Gather was a popular event management software for restaurants and venues. Event teams and caterers used it to streamline their event booking and management processes. Founded in 2013, Gather was and continues to be a known name in the industry.
However, Gather is no longer an option if you’re in the market for event management software. Tripleseat acquired it in 2020, and the two platforms merged to operate under Tripleseat’s name.
In its day, Gather was an easy-to-use cloud-based software platform, but it lacked customization and was expensive. So, Gather wasn’t for everyone. If you’re exploring your options, we’re confident that you’ll love Perfect Venue. It offers many features that Gather had and provides great value for money.
Let’s look at Gather’s main features, integrations, and pricing to see how it compares with Perfect Venue. This should help you decide on the best option for your business. Â
Gather Event Management Review
What is Gather?
Gather was an event management software solution that helped events teams, wedding planners, hospitality groups, and venue owners outline, plan, and execute their events.
Like Perfect Venue, this all-in-one platform was designed and developed to include specific tools and features that streamline both the events and hospitality industry, increase revenue, and make businesses of any size more efficient.
As cloud-based software, Gather could be accessed through most devices, including Android and iOS, via the native mobile app. However, Gather’s mobile app had limited functionality which sometimes frustrated event managers using it.
As we now know, Gather merged with Tripleseat in 2020 to operate under the latter’s name. Tripleseat is event management software that teams can use to manage tasks relating to the event planning process. But, it is not nearly as easy to use as Gather and lacks a mobile app.
Product Overview of Gather
Gather’s platform included integrated lead forms, instant lead notifications, and event tracking. You could use the dashboard to consolidate data and get lead generation insights for your business. As with Perfect Venue, users could generate sales summaries, bookings performance, sales projections, and even view outstanding payments.
Like most event management software, Gather offered built-in document templates. Similar to Perfect Venue, you could create branded documents, such as invoices, event orders, and proposals from templates. Customizing the docs with your branding, various fonts, and colors was also possible.
Once the documents had been created, you could share them with customers, clients, vendors, and staff. This was done through the client portal and dashboard so that everyone from guests to your team could stay up to date with event information and execution.
As part of the guest experience, e-signature functionality allowed clients to sign and return proposals and contracts in the client portal.
When it came to event planning tools, a central calendar view gave the entire team an overview of upcoming events and their related details and status. Gather also had robust reporting and analytics to track and grow your events business.
The platform could also take payments through OpenEdge, Stripe, and others. While Gather offered convenient online payment processing, they charged an added payment processing fee of 0.3% or more that would cut into your revenue. With Perfect Venue, we offer plans with no added credit card processing fees as well as low-cost ACH payments so you can keep every dollar you make!
Available Integrations
Compared with other event planning platforms, Gather came up light on integrations.
What it did support was Google Calendar integration and Stripe integration. It also had strategic partnerships in place with various global planning websites that people use to search events venues. Some notable names included EVENTup, OpenTable, BizBash, Wedding Spot, and Yelp.
The good news is that coming over to Perfect Venue will give your whole team integrations with many apps your business already uses, including:
- Intuit Quickbooks
- Stripe
- Outlook
- Gmail
- Squarespace
- BentoBox
- OpenTable
- WordPress
- WeddingWire
Pricing Details
Many companies put up transparent pricing online so that you have a solid idea of what their apps cost. However, Gather’s pricing was not readily available. We’ve heard of estimates putting it in the bracket of thousands of dollars a year.
On the other hand, it’s easy to calculate Perfect Venue’s pricing as what you see is what you get. Not only do we have a Free Plan with no subscription fees, but there’s also no need to get an official demo to try the software.
Paid plans start from $59/month per location paid annually. In addition, there are no hidden costs, additional user fees, or charges to set up an account.
What Do Gather Reviews Show Online?
As a standalone solution, the Gather team held a good reputation in most areas. However, while most users found the software intuitive and easy to use, Gather was not very customizable. Unlike modern event management tools like Perfect Venue, you couldn’t easily customize the Contact Form or documents (i.e., BEOs).
Gather was also expensive to use. So, while it earned itself a name in events over time, the reality is that there are better value options available on the market today.
Pros
- Features for events planning and management requirements
- Good customer support
- Suited to larger unique venues, hotel groups, and restaurant chains
- Ability to produce branded documents
- Online payments and credit card processing
- Cloud-based software
- Consolidated dashboard with an overview of event information
Cons
- Limited integrations for businesses
- No free trial or optional demo (demo required)
- Expensive
- Customizations not as competitive as other platforms
- Not ideal for smaller venues looking for intuitive software solutions
Conclusion
Gather’s event management software was a great tool for restaurants, hotels, unique venues, wedding planners, and venue owners. However, it’s now merged under Tripleseat’s name.
Tripleseat is well known in the industry, and if you’re looking for an established solution that’s big on features and suitable for large, distributed teams, it’s one of the names to look into.
If you’re after something with most of the same functionality as Tripleseat and Gather but is easier to use and more affordable - head over to Perfect Venue. Our software offers value for money, outstanding customer support, and the ability to turn a good venue into the perfect venue.
