Coping with Covid - How ManeHub Can Help Equestrian Event Organisers
The event industry in general has been one of the hardest hit since the Covid-19 Pandemic disrupted life as we knew it across the globe. The only advantage some Equestrian events have has been that we're outside in open spaces, making it easier to social distance in comparison to indoor events. But it also has brought new and unique challenges for organising volunteers to cope with.
One of the biggest challenges we've noticed is the uncertainty of lock-downs and restrictions causing events to be cancelled or limited just days before starting. For organising volunteers this can mean weeks of wasted work, cancellation of resources, bulk refunds and last minute date changes.
We are also seeing a change in the behaviour of event entrants, leaving registration of their entries to the very last minute just in case the event is cancelled. Late entries make it very difficult for organising committees to book and plan resources and adequately cater for entry volumes. If the event does go ahead and there is an unexpected influx in numbers, this can send poor stressed out volunteers into a frenzy, rushing to make last minute arrangements with limited time and help.
Understandably organising clubs are reluctant to enforce late fees, when the reason for people paying late is within good reason, and members are often frustrated when they loose large amounts in booking fees. So what can clubs do to gather entry numbers in advance, without the risk of having huge refund values to process?
ManeHub has a built in Deposit + Balance feature originally designed to cater for expensive events, where clubs need numbers months ahead of schedule, but entrants aren't wanting hand over large sums of money too early. This feature could potentially also help clubs cope with Covid-19's challenges.
What is ManeHub's deposit plus balance feature?
When creating an event in ManeHub's Organisers module, there is an option to enable "Deposit Feature" where you can choose from 3 deposit types:
A fixed amount per booking total
A fixed amount per event entry; or
A percentage of the total booking amount.
You can then select a due date for the balance and choose whether the balance should be auto debited on the due date or not.
For example: An event held on the 1st of October may need to know numbers by the 20th September. The organiser could offer a deposit of $50 per entry be paid and the balance to be due by the 28th October. To further encourage entrants to register by the 20th September, organisers can also impose a late fee after the 20th which still allows a balance to be paid but at the late fee price.
How do clubs manage deposits and balances owing?
From the event information page, organisers can download a Deposit Report that lists every entrant/booking with an outstanding amount owing. In addition clubs can click directly into an entry in the event information table to view outstanding amounts and send links directly to their entrants to pay the balance. Deposit payments and balances owing are also available from the events dashboard.
How do Entrants manage their balances owing?
In their ManeHub Members accounts (Free and Gold Subscriptions), entrants can view all of their event entries, including any with an outstanding balances. Where there is a balance outstanding, entrants can click the link provided to return to the payment page and pay the outstanding balance.
Does the deposit plus balance feature cost more?
30 cents. ManeHubs fee is 1.5% per transaction and Stripes fee is 1.75% plus 30 cents. The total percentage (3.25%) is the same whether paid in one part or two but Stripes 30 cent transaction fee is applicable to both transactions.
Managing Deposits and Balances for your entrants is a feature available to both our Free Members Accounts and Gold Members Account.
Pro's for using the Deposit + Balance feature
Get an indication of entry numbers ahead of the event
Lower transaction fees lost by your entrants if you have to cancel
Lower values to be refunded if the event is cancelled
Con's for using Deposit + Balance feature
Less funds in your bank up front
Needing to chase up outstanding balances
See the below short video walkthrough of ManeHub's Deposit + Balance feature.
Have a question? Get in touch with us here.