Most venues still sell VIP tables the way they always have: a message on WhatsApp, a phone call, a name written on a plan behind the bar. It works until the night it doesn't, when two groups turn up for the same table, a guest insists they already paid, or a party of six becomes ten at the door.
Selling tables online fixes most of that, but only if the booking is set up so that the guest, the door team and the venue all understand the same thing. This guide covers the decisions that matter, and the mistakes we have seen cause the most trouble on the night.
Why tables are harder to sell than tickets
A ticket is simple. Every ticket of a type is the same, and the only question is whether there are any left.
A table is not. Each one has its own position, its own number of seats and often its own price. The party has to fit it. Some tables are worth more because of where they are: by the booth, on the terrace, on the edge of the dance floor. And the money does not always stop at checkout, because many tables come with a spend on the night.
That is why tables tend to stay on WhatsApp long after tickets have moved online. It is also why the booking itself needs to carry more information than a ticket does.
Decide what a table actually costs, and say it plainly
There are two common ways to price a table, and every club does it slightly differently:
- A table price. The guest pays a fixed amount for the table itself. Some venues include drinks in it, others do not.
- A minimum spend. The guest commits to spending at least a set amount on drinks during the night. The table is theirs as long as they reach it.
Some venues combine the two, for example a booking price that is then credited against the minimum spend.
None of these is wrong. The problem is confusion. In our experience, more arguments at the table come from a guest misunderstanding the pricing model than from anything else. A guest who paid €300 online and thinks it covers their drinks will not be happy to hear that the €300 was the table, and the minimum spend is on top.
So whichever model you use, write it in the guest's words at the point of booking:
- what they are paying now;
- what, if anything, they will spend or pay on the night;
- whether what they pay now counts towards that spend.
If a guest could read your booking page and still not know what the night will cost them, the page needs another sentence.
Full payment or a deposit
This is the decision that shapes everything else, and our view is simple: take full payment where you can.
In our experience, guests who book a VIP table are generally willing to pay in full. The problems almost always come with deposits:
- The guest forgets it was a deposit. Weeks later, they remember paying and assume that was everything. The balance becomes a dispute at the table, in front of their friends, on your busiest night.
- "It's only a deposit, so I can get it back." Many guests assume a deposit is refundable by nature. Whether it is depends on your terms, and if those terms were not clear at booking, you will be having that conversation by message the week after.
- The balance has to be chased. Someone on your team now has to collect money at the table or the door, and match it to the booking, while the night is running.
Full payment removes all three. The table is paid for, the guest knows it, and the night is about the night.
If you do take deposits, for example for large bookings or early in the season, make them impossible to misunderstand:
- show the deposit and the balance as two separate amounts at checkout, not just the total;
- repeat the balance due in the confirmation email and on the booking itself;
- say clearly whether the deposit is refundable, and under what conditions, before the guest pays;
- record the balance against the booking, so the door team can see exactly what is still owed.
Let guests choose from the floor plan
Guests book tables with more confidence when they can see where they will be sitting. A floor plan with available tables marked, rather than a "request a table" form, also removes a round of back and forth: the guest picks, pays and is confirmed.
A few things make this work well:
- Price by area. Tables by the dance floor, in the booth or on the terrace can carry different prices, so the plan does the explaining.
- Filter by party size. Showing only tables that fit the party stops a group of eight booking a table for four.
- Release unpaid holds. When a guest starts a booking but does not finish paying, the table should go back on sale after a few minutes, so a half-finished checkout does not block it for the night.
Party size, and the guests who were not on the booking
Every table has a comfortable number of people, and most venues set a minimum and a maximum. The common problem is the group that books for six and arrives as ten.
You cannot stop it entirely, but you can make it a decision rather than an argument:
- Set the maximum per table and show it at booking.
- Offer extra guests for a price in advance, so a group that knows it is growing can pay for it before the night.
- Make sure the door can see the booked number. If the door team knows the table is booked for six, a party of ten is a conversation about extra guests, not a guess.
Put your terms where the guest accepts them
Most disputes about tables come down to something the guest says they were never told. The fix is to show your terms at checkout and have the guest accept them, then keep the version they accepted.
The terms worth writing down for tables:
- whether the payment or deposit is refundable, and until when;
- what happens if the group does not arrive, or arrives late;
- the maximum number of guests, and what extra guests cost;
- the pricing model, as above;
- dress code and age limits, if you have them.
When a guest later says they did not know, you can show them exactly what they agreed to, and when.
The night itself
A table booked online should arrive at the door as smoothly as a ticket:
- A confirmation with a QR code, so the booking is checked in the same way as every other entry.
- Arrivals in parts. Tables rarely arrive together. The door should be able to check in two of the six now and the rest later.
- Any balance visible at the door or the table, so it is collected once, by the right person, and recorded against the booking.
- The table marked as cleared when the group leaves, if you turn tables during the night.
Promoters and tables
Promoters often sell a large share of tables, and usually through their own contacts. Giving each promoter their own booking link lets them keep selling the way they do, while the booking, the payment and the commission are all recorded in one place. Nobody has to send you a screenshot of a bank transfer, and you never have to share your whole table plan.
After the night
Selling online also means you finally have the numbers. Over a few weekends you can see which tables and areas sell first, which earn the most, which nights fill and which customers book again. That is what lets you price next season with confidence instead of guesswork.
The common mistakes
- Showing a total without saying what it covers, so the guest does not know whether drinks are included.
- Taking a deposit and never mentioning the balance again until the night.
- Assuming guests know a deposit is non-refundable.
- Selling the same table on WhatsApp and online at the same time.
- No maximum party size, or one the door team cannot see.
- Terms that exist somewhere, but were never shown at checkout.
How Floorful handles it
Floorful was built by people who have worked on table bookings inside nightclubs, and it is designed around the problems above. Guests choose an available table from your floor plan, filtered to their party size. You set each table's price or minimum spend, a deposit or full payment, its maximum guests and the price of extra guests. Your terms are shown and accepted at checkout, and the accepted version is kept. Unpaid holds release automatically, the door scans the table's QR like any ticket, and any balance is recorded against the booking. Promoters get their own links, and your reports show which tables earn the most.
If you want to see it with your own floor plan, start a free trial.