Venue Bookings Manager

Venue Bookings Manager

Location: New Road, Worcester
Salary: Circa £30,000 per annum, depending on experience
Contract: Permanent, full-time
Reports to: Head of Hospitality
Line management responsibility: Venue Sales Executive

About the Role

Worcestershire County Cricket Club is seeking an exceptionally organised, personable and commercially aware Venue Bookings Manager to take ownership of all inbound venue enquiries and confirmed event bookings at New Road.

The Venue Bookings Manager will oversee the complete booking journey, from the moment an enquiry is received through to confirmation, detailed event planning and operational handover.

The successful candidate will ensure that every enquiry is responded to promptly, every opportunity is professionally managed and every confirmed booking is accurately coordinated.

This is not an outbound business-development role. Outbound sales and new-business prospecting will be undertaken elsewhere within the commercial team. However, the Venue Bookings Manager will be responsible for converting inbound opportunities, maximising the value of each booking and delivering an excellent client experience.

The role will also manage and develop the Venue Sales Executive, ensuring that the team maintains consistently high standards of responsiveness, organisation, accuracy and customer service.

Bookings will include conferences, meetings, training days, private celebrations, awards evenings, dinners, weddings, wakes, Christmas parties and other corporate and social events.

Key Responsibilities

Inbound Enquiry Management

• Take overall responsibility for all inbound venue enquiries received by telephone, email, website, referral and third-party platforms.
• Ensure every enquiry is acknowledged promptly and managed professionally.
• Establish a clear understanding of each client’s requirements, budget, timings and event objectives.
• Recommend the most appropriate rooms, packages, catering options and additional services.
• Prepare accurate, professional and commercially appropriate proposals and quotations.
• Conduct venue show-rounds and client meetings.
• Maintain regular contact with prospective clients and ensure all outstanding enquiries are followed up.
• Convert suitable inbound enquiries into confirmed bookings.
• Clearly record the reasons for enquiries that do not convert.
• Ensure all enquiries and client communications are accurately recorded within the Club’s systems.
  

Booking Management and Coordination

• Take ownership of all confirmed venue bookings from initial confirmation through to operational handover.
• Ensure contracts, deposits, payment schedules and terms and conditions are completed correctly.
• Maintain an accurate and up-to-date venue diary.
• Prevent booking conflicts and ensure spaces are allocated appropriately.
• Coordinate all event requirements with clients, including:
• Event timings
• Room layouts
• Delegate and guest numbers
• Catering and refreshments
• Dietary and allergen requirements
• Audio-visual equipment
• Signage and branding
• Accessibility requirements
• Security, parking and access arrangements
• Ensure all booking amendments are recorded and communicated promptly.
• Produce complete, accurate and timely function sheets or event orders.
• Confirm final details with clients within agreed deadlines.
• Ensure no promises are made to clients without confirming that they are operationally achievable.
• Maintain clear ownership of the client relationship throughout the booking process.
  

Operational Handover

• Work closely with hospitality, catering, facilities, finance, security and event operations colleagues.
• Provide each department with accurate and timely information for every event.
• Lead or participate in regular event-planning and operational handover meetings.
• Highlight unusual requirements, risks or potential delivery issues in advance.
• Resolve any gaps or inconsistencies before event information is handed over.
• Ensure all teams are working from the latest confirmed version of the booking details.
• Remain available to answer booking-related queries before each event.
• Review any operational issues after an event and improve future processes accordingly.
  

Commercial Responsibility

• Maximise the value of each inbound enquiry while maintaining an excellent customer experience.
• Identify appropriate opportunities to upsell:
• Catering and refreshments
• Room upgrades
• Equipment and technical services
• Additional event spaces
• Drinks packages
• Accommodation partnerships
• Follow-on events
• Work within agreed pricing, discount and commercial parameters.
• Protect venue profitability and avoid unnecessary complimentary additions.
• Monitor booking values, room utilisation and forward revenue.
• Support the development of packages and offers based on patterns within inbound demand.
• Work constructively with colleagues responsible for outbound sales and marketing campaigns.
• Receive qualified opportunities generated through outbound activity and manage them through the booking process.
• Provide feedback to the wider commercial team on demand, client objections, lost business and market trends.
  

Team Management

• Provide day-to-day management and support to the Venue Sales Executive.
• Allocate enquiries and booking responsibilities appropriately.
• Set clear expectations for:
• Enquiry response times
• Client follow-up
• Booking accuracy
• Customer service
• System and CRM updates
• Review the quality and accuracy of proposals, quotations and booking documentation.
• Hold regular one-to-one meetings and provide coaching and feedback.
• Monitor performance against agreed objectives and service standards.
• Support the Venue Sales Executive’s professional development.
• Maintain appropriate team cover during holidays, absences and busy periods.
• Build a positive, collaborative and accountable team culture.
  

Administration and Reporting

• Ensure the venue diary, CRM and booking systems are complete and accurate.
• Maintain records of proposals, contracts, deposits, payments and outstanding actions.
• Monitor and report on:
• Enquiry volumes
• Response times
• Conversion rates
• Confirmed revenue
• Average booking value
• Lead sources
• Lost-business reasons
• Forward-booking levels
• Repeat business
• Provide accurate weekly and monthly revenue forecasts.
• Ensure booking information provided to finance is correct and complete.
• Maintain organised and auditable client and event records.
• Manage client data in accordance with data-protection requirements.
• Continually improve booking templates, systems and internal processes.
  

Customer Experience

• Act as a professional and welcoming ambassador for Worcestershire County Cricket Club and New Road.
• Build positive relationships with corporate clients, event organisers and private bookers.
• Provide a personal, responsive and reliable service.
• Manage client expectations clearly throughout the booking journey.
• Respond quickly and professionally to client questions or concerns.
• Complete post-event follow-up and obtain feedback.
• Identify opportunities for repeat bookings and referrals.
• Ensure clients feel confident that their event is being managed carefully and professionally.

What Success Looks Like

Success means that every inbound enquiry is managed promptly, every suitable opportunity is followed up and converted, and every confirmed event is coordinated accurately.

Clients should feel informed and looked after throughout the booking process, while operational colleagues should receive complete, timely and reliable information.

The Venue Bookings Manager will be known as the person who owns the venue diary, understands the detail of every booking and ensures that nothing is missed.

The closing date for this role is 10th August 2026.

Essential Experience

• Experience in venue bookings, conference and events sales, hospitality sales, event coordination or a comparable customer-facing role.
• Experience managing multiple enquiries and bookings simultaneously.
• Experience preparing quotations, proposals, contracts or event documentation.
• Experience using a CRM, booking system or venue-management platform.
• Experience coordinating requirements across several internal departments.
• Previous experience supervising, coaching or managing another employee.
  

Essential Skills and Attributes

• Exceptionally organised and able to manage a busy and varied workload.
• Outstanding attention to detail.
• Personable, welcoming and confident when dealing with clients.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Commercially aware, with the confidence to convert and maximise inbound opportunities.
• Proactive and comfortable taking ownership from start to finish.
• Calm and solutions-focused when details change.
• Able to prioritise effectively and meet multiple deadlines.
• Strong diary-management and administrative skills.
• Able to produce accurate and detailed event documentation.
• Comfortable working with revenue targets, forecasts and performance measures.
• Able to manage and develop a Venue Sales Executive.
• Collaborative and able to build positive relationships across departments.
• Proficient in Microsoft Outlook, Word and Excel.
  

Desirable Experience

• Experience within a sporting venue, conference venue, hotel, visitor attraction or events business.
• Experience producing detailed function sheets or event orders.
• Knowledge of conference and events catering.
• Experience managing corporate meetings, conferences, private functions or Christmas parties.
• Understanding of deposits, payment schedules, minimum spends and event profitability.
• Experience working closely with hospitality and operational delivery teams.
  

Key Performance Indicators

Performance within the role will be measured against:

• Accuracy of the venue diary and booking systems.
• Inbound enquiry response times.
• Enquiry-to-booking conversion rate.
• Confirmed venue revenue against budget.
• Average booking value.
• Appropriate upselling of services.
• Accuracy and timeliness of event documentation.
• Number of preventable booking errors or missed requirements.
• Quality and timeliness of operational handovers.
• Client satisfaction and post-event feedback.
• Repeat and referred bookings.
• Accuracy of revenue forecasting.
• Performance and development of the Venue Sales Executive.
  

The role will not be measured against outbound call volumes, prospecting activity or the generation of cold new-business leads.

Working Requirements

The role will be primarily office-based at New Road, Worcester.

Some flexibility will be required to conduct show-rounds, attend important client meetings and support selected events during occasional evenings or weekends.

This is not principally an event-operations role. However, the Venue Bookings Manager must understand how decisions made during the booking process affect the successful operational delivery of an event.

This is a full time role working 40 hours per week over 5 days. You may be required to work very occasional evenings and weekends during the Cricket season.

The salary for this role is £30,000 FTE (based on 40 hours).

Our benefits:

·        Contributory pension scheme, paid via salary sacrifice

·        Death in Service cover at four times your annual salary.

·        Free city centre parking at Premier Inn car park

·        Paid time off at Christmas

·        Free gym membership at Nuffield Health

·        Your birthday off each year or a celebration day of your choosing

·        Access to Pears Rewards

·        Access to WeCare Employee Support Services and EAP

·        Complimentary match tickets for family & friends.