Tripleseat Reviews

Pros

What is not to love? It has every feature and function that I need to keep me organized. We have over 200 weddings and events per year in a multi-million dollar waterfront restaurant, and Tripleseat is basically my right arm. I use it for everything from its calendar, creating BEOs and contracts for the clients, food and beverage cost management, etc. I also have demo'd similar products and have chosen to stay with Tripleseat because they have everything I need, and even things I didn't know I needed!

Cons

There really aren't any cons to list here - anytime I have needed something, I just talk to their customer service team and they explain where it is, or add it for me. For instance, I wanted better reporting on lead sources and where the business was coming from, and they added a custom report for me the next day!

Pros

Use of templates and ease of data transferring within system, reports, etc.
Customer service is on point!
'live' edits

Cons

Not being able to change titles of some items.
Being more in line for full service and not catering how we do.
Not being able to save locations for deliveries with notes.
Having to export items to excel to get reports
Not having a 'product mix' report of menu items

Pros

Our clients love how professional Gather looks. We get a lot of compliments, from clients, on how easy it is to use.

Cons

Unfortunately there are just so many issues... We're an off site catering company and it appears that this product is more of an "in-house" program for on site/private dining... They knew this when they sold us the program and should have realized they were not for us...

Most important was the fact that our invoices weren't adding up correctly; had we not manually added them up we would be out of thousands of dollars. There is no where for our clients to confirm their contact info (phone, address), not efficient when booking a high volume of events. The zip codes for our clients, on the BEOs, default to our zip code; so we have to go in and manually write the client's zip code on every BEO so that our delivery drivers don't get lost.... We've spoken to them several times and yet no one can seem to correct a zip code. There is no way to enlarge the font, when doing several events it's hard for kitchen staff to see the menus.

The support team is very polite but can't ever really answer a question. They respond with "we'll mention this at our next meeting"...

Pros

As an event team of one, I find Tripleseat to be comprehensive and easy to use. Tripleseat is absolutely critical to my success and efficiency as an event manager. The lead, event, and calendar features are all functions I use countless times a day. I love the ability to import email response templates and BEO templates. Customer service is super friendly and fast.

Cons

Tripleseat has some weird quirks that I feel like should be easy to fix when suggested. There is a lag time when entering a new client who you'd like to add to an account which really slows down my work flow to have to wait for. You can only have one client on a lead, so if you are communicating with a couple or both parents of the groom, you can only communicate with one email address. It is hard for clients to tell who is on the thread. I would say the email function is one of the weakest. There have been other feature upgrades that seem like common sense/basic requests to me that Tripleseat has not been able to accomodate.

Pros

I love using Gather for the ease of everything from creating contacts to confirming final guest counts.

Cons

My only complaint about Gather is the inevitable few and far between glitches with occasional product updates. The issues are always resolved quickly, and the customer service is top-notch!

Pros

I love the ease of use and the time it has saved me! More time, more events, more money!

Cons

There is not one thing I don't like...honestly!

Alternatives Considered

Caterease

Reasons for Switching to Tripleseat

The functionality of the software for our everyday event planning needs. Everything we did for an event (contracts, budget planning, internal and external communication, etc.) was in one place!

Pros

The Event Portal is so easy use and customize. Clients are always impressed by the professional, easy to read format and the Gather support team is always on their A game!

Cons

I work mainly with the desktop version so if I had to say there was a con, it’d be with the limitations of the mobile app.

Alternatives Considered

Caterease

Reasons for Switching to Tripleseat

Ease of use and ability to customize based on our brand.

Pros

The calendar, daily updates, and ability to customize anything is amazing.

Cons

It's a lot of work to get all your documents set up just the way you want them. But once you figure it out it goes quickly. The support team is fast and can solve any problem. Sometimes they'll do the work for you.

Wish it handled vendors better and had a way to schedule musical acts within an event. You can make it work, but it's clunky.

Alternatives Considered

ScheduFlow

Reasons for Switching to Tripleseat

The support staff and the ability to customize every little detail.

Pros

This software is super user-friendly and is quick and easy for booking events from beginning to finish in one sitting.

Cons

When doing updates it does tend to time out and freeze but Gather reps always send out emails explaining what is going on which is always a great communicator!

Pros

Its very easily navigable, well-organized, great customer service. You can tell this was created by people in the events industry, it truly saves time wasted on forms, housekeeping items, and allows that time to be used to create more sales. The customer service is quick and I have noticed they truly take suggestions into consideration when bettering the product.

Cons

It still will put emails in clients junk folders, I let clients know this but it definitely creates room for missed sales.

Pros

We are a restaurant with a huge catering business and this software was designed for an on site caterer with event rooms versus everything being off site like our business model. I am looking forward to the modifications in the future that close the gap on the two concepts better. It has made proposal writing a dream! I love that everything is live across the entire booking with a click of the mouse. The customer service is unbelievable! Everyone is always so pleasant & receptive with all of my questions, comments, concerns & suggestions. The mobile app is great and we want to use it more but the team communication alert email doesn't function on mobile which renders it useless to our team. The reporting seems to constantly improving but we can not connect it to our system so we do not currently use it but I look forward to a day when we can. I absolutely love all of the filtering throughout the entire program and how there are multiple ways to find a previous booking. The calendar is my favorite view and I am looking forward to beginning to use the task function shortly. I have created many many menu templates which is superb but would like to copy one from an actual booking as well. Overall, I completely understand that this is meant for more formal venue catering so I am just grateful that I am able to utilize it at the level that I can for corporate/off site catering. It is so quick & easy and I just cant believe how effective it is to update for a client. Great job!

Cons

The biggest issue with Gather for us is that it does not report to our inventory/reporting system. We have to manually ring everything into our Revel POS system in order to capture an accurate product mix. Basically this means that this software is really only for me to create the proposal and our comptroller must recreate everything in another program. Huge waste of time but a necessary evil for me to have this valuable tool to do my job. I wish that there were more templates for multiple sections including but not limited to the notes sections. I find myself copy & pasting my own words dozens of times a day. I would like to see the lead be able to be customized because I have to ask a set series of additional questions before I may even begin a proposal. It would be really helpful to copy & paste emails into the message section to be able to assure an accurate add. I think that it is important to add a confirmation to the client that their CC info has been added correctly. I get MULTIPLE emails a week asking if we are all set since they do not get a confirmation. Please finalize the condensed versions that you have been toying with. Please go back to the notification to COMPLETE the gratuity, 50% miss it. Lastly, add the onsite contact info to the CHEF BEO. We use that version for the driver because it is a cleaner version to pack the van with. The regular BEO is only sent to the client with the proposal because it has too much going on for the delivery pack list. Thanks!

Pros

I'm not at all a pro but so the ease of use is very important. The software was not designed originaly for my type of use, I'm a movie theater with special events. However it has been curved to be able to offer me everything I require to keep track of my special events. The calendar is esential for the number of events we have as each new movie release generates a new special event be it birthday parties or receptions and sometimes just a movie only seat reservation. Each style has to be noted and written up using the software to outline for each department in the Theater. The ability to arrange the many buckets we use to otline an event form the original set-up, as our understanding of the software increases is great.

Cons

Having to update each time changes are made to see how it will look onl the BEO is a little challenging. Then to view any changes I have to open up the BEO to see how it looks/fits etc. It would be nice to have a real time view/function of some sort to be able to see what someting looks like without having to udate first.

Pros

It is extremely easy to use and saves me time! I love everything about gather! Reporting is easy to generate, message templates cut down my work time, the online cc and event agreement make it easy for my team to reference and of course the Gather team is always friendly, helpful and has become an extension of my own team.

Cons

Honestly I do not have any complaints about the software maybe that I didn't use it sooner. I would like if they partnered with OpenTable, but I believe they are working on that.

Pros

Setting up and working with events and groups is simple and intuitive. Tripleseat ahs many options, so everything can be done within the software.

Cons

Tripleseat acquired Gather, our previous event software, and the price went up substantially. Tripleseat is competitive with other software's pricing, but Gather was a bargain.

Pros

I love Gather's tools for automated guest messaging, customizing menus and terms, and lead management.

Cons

Upgrades that seem like they should be obvious/easy are not quickly addressed. For example, I cannot assign an existing contact to a new lead, rather I have to re-enter the client's information each time. Small features like that can make a big difference in day-to-day management, and should be more of a priority. The email tool also needs some work. You cannot save a draft or reply to a message without creating a new thread. Also, the way that email addresses show up to clients is cumbersome. They should work on a solution to mask the @gather system display and instead show my actual email address (clients see the system email address and get nervous that they're message won't reach me). There is also a lot of room for improvement in terms of approval (e.g. being able to get separate approvals of terms and menus, rather than just one overall approval), and for resources for complex and offsite events (e.g. adding pack lists and timelines).

Pros

Tripleseat is very user friendly and intuitive. It's easy to teach yourself and customize settings to what you need. I run the events for 3 restaurants and can customize what I need for each restaurant

Cons

There are glitches that when I've brought them up to customer support have been brushed off. For example: the emails from tripleseat tend to get blocked by company's firewalls or go to trash. It happens very often with my finance clients. When I've brought this up, customer support has just said to tell the client to check their junk folder but I can't really keep telling the Directors of Private Dining for major banking companies the problem is on their end so I end up not using tripleseat when booking my finance clients which is most of our revenue.

Pros

It is easily accessible and great if we need to work from home. Leads are captured for us to respond and sorted accordingly. The calendar for event planning is critical for us to see and use to rent our event spaces.

Cons

I would love if there was an app for it on the phone instead of having to go on a site. When multiple members are booking potential leads, If there was a way to block spaces better besides using the hold mark on the calendar as that does not guarantee a proper blockage sometimes (for example if it can note the space is currently being blocked as multiple users are trying to block the space at the same time that would be great) Also putting potential events on our calendar does require multiple steps with a lot of info -if this could be more compact, that would save time in booking during high demand.

Pros

The overall ability to communicate clearly to Clients as well as staff, and having the software compatible with the newest tech (I get notifications on my phone and watch). Proposals to clients look professional and are easy for just about anyone to utilize. Putting proposals together now take minutes instead of hours.

Cons

I honestly have nothing negative to say about any aspect of Gather.

Pros

Nothing. I truly can not thing of a single thing that I like about Gather. It is such a disappointment.

Cons

The list...
The software does not allow you to send a contract separate from a BEO.
The guest portal that the client sees is difficult to navigate and looks really basic.
When putting together the BEO is much more complicated than it needs to be.
The chef BEO includes the bar information which is unnecessary and can be confusing. According to everyone I've spoke with this is unavoidable and there is nothing they can do about it.
The look/layout of your BEO's and contracts is not customizable.
You can not start a new booking from the "Day" view of the calendar only on the "Month" view.
You can not customize your lead form. So you can not ask potential customers pertinent information to better help guide them to the right space/event info.
Reports do not seem to be customizable. If you want to make a report that shows only certain details that is not possible. You can only use their pre made crappy ones.

Pros

It really helps me and my team stay organized and better work together. Since transitioning to Tripleseat, all members of the team can work on each event instead of us each working in our own bubble. Events are more thorough, cohesive and guests get better attention. The tasks in the system are the best "task management" tool I've come across.

Cons

It sometimes feels that the help desk doesn't listen to you when you're trying to voice a complaint/error. They're quick to blame you or your other software before they even try to understand the issue and almost refuse to get on the phone with you.

Pros

I like the aesthetic of the software and that the Gather team seems to always be working on ways to improve the product.

Cons

I wish that the Task feature functioned more like an alert where some kind of reminder for deadlines would pop up, not only on the page for that particular event, but on the home page and calendar page. If the task feature were a bit more developed then I would be able to stop using Pipedrive altogether. It would also be AWESOME if Gather were integrated with OpenTable or another reservations software system.

I also wish there were more color coding options for different categories of events and phases they're in, such as a color for offsite events, or a color for an event that is confirmed but maybe still has a few details to finalize.

It would also be fantastic if clients could complete their credit card authorization form directly on the Gather Proposal Page so that they do not have to email credit card information or relay it over the phone.

Pros

This software is SUPER user friendly. I have used it my past couple positions because of how easy it is for not only my position, but anyone else who needs to look into any of the event details.

I also like the unlimited viewer side of things. Communication is key and if everyone can have access to all details of the event, it makes it much easier.

All of my clients find it easy to use as they can view all of their details on their BEO, and sign off on everything electronically.

Being able to jump on the app is very helpful. If I am not at my desk or in the office, I am able to pull up any details anywhere.

Cons

I don't like that you are not able to edit a few forms that are already in Gather. We work with it, but it causes a bit more work on my end.

Pros

Ease of use. Customer satisfaction. I like that I can use on my phone or tablet. It's a great tool and you can bring it anywhere - client meetings, etc.

Cons

Sometimes there is a glitch in the system or running slow

Pros

The best feature in Tripleseat is the ability to make a change once, to multiple documents. This saves so much time and energy! I love the ability to completely customize the program itself, too. Reporting has never been easier. Simply select what you want to see, then generate. Their helpdesk staff are incredible as well--very speedy and informative. Overall, could not do my job without this software system!

Cons

The only downside is not being able to print calendars. I do understand the reason though--Tripleseat is meant to be current and up-to-date at all times. Once you print the calendar it is no longer accurate, essentially. However, there is still a need for printed calendars in my job.

Pros

Gather is easy to navigate and user-friendly! It is aesthetically pleasing and organized, which is an event planner's dream! I love the way you can quickly view your monthly calendar to see what is tentative, open, or closed. This is especially useful when guests call in asking about availability. I recommend downloading the app to have your events at your fingertips no matter where you are!

Cons

I do not like the fact that you cannot "select multiple" when it comes to archiving leads. If my Event Manager and I get busy, it is time consuming to go back and archive each lead one by one that we no longer need to see. Especially because sometimes when you archive them, they still show up in your current leads. You have to go back in to "edit lead" and "save lead" in order for the archive to register. Also, sometimes when attaching documents, the screen goes green and freezes. You have to just click all over the screen in order to make it go away and finish your message.