All Planning Pod Reviews
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Anonymous
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed March 2018
Good, easy-to-use and practical planning tool
I use it to mostly manage my client's budget and timelines. There are many other features that I don't regularly use because I use other tools or processes, but it works well for those items and I'm on it frequently.
PROSI like that the owners are always trying to make upgrades to the software and they seem to genuinely listen to customer feedback on what we want to see. It's well priced and easy to use.
CONSThe wedding websites available to the clients aren't up to par with what is available in the industry. Same with the floor plan tool. It would be wonderful to only have to use one platform, but at the same time, it's priced appropriately that the tools you receive are good / on point with what you are paying for.
Vendor Response
Thanks for your review. We are currently collecting feedback on our Floorplans tool with plans to make major updates to it in 2018, so please let us know if you have any specific features you would like to see enhanced. We also recently added an Inspiration/Vision Board tool for collaborating visually with team members and clients. As for the event webpage tool, it is focused more on RSVP/registration collection, which is why it may not have the design capabilities of other tools like Wix. But I appreciate the feedback and we will be making updates to that tool later in 2018.
Replied March 2018
Andrea
Events Services, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed July 2022
The Lifeline of Our Business
We are so glad we stumbled upon this software when we did. I have used Dubsado, Honeybook, TripleSeat and done demos with a few others and none compare to Planning Pod. It had everything our organization was looking for- integrated invoices, proposals, calendar (syncs with Google), lead forms (integrates to our website), questionnaires and floor plans. We eliminated 3 other softwares we were using and streamlined it all into one. Our team uses it everyday and it is the lifeline of our business. The aesthetically pleasing BEO's, floor plans and timelines are printed and hung up on our bulletin board for every event! We are so glad this product exists!
PROSIt is very user friendly and the onboarding was quick and easy. The support team at Planning Pod is quick to respond and friendly. We loved the communications feature that wasn't available on other platforms as well as the ability to use with multiple team members. The invoice feature is great as well as proposals. The floor plan feature is a game changer!
CONSI wish I would've found it sooner and didn't have to switch from my other software.
Reason for choosing Planning Pod
None have the functionality of an all-in-one booking software. It is meant specifically for venues with multiple users. We considered others like Honeybook, Dubsado and 17 Hats but none were robust enough for our team.
Reasons for switching to Planning Pod
Our original booking software Gather was bought out by Tripleseat. It did not have the functionality we were looking for. Lacking the communications aspect which is critical in our business. We also tried Honeybook for several months along with Aisle Planner for timelines and All Seated for floor plans.
Jennifer
Entertainment, 1 employee
Used daily for less than 6 months
OVERALL RATING:
2
EASE OF USE
1
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
2
Reviewed January 2023
The struggle is real!
Negative. The customer service reps seem to not know the platform very well, or will answer questions and tell you that you can or can not do something but forget to tell you what steps to take to do it, lastly the chat customer service reps will not provide any help to get you through the modules and tell you that you need to watch the videos and take the test or that you should email with any questions that you have.
PROSI like the ability to be able to have a platform to work from for each individual event and connect templates and forms to individual events.
CONSThere are sooo many glitches that I couldn't actually get much work done because of the huge learning curve. There are pre-made templates that I was told would be able to be erased after I signed up and then after signing up for a paid membership was told that I would not be able to delete these pre-made templates. Under the invoices section, there is no clear way to delete an amount or invoice. Every time I send an email from the system it populates in my main planning pod "inbox" as a new email. I would love to be able to watch a module on this and the other issues that I'm dealing with but in order to learn anything through the academy videos you must watch the videos in the order they have set up and answer test with a score of 100% before you can move to the next module. This means if you don't need one of the features of the system and don't need to learn about it, you will still have to watch the video and take a test in order to get to the information that you do need to learn about.
Reason for choosing Planning Pod
Because it was specific to the event industry and I thought it would be easier then building a crm to fit my event needs. My mistake obviously... I've worked with salesforce and just built the Hubspot pipline for the last company I was with and I am astounded at how difficult this platform is to use. I'm going to try this last month to see if things get easier and if they do I'll change this review other wise I'll move on to another platform.
Vendor Response
We're sorry to hear your experience did not meet your expectations. Below we address your concerns: -We have not experienced any system issues/glitches -The email templates allow you to customize automated communications; they are required for notifications to work -The CRM tool will not replace your external email inbox. -Planning Pod Academy lays the groundwork for successful use of our platform; you were enrolled at your request, and the answers needed to pass knowledge checks are in the videos/text of each module and our Help Center. Chatting and insisting that our agents answer each question in the Academy course so you can bypass the learning modules defeats the very purpose of the learning process. -All of your support inquiries were answered promptly/accurately, including links to resources. -Our staff is knowledgeable about all functionality; you can always expect to competently assisted by an expert. We recognize we are not a fit for everyone and wish you the best!
Replied January 2023
Shannon
Food & Beverages, 51-200 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed October 2022
THE solution for your FOOD TRUCK catering!
The software is incredibly moldable to any caterers needs. As we are a wood fired pizza caterer, we bring our food truck on site to cook, but serve buffet style. Along with this, we have bartenders, servers, and other vendors to connect with on most any event. Being able to customize BEO's to each vendors needs is incredible. Being able to have everyone in one place is incredible. Being able to have all communications between multiple parties/family members/vendors all be linked to the one event they regard is timesaving! Being able to automate our reservation & final check in process is how we were able to DOUBLE OUR VOLUME this year. HANDS DOWN THE BEST!
CONSI have zero complaints. This product is fantastic. Even their customer support rocks!
Reason for choosing Planning Pod
Much more customizable. Being a food truck and mobile, it is hard to find a good product that can either be adaptable or easy to use for food truck catering.
Laura
Museums and Institutions, 51-200 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed July 2022
Planning Pod has changed the way our venue manages events!
This program has been a much needed addition to our organization. I did the research and trial runs with other software programs and there was never a question that I chose the right one! Customer support is second to none and the program is consistently rolling out updates that improve the end user experience.
PROSPlanning Pod helped bring all the aspects of event management together in one easy to use program! I am able to work on multiple events simultaneously and keep track of all communication from start to finish. This one program replaced the 4-5 programs we had been using to manage our venue and I will never look back!
CONSThe only con I have found with the program is with the credit card processing and that change occurred when the processing company we used initially was no longer available. We used to have the ability to check a box and have the credit card fee added to an invoice as a line item and that made it easier to pass that cost on to the client as we are a non-profit organization.
Reason for choosing Planning Pod
After signing up for several trial periods with other software, I found that Planning Pod accomplished my goals the best. It is user friendly and easy to navigate. It also had more features that I needed than some of the other programs.
Reasons for switching to Planning Pod
Our old system was time consuming and not cohesive or user friendly. Using multiple different programs to achieve the goal of organizing one event was one of my first challenges when I accepted my position nearly 7 years ago.
Donna
Events Services, 1 employee
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2018
I use PP to keep all my weddings in one place. It's an efficient tool to use in tracking my clients
My client info was everywhere, some in Google docs, some in excel...just everywhere. Now everything is in one place which has helped me organize and be a little more efficient.
PROSThe timeline feature and the ability to customize a few things. I enjoy the fact that my clients can collaborate with me on their events and manage their task lists on their own. The planning pod team is very responsive to ideas from its users and that is a huge plys.
CONSIt's easy for event planning use, but for weddings it has many features I don't use, such as ticket sales etc. It had also been nice to manage basic tasks specific to daily follow up on clients through the client contact area. I don't necessarily like that I have to utilize a task lust within the event to set a task if that makes sense. I want to go to one area that has all my clients in it, set my follow up tasks at one time for each client and then get an email reminder to do it.
Vendor Response
Thanks for your feedback, Donna. You can add/view/manage tasks via the Calendar tool also if you don't want to manage them inside each event. We will be adding workflows in Q2 2018 so you can more easily set follow-ups and reminders for anything in your account.
Replied March 2018
Heather
Verified reviewer
Events Services
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed February 2018
Best value for the most features
Clean layout, easy to navigate. My staff likes it, but my clients will not use the features available to them because it is too confusing/complicated. Compared to other similar programs, I feel it has the most to offer for my staff's needs.
CONSFlexibility of PDF reports, on-screen reports, and customization. Also the calendar sync does not work properly, which makes it useless for scheduling appointments.
Vendor Response
Thanks for your feedback, Heather. We do offer quite a few tools for all the aspects of managing events, but you can always limit the tools your clients see so that it's not so overwhelming for them. Also, we have recently enhanced all our PDF reports and dashboards. And I checked the electronic calendar syncing feature in your account and it is working fine now, so please let us know if you still have an issue with it.
Replied March 2018
Marsha
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed February 2018
Thanks to Planning Pod, my planning service is extremely organized and savvy.
Where I can plan, organize, schedule, collect payments in one tab. I am able to plan our client's entire event in planning pod, I schedule their monthly to dos, I interact with our team via planning pod. Our clients are able to enter and update their guests lists, work on the seating chart and create meal assignments. I am able to create, send and sign contracts along with our clients. I can collet current and schedule payments with a simple clicks. I love that I can create an event itinerary and include the list of creatives on the itinerary.
Vendor Response
Thanks for your feedback, Marsha ... it is much appreciated :)
Replied March 2018
John
Hospitality, 51-200 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed August 2022
Game Changer
It has been a game changer for us. The first few training sessions were not quite enough for us but they are more than willing to take some time for us to learn more. They are very receptive to us and fix/change things that we told them would be useful to us on the platform. They have no problems getting things onto the platform and even changing code for something as simple as font sizes on event orders. Really great company to work with, they are a partner in our success.
PROSAutomatic payment and communication features. Integration with calendars. Lead management.
CONSSearching for things within the system could use some more work.
Leah
Verified reviewer
Civic & Social Organization, 11-50 employees
Used monthly for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
2
Reviewed February 2018
Planning Pod is some great features, some not-so-great features
I learned to focus on budgeting and invoicing because of Planning Pod.
PROSPlanning Pod makes it pretty easy to create an event budget and create invoices for each event. I also like the way you can store and manipulate contact information.
CONSIt is frustrating that you can't link the invoices to the budget. I'd like to show to see invoices that get paid correspond and show up in the budget area. It's also frustrating that I can't store receipts, etc. in the budget, e.g. there's no upload feature. It would be great to upload a document related to an expense, or a paid-in-full invoice. It's also frustrating that I can't add pages to the invoices. Sometimes I want to show certain information about the invoice that can't be recorded in the system as-is. But if I was able to add pages, it would make it even easier to send the invoices directly out from my Planning Pod account.
Vendor Response
Thank you for your input, Leah. To be honest, our system isn't set up to do full accounting, which is what you are describing here (as our Budget tool is meant for budgeting and not bookkeeping/accounting). However, we will be integrating with Quickbooks and Xero in Q2 2018 so you can sync your proposals and invoices in Planning Pod to a Quickbooks or Xero account. We are also adding the capability to add images and documents to invoices (like pass-through receipts) to display to customers or for your own use and tracking.
Replied March 2018
Lisa
Legal Services, 201-500 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2018
Easy-to-use, cost-effective event management tool
It helps with signing people up for our events, tracking submitted information, processing payments from attendees and communicating information to attendees.
PROSPlanning Pod is a very valuable tool for processing event registrations, RSVPs and payments. It also helps communicate information to event attendees. Planning Pod offers a lot of powerful features without the high prices that come with a lot of other event management software options. The customer support at Planning Pod is always very responsive to any questions or issues that pop up.
CONSWhile the event website component is very easy to use, I wish it had more flexibility to change fonts and font sizes and arrange text on the website in a custom way. There should also be a way to change attendee ticket status without having to call customer support. A little more flexibility in naming items would also be ideal. (e.g. - We "register" people for our big annual seminar - but had to "sell tickets" due to Planning Pod's set-up)
Vendor Response
Thanks for your feedback, Lisa. I have added your input to our list of suggested features for future consideration. As for changing ticket status, if you are charging a fee for registrations, there is a 60-day period that you can change status or refund tickets on your end in the application. After that, you do need to contact us due to the requirements of the credit card payment processors that we work with. If you are not charging a fee, you can always void a free ticket anytime.
Replied March 2018
eric
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
4
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
1
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed March 2018
good
I like that you can acess it anywhere. We run 200 event through Planning pod. it is a good software.
CONSWhen Planning Pod roll new thing out and there is no training. Would love to have a software rep to come out and do training. we could pay for it.
Vendor Response
Thanks for your input, Eric. Our software is mostly self-serve, so we don't provide live training. However, when we launch new features or tools, we do add new articles to our Help Center as well as how-to videos that walk you through how to use the features. In addition, we can provide you with Web-based training for your users that is a small fee in addition to your monthly subscription. Just let me know if you are interested in that. Finally, I was surprised to see that you were not happy with our customer support, as I show that every ticket you have sent in we have responded within 1 business day (usually much quicker than that) and did our best to answer your questions. If you are having issues with how we support you or your team, please let us know and I will see that it is improved immediately. Thanks for being our customer :)
Replied March 2018
Theresa
Events Services, 2-10 employees
Used daily for less than 12 months
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed July 2017
Almost perfect!
Planning pod keeps my business organized from almost every aspect.
PROSWhite glove customer support, Extremely user-friendly interface, professional industry templates, accept online payments, budget management, vendor management, CRM, workflows, to do's, checklists, proposals, contracts, worksheets, calendars, vision boards, client portals, floor plans, guest management and so much more.
CONSPricing is a bit high for infrequent business owners and startups . . . For what I'm currently spending I want software features that are more competitive such as: more and better integrations, white labeling, custom domain, send messages through software from my email address, inventory management, e-commerce code for my website, quote generating form.
Vendor Response
Thanks for your feedback, Theresa. We have recently added integrations with Salesforce, MailChimp, Google, Dropbox and Microsoft OneDrive. In Q2 2018 we be adding integrations with QuickBooks, Xero and other online payment providers. And most of your other requests are on our build list for the coming months. As for our pricing, we try to be very competitive and we offer 30+ event management tools for as little as $0.63/day.
Replied February 2018
Natalie
Events Services, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
4
EASE OF USE
4
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
4
Reviewed February 2018
The system is fairly easy to use. Could use a bit of refinement in aesthetic but works great overal
ease of use. helps me keep client's organized.
PROSgreat price, allows me to keep most everything in one place. I love the itinerary portion of the site my clients and vendors do too.
CONSis not integrated with some other systems. I have to use Honeybook to manage contracts because it's easier. AislePlanner is more robust and has a new feel that makes wedding client's gravitate toward it
Vendor Response
Thanks for your feedback, Natalie. We are currently overhauling our contracts, invoices and proposals tools to incorporate feedback we have solicited from our users. We will be integrating with Quickbooks and Xero in Q2 2018 so you can integrate our proposals, invoicing and payments tools with those bookkeeping applications. We have also redesigned our interface and made it much more customizable so you can change the look for any audience.
Replied March 2018
Taylor
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
3
EASE OF USE
3
VALUE FOR MONEY
3
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
4
FUNCTIONALITY
3
Reviewed February 2018
Some of the features are a little clunky (budget update was not a good change, contract templates)
Allows me to organize myself. I really like the itinerary feature and the invoicing feature. I liked the old budget tool a lot.
CONSThe budget update is terrible. Not user friendly at all and is very confusing for me and my clients to see categories and line items. Frequently get red "caution" symbol- not always reliably saving when changes are made. Mobile is clunky.
Vendor Response
Thanks for the feedback, Taylor. I'm sorry you are not happy with our recent updates to our Budgeting tool. We based our updates on comprehensive feedback we have collected from our users over the last 18 months. However, if you want to let me know what about the tools isn't working for you, I would happy to see if there's a solution to your issue. As for the red "saving" symbol, often that has to do with an intermittent Internet connection or a Web browser issue, but I would be happy to look into that for you. We also recently updated our mobile version to be a more fluid experience, so hopefully you find that more to your liking.
Replied March 2018
Veronica
Events Services, 2-10 employees
Used daily for more than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY
5
Reviewed March 2018
I've used Planning Pod since before it was called Planning Pod and I love it.
I like the ease of use, it is dummy proof. I like that my other professionals and cliens can also use it for certain events and I love the built in floor plan.
CONSI don't like the contracts section, that part needs an update. I would like for my clients to "inital" different sections and right now that is not possible.
Vendor Response
Thanks so much for your feedback, Veronica. We are currently working on an update to our contracts tool that will enable for initialing sections of the online contract prior to signature, and we will be adding additional features to that tool based on user input. Also, look for a new workflows tool in Q2 2018 for added flexiblity in the contracts tool.
Replied March 2018
Hillary
Hospitality, 1 employee
Used daily for less than 2 years
OVERALL RATING:
5
EASE OF USE
5
VALUE FOR MONEY
5
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
5
FUNCTIONALITY