Tripleseat vs Caterease - which platform is best? This is a common question asked by hospitality venues and event managers. Before investing in either app, you need to understand what each is capable of and where its restrictions lie.
Both Caterease and Tripleseat offer all-in-one event management solutions. While you get similar features across both platforms, they offer totally different experiences. They are also generally used by specific types of venues, events, and catering professionals.
In this guide, we’ll do a side-by-side comparison of Caterease vs Tripleseat. We’ll explore the products’ key features and differences to help you decide which one is best for your needs.
About Tripleseat
Tripleseat is a well-known event management software solution for the hospitality industry. The platform is designed for many businesses, including restaurants, hotels, and hospitality venues.
In a nutshell, the software offers tools to streamline the event lifecycle. You get the functionality to optimize event sales, streamline bookings, and oversee detailed aspects of your events.
Generally speaking, Tripleseat is better suited to larger chains and hotels. Independent restaurants and smaller event venues often find it too complex and pricey for their needs. These types of businesses will probably find there are more affordable and easier-to-use solutions on the market, like Perfect Venue.
Software Overview
Tripleseat provides a dashboard with a general calendar view, booking management tab, events management page, and lead management platform. The embedded features include task and contact lists, a contracts tool, and access to reporting.
Diving a little deeper - you can process payments and collect customers’ signatures from the dashboard. The dashboard also acts as a central communication point for your clients and events team. You can track all correspondence from the dashboard and keep up to date with event changes.
Besides that, there are built-in templates for generating proposals, contracts, event orders, and invoices. The software allows you to add your company’s branding, including logo and color scheme to create a consistent and professional look across your documents.
Who is it Suited to?
Tripleseat can be used by any hotel, restaurant, or event space. However, as mentioned above, bigger businesses, such as restaurant chains, large hotels, and multi-location hospitality groups, usually prefer the platform. In this case, the range of tools and relatively complex system help them navigate the complicated processes behind customers, bookings, vendors, services, and operations management.
If you head up a unique venue, private catering business, or smaller restaurant, some features may go untouched. This could be due to them being complex to use or simply not necessary.
Top Features
Tripleseat’s event management software provides a range of useful features, including:
- Centralized bookings calendar
- Branded documents and proposals
- Automated task lists
- Sales and event reporting
- Payment processing
- Custom reports
- Hotel group booking tools
- Event venue directory
- Customer engagement tools
- Lead capture tools
- Mobile app (Android and iPhone)
Integrations
Tripleseat was founded in 2008. Over time, it’s added a range of third-party integrations to help extend its functionality. You’ll find the following available:
- Mailchimp
- Google Calendar
- Meta for Business
- Constant Contact
- Microsoft Outlook
- Fishbowl
- WebRezPro
- Spiff
- Kenect
- AllSeated
- SevenRooms
- Oracle Service
Pricing
Unfortunately, Tripleseat’s pricing isn’t transparent. This is because the platform offers a ton of tools and solutions. Therefore, the specific pricing plan will depend on the client. However, Tripleseat is known to be one of the more expensive options, and we’ve heard of it sometimes totaling around $4,500 per year.
To find out how much Tripleseat costs, you will need to request a product demo. For more information on this platform, read our full Tripleseat review.
About Caterease
Caterease is an event planning and catering software solution. Although Caterease was initially designed for the catering industry, it has expanded to offer solutions for restaurants, hotels, and event venues. Today, the web-based desktop platform provides its clients with tools to save time and improve operational efficiency.
Comparing Tripleseat vs Caterease is expected because both platforms serve the events hospitality industry. The main difference is that Tripleseat is a more extensive event management solution, while Caterease has very specific features for catering management at events.
Software Overview
This catering management platform is known for its booking forms with required fields for event intake, and features such as automatic reminders and checklists. A central calendar includes tools for scheduling staff, automating reminders, and keeping an overview of event timelines. There are also venue lists, packing slips, scalable recipes, and drag-and-drop menu selections.
You can use Caterease’s software on your preferred device, whether that’s a Mac desktop, Windows desktop, or the mobile app. Note that Caterease is one of the more established platforms on the market. This sometimes reflects in its user experience - compared with some of its newer alternatives, it can be slightly dated.
Who is it Suited to?
As mentioned, Caterease was designed for catering businesses. You can see this in its catering-specific tools (like menu planning and costing features).
Naturally, this makes it a good choice for catering companies. However, the platform can still be useful for other hospitality venues and businesses. It’s not the most affordable option on the market, so it tends to appeal more to larger businesses again.
Top Features
As an all-in-one solution, Caterease’s top features include:
- Event booking forms
- Customer management tools
- Recipe tools
- Automated reminders
- Event documents
- Central booking calendar
- Mobile app (iPhone mobile and Android mobile)
Integrations
There are several useful third-party integrations on offer, including:
- Sage
- Constant Contact
- All Seated
- Zuppler
- HPay
- DocuSign
- Cost Guard
- ChefTec
- Food Trak
- Reciprofity
- Placez
- Social Tables
- Client Point
Pricing
Unlike Tripleseat, you know what you’re getting in for price-wise with Caterease. There are three straightforward pricing plans:
- Express: $68/month
- Standard: $100/month
- Professional: $132/month
Drop those amounts by 20% if you sign up for annual billing. In addition, all new clients need to pay a $200 setup fee. Read our full Caterease review for more detailed information about this software.
Conclusion
Caterease and Tripleseat are solid event management solutions, though both have pros, cons, and differences. Tripleseat has a more extensive feature set. But it’s expensive, and many businesses won’t require so many features. Caterease is great for caterers, but the software feels slightly dated. It also may not be the first choice for larger event venues or those that want more general event-related functionality.
If you’re looking for an easy and affordable alternative, consider Perfect Venue - an all-in-one event management solution for unique venues, independent restaurants, and hospitality groups. Try it for free to see how it works, or contact our team for a more comprehensive demo.
