This article first appeared in Issue 01 of the Pigeon Post, Rookoo's newsletter for venues that run events.

Christmas party and other festive-season group enquiries peak in October, not December. In Rookoo's 2025 enquiry data, the busiest week of the season was the week of 20 October. That week, group enquiries reached 2.4× the mid-September weekly rate.

Most venues start thinking about Christmas parties when the decorations go up. The organisers who book them start much earlier.

When do Christmas party enquiries peak?

We looked back at the group enquiries venues received through Rookoo in autumn 2025, measured against the weekly rate in mid-September:

• Week of 20 October: 2.4× the mid-September rate, the peak of the season.

• October as a whole: 1.8× the mid-September rate.

• December: 0.8×, below where enquiries were in September.

By the time most teams sit down to plan the festive season, the organisers have already asked around, compared venues and picked one. The holiday peak has a date, and it lands in October.

What should your first reply to a group enquiry include?

An enquiry in October is only worth something if the first reply moves it forward. Open the latest group enquiry in your inbox and check whether your first reply gives the organiser these three things.

1. A price to work with

Share a starting rate or a per-head range, and be clear about the assumptions and exclusions behind it. Organisers often need a number before they can take your venue to their colleagues or their budget holder. "It depends" usually means they ask the next venue on their list.

2. A clear next step

Explain what happens next and what you need from the organiser: a date, a headcount, a budget, a deposit. Do this even when the enquiry comes in outside opening hours. Many group bookings are planned in the evening, after work, when nobody is at the venue to pick up the phone.

3. What's included

Spell out what the package covers: the activity, the food and drinks, how long it lasts, and which extras cost more. The fewer questions an organiser has to send back, the faster they can say yes.

If your first reply ticks all three boxes, you're giving October's enquiries the best chance of becoming December's bookings. Our Q3 Enquiry Brief covers pricing, first replies and holiday planning in more detail.

How Clays closed a £25k booking in real time

Clays' phones used to be nonstop. Today, Peggy, Clays' digital colleague powered by Rookoo, handles a large part of that first contact. She answers the straightforward questions, collects the details the team needs and flags the team when a person should step in.

One of those handovers turned into a £25k event, booked while the customer was still in the conversation. Hear it from the Clays team:

Read the full story in What 20.000+ conversations at Clays taught us about venue enquiries.

New in Rookoo

Our latest updates bring event planning, conversations and a bit of help closer together:

• See the plan at a glance. A redesigned calendar and event sidebar keep contacts, schedules and event details in one place. Duplicating or rescheduling an event takes fewer steps.

• Meet Roo, your in-app copilot. Ask Roo to update events or make changes to your assistants. Roo is still learning, and more skills are on the way.

• Keep the conversation connected. Link conversations directly to events, and watch chat replies appear as they're written, in both the widget and the inbox.

Read the full release notes in Event planning redesigned, meet Roo, and real-time chat.

Get ready before the peak

Here's to a well-prepared festive season. Want the next Pigeon Post in your inbox?