17 years helping Australian businesses
choose better software
Planning Pod
What Is Planning Pod?
Learn how our venue customers save 62+ hours every month and boost revenues with our online venue management software. Call 877-266-3885 for details. Planning Pod's all-in-one solution streamlines how you manage your events, bookings, clients, billings & room setups. Perfect for restaurants, hotels, meeting/event centers, reception/wedding halls, golf clubs & wineries. 20+ tools for managing calendars, appointments, leads, proposals, contracts, BEOs, F&B orders, invoices, payments & floorplans.
Who Uses Planning Pod?
We serve multiple vertical markets in the events industry, including event venues and facilities, event management firms, non-profits, schools/universities and corporate event/meeting planners.
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Planning Pod
Reviews of Planning Pod
Best value for the most features
Pros:
Clean layout, easy to navigate. My staff likes it, but my clients will not use the features available to them because it is too confusing/complicated. Compared to other similar programs, I feel it has the most to offer for my staff's needs.
Cons:
Flexibility of PDF reports, on-screen reports, and customization. Also the calendar sync does not work properly, which makes it useless for scheduling appointments.
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks for your feedback, Heather. We do offer quite a few tools for all the aspects of managing events, but you can always limit the tools your clients see so that it's not so overwhelming for them. Also, we have recently enhanced all our PDF reports and dashboards. And I checked the electronic calendar syncing feature in your account and it is working fine now, so please let us know if you still have an issue with it.
Alternatives Considered:
THE solution for your FOOD TRUCK catering!
Pros:
The software is incredibly moldable to any caterers needs. As we are a wood fired pizza caterer, we bring our food truck on site to cook, but serve buffet style. Along with this, we have bartenders, servers, and other vendors to connect with on most any event. Being able to customize BEO's to each vendors needs is incredible. Being able to have everyone in one place is incredible. Being able to have all communications between multiple parties/family members/vendors all be linked to the one event they regard is timesaving! Being able to automate our reservation & final check in process is how we were able to DOUBLE OUR VOLUME this year. HANDS DOWN THE BEST!
Cons:
I have zero complaints. This product is fantastic. Even their customer support rocks!
The struggle is real!
Comments: Negative. The customer service reps seem to not know the platform very well, or will answer questions and tell you that you can or can not do something but forget to tell you what steps to take to do it, lastly the chat customer service reps will not provide any help to get you through the modules and tell you that you need to watch the videos and take the test or that you should email with any questions that you have.
Pros:
I like the ability to be able to have a platform to work from for each individual event and connect templates and forms to individual events.
Cons:
There are sooo many glitches that I couldn't actually get much work done because of the huge learning curve. There are pre-made templates that I was told would be able to be erased after I signed up and then after signing up for a paid membership was told that I would not be able to delete these pre-made templates. Under the invoices section, there is no clear way to delete an amount or invoice. Every time I send an email from the system it populates in my main planning pod "inbox" as a new email. I would love to be able to watch a module on this and the other issues that I'm dealing with but in order to learn anything through the academy videos you must watch the videos in the order they have set up and answer test with a score of 100% before you can move to the next module. This means if you don't need one of the features of the system and don't need to learn about it, you will still have to watch the video and take a test in order to get to the information that you do need to learn about.
Planning Pod Response
2 years ago
We're sorry to hear your experience did not meet your expectations. Below we address your concerns: -We have not experienced any system issues/glitches -The email templates allow you to customize automated communications; they are required for notifications to work -The CRM tool will not replace your external email inbox. -Planning Pod Academy lays the groundwork for successful use of our platform; you were enrolled at your request, and the answers needed to pass knowledge checks are in the videos/text of each module and our Help Center. Chatting and insisting that our agents answer each question in the Academy course so you can bypass the learning modules defeats the very purpose of the learning process. -All of your support inquiries were answered promptly/accurately, including links to resources. -Our staff is knowledgeable about all functionality; you can always expect to competently assisted by an expert. We recognize we are not a fit for everyone and wish you the best!
Alternatives Considered:
The Lifeline of Our Business
Comments: We are so glad we stumbled upon this software when we did. I have used Dubsado, Honeybook, TripleSeat and done demos with a few others and none compare to Planning Pod. It had everything our organization was looking for- integrated invoices, proposals, calendar (syncs with Google), lead forms (integrates to our website), questionnaires and floor plans. We eliminated 3 other softwares we were using and streamlined it all into one. Our team uses it everyday and it is the lifeline of our business. The aesthetically pleasing BEO's, floor plans and timelines are printed and hung up on our bulletin board for every event! We are so glad this product exists!
Pros:
It is very user friendly and the onboarding was quick and easy. The support team at Planning Pod is quick to respond and friendly. We loved the communications feature that wasn't available on other platforms as well as the ability to use with multiple team members. The invoice feature is great as well as proposals. The floor plan feature is a game changer!
Cons:
I wish I would've found it sooner and didn't have to switch from my other software.
Planning Pod Review
Pros:
I like the proposal and invoice features the best.
Cons:
Planning pod doesn’t have a great floor building element.
Good, easy-to-use and practical planning tool
Comments: I use it to mostly manage my client's budget and timelines. There are many other features that I don't regularly use because I use other tools or processes, but it works well for those items and I'm on it frequently.
Pros:
I like that the owners are always trying to make upgrades to the software and they seem to genuinely listen to customer feedback on what we want to see. It's well priced and easy to use.
Cons:
The wedding websites available to the clients aren't up to par with what is available in the industry. Same with the floor plan tool. It would be wonderful to only have to use one platform, but at the same time, it's priced appropriately that the tools you receive are good / on point with what you are paying for.
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks for your review. We are currently collecting feedback on our Floorplans tool with plans to make major updates to it in 2018, so please let us know if you have any specific features you would like to see enhanced. We also recently added an Inspiration/Vision Board tool for collaborating visually with team members and clients. As for the event webpage tool, it is focused more on RSVP/registration collection, which is why it may not have the design capabilities of other tools like Wix. But I appreciate the feedback and we will be making updates to that tool later in 2018.
Planning Pod is some great features, some not-so-great features
Comments: I learned to focus on budgeting and invoicing because of Planning Pod.
Pros:
Planning Pod makes it pretty easy to create an event budget and create invoices for each event. I also like the way you can store and manipulate contact information.
Cons:
It is frustrating that you can't link the invoices to the budget. I'd like to show to see invoices that get paid correspond and show up in the budget area. It's also frustrating that I can't store receipts, etc. in the budget, e.g. there's no upload feature. It would be great to upload a document related to an expense, or a paid-in-full invoice. It's also frustrating that I can't add pages to the invoices. Sometimes I want to show certain information about the invoice that can't be recorded in the system as-is. But if I was able to add pages, it would make it even easier to send the invoices directly out from my Planning Pod account.
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thank you for your input, Leah. To be honest, our system isn't set up to do full accounting, which is what you are describing here (as our Budget tool is meant for budgeting and not bookkeeping/accounting). However, we will be integrating with Quickbooks and Xero in Q2 2018 so you can sync your proposals and invoices in Planning Pod to a Quickbooks or Xero account. We are also adding the capability to add images and documents to invoices (like pass-through receipts) to display to customers or for your own use and tracking.
I used PlanningPod for client management, contracts, and invoices.
Pros:
Very easy to use platform with video tutorials. Great for organizing my client event details. They are always looking at ways to improve.
Cons:
Would love to be able to have tools for event design. The floor plan tool isn't the easiest to work with.
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks for your review. We are currently collecting feedback on our Floorplans tool with plans to make major updates to it in 2018, so please let us know if you have any specific features you would like to see enhanced. We also recently added an Inspiration/Vision Board tool for collaborating visually with team members and clients.
I run my business with Planning Pod
Comments: Professional invoicing and contracts w/ online signatures, floor plans, generate to-do templates for each event I plan/design that sends reminders to my clients, database for vendors/contacts
Pros:
This app is iPad, Android and laptop friendly, so I can easily access information anywhere with whichever device I happen to be using.
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks for your feedback, Nicole!
Manage everything in one place.
Pros:
I could easily manage my multiple events, send emails and notes to clients, create timelines and share them with my team all with just a few clicks.
Cons:
They should create an app for smartphones or at least a more user friendly mobile website. Just a tad pricey compared to other options.
Planning Pod has changed the way our venue manages events!
Comments: This program has been a much needed addition to our organization. I did the research and trial runs with other software programs and there was never a question that I chose the right one! Customer support is second to none and the program is consistently rolling out updates that improve the end user experience.
Pros:
Planning Pod helped bring all the aspects of event management together in one easy to use program! I am able to work on multiple events simultaneously and keep track of all communication from start to finish. This one program replaced the 4-5 programs we had been using to manage our venue and I will never look back!
Cons:
The only con I have found with the program is with the credit card processing and that change occurred when the processing company we used initially was no longer available. We used to have the ability to check a box and have the credit card fee added to an invoice as a line item and that made it easier to pass that cost on to the client as we are a non-profit organization.
Transformed Our Back Office Operation
Comments: Planning Pod has given us a more professional way to take our clients through the booking process and saved us time and effort in doing it.
Pros:
For us the biggest impact has been on our contracting and billing process. Before Planning Pod everything was a manual process with handwritten signatures, scanning and emailing contracts back and forth, and no easy way to generate payment reminders and issue invoices. With Planning Pod the process is much more streamlined for us and for our clients.
Cons:
I would like to see some enhancements to the floorplan tool.
Game Changer
Comments: It has been a game changer for us. The first few training sessions were not quite enough for us but they are more than willing to take some time for us to learn more. They are very receptive to us and fix/change things that we told them would be useful to us on the platform. They have no problems getting things onto the platform and even changing code for something as simple as font sizes on event orders. Really great company to work with, they are a partner in our success.
Pros:
Automatic payment and communication features. Integration with calendars. Lead management.
Cons:
Searching for things within the system could use some more work.
I use PP to keep all my weddings in one place. It's an efficient tool to use in tracking my clients
Comments: My client info was everywhere, some in Google docs, some in excel...just everywhere. Now everything is in one place which has helped me organize and be a little more efficient.
Pros:
The timeline feature and the ability to customize a few things. I enjoy the fact that my clients can collaborate with me on their events and manage their task lists on their own. The planning pod team is very responsive to ideas from its users and that is a huge plys.
Cons:
It's easy for event planning use, but for weddings it has many features I don't use, such as ticket sales etc. It had also been nice to manage basic tasks specific to daily follow up on clients through the client contact area. I don't necessarily like that I have to utilize a task lust within the event to set a task if that makes sense. I want to go to one area that has all my clients in it, set my follow up tasks at one time for each client and then get an email reminder to do it.
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks for your feedback, Donna. You can add/view/manage tasks via the Calendar tool also if you don't want to manage them inside each event. We will be adding workflows in Q2 2018 so you can more easily set follow-ups and reminders for anything in your account.
Easy-to-use, cost-effective event management tool
Comments: It helps with signing people up for our events, tracking submitted information, processing payments from attendees and communicating information to attendees.
Pros:
Planning Pod is a very valuable tool for processing event registrations, RSVPs and payments. It also helps communicate information to event attendees. Planning Pod offers a lot of powerful features without the high prices that come with a lot of other event management software options. The customer support at Planning Pod is always very responsive to any questions or issues that pop up.
Cons:
While the event website component is very easy to use, I wish it had more flexibility to change fonts and font sizes and arrange text on the website in a custom way. There should also be a way to change attendee ticket status without having to call customer support. A little more flexibility in naming items would also be ideal. (e.g. - We "register" people for our big annual seminar - but had to "sell tickets" due to Planning Pod's set-up)
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks for your feedback, Lisa. I have added your input to our list of suggested features for future consideration. As for changing ticket status, if you are charging a fee for registrations, there is a 60-day period that you can change status or refund tickets on your end in the application. After that, you do need to contact us due to the requirements of the credit card payment processors that we work with. If you are not charging a fee, you can always void a free ticket anytime.
Almost perfect!
Comments: Planning pod keeps my business organized from almost every aspect.
Pros:
White glove customer support, Extremely user-friendly interface, professional industry templates, accept online payments, budget management, vendor management, CRM, workflows, to do's, checklists, proposals, contracts, worksheets, calendars, vision boards, client portals, floor plans, guest management and so much more.
Cons:
Pricing is a bit high for infrequent business owners and startups . . . For what I'm currently spending I want software features that are more competitive such as: more and better integrations, white labeling, custom domain, send messages through software from my email address, inventory management, e-commerce code for my website, quote generating form.
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks for your feedback, Theresa. We have recently added integrations with Salesforce, MailChimp, Google, Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive. In Q2 2018 we be adding integrations with QuickBooks, Xero and other online payment providers. And most of your other requests are on our build list for the coming months. As for our pricing, we try to be very competitive and we offer 30+ event management tools for as little as $0.63/day.
good
Pros:
I like that you can acess it anywhere. We run 200 event through Planning pod. it is a good software.
Cons:
When Planning Pod roll new thing out and there is no training. Would love to have a software rep to come out and do training. we could pay for it.
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks for your input, Eric. Our software is mostly self-serve, so we don't provide live training. However, when we launch new features or tools, we do add new articles to our Help Center as well as how-to videos that walk you through how to use the features. In addition, we can provide you with Web-based training for your users that is a small fee in addition to your monthly subscription. Just let me know if you are interested in that. Finally, I was surprised to see that you were not happy with our customer support, as I show that every ticket you have sent in we have responded within 1 business day (usually much quicker than that) and did our best to answer your questions. If you are having issues with how we support you or your team, please let us know and I will see that it is improved immediately. Thanks for being our customer :)
I've used Planning Pod since before it was called Planning Pod and I love it.
Pros:
I like the ease of use, it is dummy proof. I like that my other professionals and cliens can also use it for certain events and I love the built in floor plan.
Cons:
I don't like the contracts section, that part needs an update. I would like for my clients to "inital" different sections and right now that is not possible.
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks so much for your feedback, Veronica. We are currently working on an update to our contracts tool that will enable for initialing sections of the online contract prior to signature, and we will be adding additional features to that tool based on user input. Also, look for a new workflows tool in Q2 2018 for added flexiblity in the contracts tool.
The system is fairly easy to use. Could use a bit of refinement in aesthetic but works great overal
Comments: ease of use. helps me keep client's organized.
Pros:
great price, allows me to keep most everything in one place. I love the itinerary portion of the site my clients and vendors do too.
Cons:
is not integrated with some other systems. I have to use Honeybook to manage contracts because it's easier. AislePlanner is more robust and has a new feel that makes wedding client's gravitate toward it
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks for your feedback, Natalie. We are currently overhauling our contracts, invoices and proposals tools to incorporate feedback we have solicited from our users. We will be integrating with Quickbooks and Xero in Q2 2018 so you can integrate our proposals, invoicing and payments tools with those bookkeeping applications. We have also redesigned our interface and made it much more customizable so you can change the look for any audience.
Some of the features are a little clunky (budget update was not a good change, contract templates)
Pros:
Allows me to organize myself. I really like the itinerary feature and the invoicing feature. I liked the old budget tool a lot.
Cons:
The budget update is terrible. Not user friendly at all and is very confusing for me and my clients to see categories and line items. Frequently get red "caution" symbol- not always reliably saving when changes are made. Mobile is clunky.
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks for the feedback, Taylor. I'm sorry you are not happy with our recent updates to our Budgeting tool. We based our updates on comprehensive feedback we have collected from our users over the last 18 months. However, if you want to let me know what about the tools isn't working for you, I would happy to see if there's a solution to your issue. As for the red "saving" symbol, often that has to do with an intermittent Internet connection or a Web browser issue, but I would be happy to look into that for you. We also recently updated our mobile version to be a more fluid experience, so hopefully you find that more to your liking.
Thanks to Planning Pod, my planning service is extremely organized and savvy.
Pros:
Where I can plan, organize, schedule, collect payments in one tab. I am able to plan our client's entire event in planning pod, I schedule their monthly to dos, I interact with our team via planning pod. Our clients are able to enter and update their guests lists, work on the seating chart and create meal assignments. I am able to create, send and sign contracts along with our clients. I can collet current and schedule payments with a simple clicks. I love that I can create an event itinerary and include the list of creatives on the itinerary.
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks for your feedback, Marsha ... it is much appreciated :)
Great Tools for Wedding Planners
Comments: Planning Pod helped streamline a lot of my work into a single software. I really love how everything was in a single place. If your looking for a good, reliable wedding planning software, this is the one to choose!
Pros:
We used planning pod and it worked great! I really like how they were always willing to take suggestions from their users. The ability to take payments through the software also helped streamline everything. Their how to videos and articles really helped to explain how their features work. I really liked how I could store all contracts within the software itself. This helped me eliminate nearly all paper. Customer support was also always very helpful whenever I needed help. They always responded that same day!
Cons:
Nothing really, it was a fantastic system!
Great tool that everyone can use!
Pros:
Easy to use Accessible to the entire team East for the client One place to keep everything Invoicing in the system
Cons:
I don't like the merchant services company used to collect credit card payments I don't like the floor plan system I'm not crazy about the website option within the event function
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thank you for your input, Covesa. We will be adding more merchant credit card processors in 2018, so keep an eye out for that. We will also be making updates to our floorplans tool and our event webpage builder tool in Q3 2018, so hopefully those upcoming improvements will satisfy your needs.
I Like This Program
Comments: I use this program for most of my events. I like it, but it can use some more functionality and ease of use. Nevertheless, I will continue to use it and hope it improves with time. Price is great too.
Pros:
The large font, the different uses that it has which are specific to the events industry.
Cons:
It's very slow to load contacts; searching for contacts is a pain; trying to attach vendors and other people involved in the event is clumsy. Searching for venue information is not easy or intuitive. They have no way to run a report for taxes owed at the end of the quarter. Some improvements could be made to their room layout tool to make it quicker, smoother and fewer steps to each change or edit.
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks for your feedback, Davii. We have launched a new version in which we have improved many of the issues you were having, including improving our Contacts tool and simplifying adding contacts and vendors to events. We are also in the midst of overhauling our proposals, invoices and payments tools as well as tax reporting, so those issues are being addressed.
Planning pod is the only software I have found that gives me the features I need at a great price.
Pros:
The organization tools are great. Floor plan tools are easy to use. Collaboration tools are great. Invoice and proposal tools are very useful.
Cons:
I wish it had an inventory management feature. Clients don't always know how to use the tools. I wish I could do a little more with integration with other programs.
Planning Pod Response
7 years ago
Thanks for your feedback. We have just added a Quick Reference area to your account where you can direct your clients to quickly learn about how to use the tools in your account. We are also adding more integrations with other platforms in Q2 2018. And finally, I appreciate your mention of inventory management, as I will add that to our list of suggested features for future consideration.