactions, and we added what Salon’s business model needed: one connected process from choosing a venue to a completed booking.

• Booking with venue approval Organizers send a request with the event details, and the venue accepts or declines it before any payment is taken. Requests and payments have deadlines, and bookings can be canceled.
• Split payments for events further ahead For an event further in the future, the organizer first pays Salon's service fee, and the venue rental is paid closer to the event. For an event coming up soon, the full amount is paid at once.
• Digital agreement approval The platform creates an event space agreement as a PDF from the details of the booking, the venue, and both parties, including the venue's rules. Both sides review and approve it on the platform.
• Commission invoices for both sides Salon issues PDF commission invoices to organizers and to venues, with numbering and company details. Only the parties to a booking can download them.
• Reminders and a clear status Organizers get reminders before the remaining payment is due. Both sides see where the booking stands, what has been paid and what comes next.
• Card and SEPA payments Payments run on Stripe and Stripe Connect, by card, or by SEPA Direct Debit, including bank payments that are confirmed later.

The result

The platform works the way organizers and venues work together: the venue approves the request first, and payment follows a schedule that fits the event date. The platform also prepares the agreement, the invoices, and the reminders. We adapted the payment schedule to event bookings, so Salon did not have to adapt to a standard checkout.

The team has worked with many Sharetribe projects already so they can think creatively with you and solve problems in a cost efficient and effective way. … They kept the schedule, were professional and all features work as expected. Most importantly the developments don't block you managing everything from the console so you remain independent after.

Tamas Egei Managing Director, Salon · Netherlands and Belgium