Banquet room setup styles

The setups at a glance

Names vary by hotel and by BEO. "Banquet rounds" may be written as "rounds of 8", "rounds of 10" or "banquet style". Crescent rounds are sometimes written differently on a BEO.

Banquet rounds

Round tables, with guests seated all the way around. Choose them for any meal where guests talk to each other. Setup usually takes the longest of any style: every table gets linen, chairs, place settings and a number. Servers work sections of tables, and the captain checks the table count and seat count against the event order before doors.

Crescent rounds

Round tables with seating on one side only, so no guest has their back to the front of the room. Use them for a meal with a speaker, a slideshow or a stage. The setup work matches banquet rounds, and the server must reach guests from the open side, so check the lanes.

Classroom

Rows of tables, each seat facing the front, with the long side of the table across the room. Choose it when guests take notes. It sets faster than rounds because there is less to put on the tables, and with little or no meal service it needs fewer servers.

Theater

Rows of chairs facing the front, no tables. It usually holds the most guests in a given room and is the fastest to set, but guests have nowhere to put a plate, so it is for talks and ceremonies, not meals.

U-shape and hollow square

U-shape puts tables in the shape of a U with seats on the outside, leaving the front open for a presenter. Hollow square closes the shape into a square, so everyone sees everyone. Both suit discussion groups. Both take care to square up, and both need planning for how service gets to every seat.

Boardroom and reception

A boardroom setup is one large table with everyone around it, suited to small groups. A reception puts high-tops, stations and bars in the room and keeps chairs to a minimum. Servers pass food and work stations, so the BEO's station and bar list drives the crew.

Buffet lines and stations

A buffet can be a single-sided line, with guests on one side, or a double-sided line, with two lines back to back to move more people. Allow room on both sides for guests to queue and for servers to replenish. Station layouts (carving, pasta, omelet) work the same way, with a station card on each. The label goes where guests will read it, at the dish, not at the end of the table.

How many people fit

Use your room's own capacity chart and your local fire code. Capacity depends on the room, the setup and the exits, and we don't publish seating numbers here. Your event order and your banquet office are the source for the number.

What the setup does to the crew

The setup style drives housemen time and affects the server sections:

• In general, rounds take the most setup work, then classroom, then theater.
• A flip between functions in one room needs strike and reset time, so check the gap between the two events.
• Reception and buffet setups change where servers work, not just how many are needed.

Hotelwright uses this setup-size table for housemen. These are starting points that your hotel can change on the Team plan.

If the setup style on the order doesn't match one of these, Hotelwright uses the first table in your list (rounds, by default) and says so. U-shape, hollow square, boardroom and reception have no table of their own, so they fall to this rule. See how many servers per guest and banquet houseman duties.

Rooms and setups in Hotelwright

Each event carries its setup style, read from the order. Rooms are matched to your own room list, aliases included, so an alias such as "Grand Ballrm" lands on the Grand Ballroom, and a near spelling is suggested. A room can have a capacity and list the rooms it combines, and a room that is booked for two overlapping events is flagged. See how to read a BEO.