Secure Private Party Bookings with E-Signature Contracts

Why Do You Need Electronic Signatures?

Imagine locking in a private party booking—venue set, everything ready—only for the client to request last-minute changes like reducing the guest count or asking for discounts.

That’s where a legally binding electronic contract comes in! With everything agreed upon and signed upfront, you're protected from surprises. Not only does it safeguard your business, but it also gives you peace of mind so you can focus on creating a great event!

Plus, everything can be set in just a few clicks! With your electronic contract template ready in SpotHopper, you can even handle bookings on the go and secure large events fast!

Setting Up Your Electronic Contracts

To get started, log in to your SpotHopper account and navigate to the "Party/Group Inquiries" page under "Sales & Inquiries." Then, click on the "Settings" tab.

🔒 E-signature contracts are available only with the Event Planner feature. If your package does not include Event Planner, make sure to upgrade to Event Planner to unlock the e-contract feature.

If your account has Event Planner enabled, you’ll see a banner for e-signature contracts at the top of the Settings page.

If you click the orange "Try E-Signatures Now" button, it will scroll down to the contract section.

Under the E-Contracts Library, you can upload your own contract. Just click where it says "Upload Your Contracts & Docs" and choose the file from your computer.

The E-Contracts Library is where your contracts are stored to be used as templates. You can choose the one you’d like to send to your customer when responding to their inquiries.

Once you upload your contract (it should say "processed" if uploaded properly), you will see an "Add Signature" option.

Clicking the "Add Signature" button will open your contract.

On the right side of the screen, you will find the fields you can add to the contract, including the signature field. Simply drag the signature field and drop it wherever you’d like it to appear in the contract.

By default, the signature field will be assigned to the client:

But you can aslo choose a different role. This is important if you want your contract to have two signature fields - one for you as the restaurant owner/manager and one for your customer.

To assign different roles, expand the drop-down under "fillable fields for" and add a new role.

Here’s an example of how you can add two signature boxes for the restaurant manager and the customer to sign.

If you'd like to, you can save your contract template with the restaurant manager field signed, to save some time. If you prefer to have only one signature field, just drop the client's signature box, and hit "Save Changes" in the upper right corner.

Once you open your contract, you can also drop in extra text, images, tables, and checkboxes to customize the layout.

Just keep in mind: while you can add elements to the contract, you can’t edit the existing text through the platform.

If you need to make changes to the contract’s content itself—like updating event terms or adjusting pricing—you’ll need to make those edits in the original file (Word, Adobe, etc.), then upload the updated version back into the E-Contracts Library.

Once your signature has been added, the template contract in your E-Contracts Library will no longer say "Add Signature" but "Edit."

That indicates that the signature field has been added and the contract is ready. However, you can click the "Edit" button at any time to open the contract and further customize it.

Important: Your E-Contracts Library is different from your Documents Library. The contracts library is where you store your electronic contracts, while the documents library remains a place for you to attach files like venue packages or brochures.

Sending Electronic Contracts to Customers

When you receive a private party inquiry and open the inquiry details page, you will notice that you have an "Attach Contract & Add Signature" button in the lower left corner.

While the "Attach Document or File" on the right is for your other documents like event packages, the "Attach Contract & Add Signature" is where you upload your contract.

Once you click the button, you can easily choose a template from your E-Contracts Library or upload a new one.

After selecting your contract, it will open immediately so you can review it and add a signature field if you haven't done so already. You will notice that the "client" role here is replaced with your customer's email address, where the contract will be sent.

When ready, just click the green "Attach" button in the upper right corner. You'll know if the contract has been attached properly if it appears just below the Attach button:

Finally, send your inquiry response along with the attached contract. You can track the contract status at any time, by navigating to the "List" view on the "Party/Group Inquiries" page:

For instance, this is an example of how the contract status looks when your customer has opened the contract but hasn't signed it yet:

If it hasn't been viewed, the status will just say "Sent," and if it has been signed, it will look like this:

But don't worry, once the contract has been signed and finalized, SpotHopper will also send you an email to notify you.

How Does This Look for Your Customers?

After you send the electronic contract to your customers, they will get two separate emails: one with the inquiry response, and one with the electronic contract.

Once your customer clicks "Open the Document," they will be able to review and sign the contract.

At the top of the screen, they will have a yellow "Start" button that will scroll down to the part where their action is required:

If you've only added the signature field for them to fill out, they will be directed to do just that:

When the contract has been signed, the customer will have a "Finish" button at the top, which will save the changes and finalize the process.

If no further action is needed, your customer will get this notification and can even download the signed contract:

If, for instance, you have two signature fields and still haven't signed yours, your customer will have to wait for you to finalize everything before they can download the signed and final version of the contract.

Of course, they will get an email with the downloadable PDF contract once you do your part.