Why we built Guestfolk.

It started with frustration.

If you run a business club, a networking group or a supper club, you’ll recognise the set-up. Events on a ticketing site that takes a slice of every ticket and treats your guests as its customers. Memberships in software designed for gyms. Renewals chased from a spreadsheet. A mailing list that has no idea who came to last month’s dinner. And a website that says the right things but can’t take a booking.

We tried the off-the-shelf options, one after another. Each did one job well enough. None of them was built for how a club actually works, and none of them talked to each other. The organiser became the glue: copying names between systems late at night, checking who’d paid, and working out whether next month’s dinner would cover its costs.

So we built Guestfolk.

Clubs aren’t conferences

Most event platforms are built for one-off events, with strangers buying tickets. Most membership platforms are built for gyms, charities or professional bodies. A business club is neither.

A club runs on relationships. The same faces come back month after month. Guests come along once or twice, and some of them join. Members bring colleagues. Partners and sponsors want to be seen. The organiser knows everyone, and needs the software to know them too.

That means a booking isn’t just a ticket. It’s a member getting their discount without asking, a guest who might be ready to join, a dietary note for the venue, and a name that should be in the right mailing list segment by tomorrow morning.

What we built

Guestfolk is three parts that work together, set up in your club’s own brand and on your own domain.

A website that takes the bookings. Every event gets its own page, with the seats left and Stripe checkout. Members get their price automatically. Sold-out, members-only and invitation-only events all work as they should.

A members’ area on your members’ phones. Their membership card opens from a link, with no app to download, and a venue can scan it to check they’re a member. Their points, bookings and offers are there too, with a forum and a member directory.

One dashboard to run it all. Guest lists with dietary needs and check-in. A planner that shows how many seats an event needs to break even, before you commit to the venue. Everyone the club knows in one list: members, guests, enquiries and prospects. Mailchimp kept in step, tagged by place and by what people like. And a studio that turns an event into social posts in your colours.

Your club stays yours

We made a few decisions early on that we won’t go back on.

• Your club owns its Stripe account, so payments go straight to you. We don’t take a cut of your tickets: you pay Stripe’s own fees, and that’s it.
• Your club owns its Mailchimp account and its mailing list.
• Your club owns its members’ data. It’s backed up every night, and it’s yours to take with you.
• Your website is fast and polite: no tracking unless your visitors say yes.

Done for you

The other thing we kept coming back to is that nobody running a club has time to set up software. So we don’t ask you to. We put in your brand, your words and your colours, connect your domain, Stripe and Mailchimp, add your first events and membership tiers, and make a test booking with you before you go live. It typically takes two to three weeks from the first call.

Who it’s for

Guestfolk is for the people who run business clubs, networking groups, supper clubs and members’ clubs: organisers who would rather spend their evenings hosting than doing admin.

If that’s you, have a look round our demo club, The Lantern Club, at demo.guestfolk.com. It’s made up, so click anything. And if it looks right for your club, book a demo and we’ll show you round.