Every time you send guests a hotel list or paste a third-party hotel booking link into an email, you’re losing revenue. The demand is there; families, fans, attendees, and travelers all need a place to stay. But without the right system in place, that demand slips away with no tracking, no visibility, and no return to you.

Traditional hotel booking wasn’t designed for the kinds of events you run. Manual RFPs, endless email chains, and slow hotel responses work for events planned a year in advance. But when an event has to be turned around in 30 days or less, that process doesn’t work.

That’s where Presto by EventPipe comes in. Built for speed and flexibility, Presto gives you live hotel inventory in a branded booking site you can launch in minutes. In this post, you’ll see why the traditional system fails, how Presto fixes it, and how you can finally start turning hotel bookings into revenue, without contracts, room blocks, or extra work.

Why Traditional Hotel Booking Methods Fall Short for Most Events

When it comes to securing hotel rooms for guests, room blocks, contracts, and RFPs absolutely have their place. They’re proven tools for big conferences and long-lead events, and hotels rely on them for a reason. 

However, when it comes to events that happen fast (club tournaments, weddings, funerals, construction projects, or college athletic events), those same processes simply aren’t a good fit. The systems weren’t built for speed, and that mismatch leaves organizers without a way to capture revenue or track guest bookings.

Here’s where the breakdown happens:

1. Hotel contracts create exposure for organizers

Hotel contracts work well when you know demand will be there, but they can be a heavy lift for smaller or short-lead events. Common challenges include:

• • Attrition penalties if the rooms you block don’t get picked up
  • Minimum guarantees that don’t match the scale of your event
  • Cancellation terms that reduce flexibility when plans shift

For most events like club team tournaments, college sports events, and even funerals, the luxury of time isn't on your side, making the contract process unrealistic.

2. RFPs can’t match the timeline

The RFP process is effective for securing long-term business, but it doesn’t fit when your event is weeks away. If you want the right hotel, you typically need to plan 6–12 months in advance just to secure availability. Waiting on responses means:

• • Guests often book before rates are confirmed
  • Pricing and inventory may change before you can act
  • Revenue opportunities slip away while you’re still in negotiations

It’s not that hotels don’t want to help, but they just can’t turn RFPs around fast enough for every scenario.

3. Post-block demand is easy to miss

Even with a block in place, attendee demand usually extends beyond it. Once the cutoff hits or the block sells out:

• • Guests still need rooms, but book off-platform
  • You lose visibility into where they stay
  • Extra revenue opportunities disappear

That overflow demand doesn’t vanish; it just becomes invisible to you. This is exactly the gap Presto closes with live hotel inventory that complements the blocks and contracts you already have, giving you a way to capture everything they miss.

What is Presto? A Live Hotel Inventory Strategy That Works at Speed

Presto is EventPipe’s fast, flexible hotel booking software designed for events that need to move quickly and still capture hotel revenue. You get live hotel inventory and pricing through a branded booking site you can launch in minutes. No contracts. No minimums. No setup headaches. It’s great for literally any standalone event that requires travel and can make money back on the hotels. 

Whether you’re running a pop-up event or supporting a major tournament, Presto helps you capture more bookings and more revenue, without more work.

What is live hotel inventory?

Live hotel inventory means your booking site connects directly to real-time hotel data—rates, availability, and room types—via trusted third-party platforms.

With Presto, your hotel site always shows what’s actually available right now. That’s a game-changer for fast-moving events. 

6 Benefits of Presto’s Live Hotel Booking Inventory Software

When your guests need rooms, Presto makes it easy for them to book and easy for you to earn. It’s designed to fit the way travel actually happens… fast, unpredictable, and often outside the reach of traditional housing methods. Each benefit ties back to what matters most for you: revenue, visibility, and guest experience.

1. Capture hotel revenue without contracts

Most booking systems force you into contracts before you can earn a dime. Presto doesn’t. You launch a site, guests book, and you capture the revenue with no attrition risk, no contracts, and no penalties if demand shifts.

With Presto, you:

• • Earn commission on every reservation
  • Keep guests booking through your platform instead of third-party OTAs
  • Stop leaving money on the table when you don’t have time (or appetite) for contracts

Sample commission earnings through Presto by EventPipe

If you're wondering exactly how commission works with Presto, here's a transparent breakdown of the numbers. Every hotel booking generates real revenue, and we make it easy to see how that adds up.

We’ll walk through the math using a real example, then share a table showing how it applies across different types of events.

Our standard assumptions

To keep the math simple and consistent, we use the following assumptions across all scenarios:

Let's break it down: Construction Example

Say you're a construction company booking travel for your crew, or you're sending a hotel booking link to a project manager or client who needs a place to stay. Here’s how your commission would be calculated based on eight reservations.

So just from eight bookings, you’d earn nearly $200 on travel that was already happening.

Commission Table Across Event Types

Below is how this calculation plays out across different types of events. The only thing that changes is the number of reservations; everything else follows the same formula.

It’s hotel revenue made simple, without the financial exposure that comes with traditional agreements. Have 10 families traveling to a game next weekend? That’s a few hundred dollars you could be earning. Multiply that by every event, every season, and the numbers start to speak for themselves.

2. Quickly create branded booking experiences 

Your event deserves more than a generic travel link. Presto gives you a custom booking page that carries your logo, colors, and event details, so the experience feels seamless from start to finish. Guests see a site that looks like yours, trust the process, and book with confidence.

With Presto, it’s a simple 3-step setup process:

• • Name it – Add your event name (city and dates are optional), which is great for flexible or ongoing booking links. 
  • Brand It – Upload logos, background images, and display images  to match your event or organization
  • Share It – Presto automatically generates a clean, mobile-ready booking link that you can drop into emails, texts and social posts. 

Every booking site feels professional, branded, and ready to support your event the way it should.

3. Support post-block and overflow demand

Traditional room blocks have their limits. Once they sell out or expire, guests still need places to stay. Without a way to capture those bookings, the demand slips to outside channels where you lose visibility and revenue.

Presto fills that gap by keeping hotel options live after your block closes. Late arrivals, overflow traffic, and last-minute guests all see accurate rates and availability through your booking page. Every reservation stays connected to your event, and every booking becomes revenue you can track.

With Presto, you:

• • Extend hotel options beyond your block cutoff
  • Keep late bookings tied to your event
  • Capture commission on overflow demand instead of losing it to OTAs

Presto works alongside your blocks, making sure no booking opportunity falls through the cracks.

4. Unlock a new stream of passive revenue

Every hotel stay tied to your event can be a revenue opportunity. Presto makes it automatic. Guests book through your branded page, and you collect commission without adding new contracts or extra administrative work.

This revenue can:

• • Offset event costs and reduce budget pressure
  • Fundraise for teams, associations, or programs
  • Create incremental income that builds over time

Presto transforms hotel demand into a steady revenue stream that runs in the background, allowing you to focus on running the event.

5. Works for any event size or timeline

Presto adapts to the event you are running. It supports a ten-person wedding, a regional club tournament, a family trip, or a college sports championship game. Short lead time or long, Presto scales to match demand without adding complexity to your process.

With Presto, event organizers can:

• • Launch custom booking pages for small or large events with equal ease
  • Support both last-minute gatherings and overflow demand for planned events
  • Keep housing flexible as guest numbers change

Whether the event happens in two weeks or two days, Presto makes it simple to offer hotel options that fit.

6. Total transparency and tracking

With Presto, you see every booking tied to your event in one place. The dashboard shows who booked, where they are staying, and how much revenue the event has generated. 

With Presto, you can:

• • Track bookings in real time as guests reserve rooms
  • Measure revenue performance across all events
  • Maintain visibility into attendee lodging choices

That level of clarity lets you manage demand with confidence and prove the value of housing back to your stakeholders.

Who is Presto Built For? 

Presto is built for any event that wants to capture hotel revenue. Presto is perfect for:

• • Events with short planning windows: Think college sports, funerals, alumni gatherings, club team travel, even small business trips. If people need to travel and there’s no time for contracts, Presto gets it done.
  • Traditional events that want to stop losing overflow revenue: Presto doesn’t replace your room blocks or RFPs; it complements them. Use it for:
    • • Last-minute demand
      • Overflow after a block fills or closes
      • Attendees who don’t book through your official channels

Presto adapts to different types of events with the same promise: a booking process that is simple for guests, branded for your organization, and structured to generate measurable returns. 

Here are some of the most common scenarios where it makes an immediate impact:

1. Club sports and travel teams

Club sports and travel teams (youth, high school, college, or professional affiliate) are on the road almost every weekend. Most of the time, someone just drops a hotel link in the group chat and calls it a day.

Presto turns that same process into a built-in fundraiser:

• • Families book the rooms they were already going to book
  • They get competitive rates, often 5–10% lower than third-party sites
  • And the team earns money back on every booking

It’s like a bake sale that runs in the background every weekend. No tables, no clean-up, just extra revenue.

2. College athletics and NIL initiatives

Fans, families, and alumni travel regularly for away games and postseason play. Presto channels that demand into a branded booking experience tied to your athletic program or NIL fund, creating a consistent new stream of support.

Between ticket drives, booster campaigns, and NIL fundraisers, supporters are being asked to give more, more often. And as schools across the country are seeing, even your most loyal fans eventually experience donor fatigue.. That’s why it’s critical to create new revenue channels that don’t feel like another ask.

With Presto, athletic departments can:

• • Offer trusted, curated hotel options for every game or event
  • Capture revenue from every trip alumni, fans, or families make
  • Reinforce NIL fundraising without adding pressure to give

3. Funeral homes and urgent family travel

Funeral services often require immediate travel, leaving families little time to make arrangements. Presto provides an instant booking link with nearby hotels that can be added to obituary pages or shared directly in confirmation emails.

With Presto in your funeral home's tech stack, you can:

• • Ease the burden of last-minute planning for families
  • Ensure hotel options are simple and accessible
  • Generate added revenue while improving the guest experience

4. Weddings

Room blocks fill quickly, and guest lists often grow late in the process. Presto gives couples and planners a straightforward backup so every guest has hotel options without needing to renegotiate contracts.

With Presto, planners can:

• • Share a customized hotel booking page alongside or after their block closes
  • Provide overflow options when the block sells out
  • Maintain visibility into where guests are staying

5. Association conferences 

Large meetings and conferences always produce bookings post-block. But when this happens, you lose visibility into those bookings and miss out on the revenue.  Presto keeps that overflow tied to your event so you don’t lose visibility or commission when attendees book late.

With Presto, associations can:

• • Extend housing access beyond the block cutoff
  • Keep attendees in the loop with consistent booking options
  • Capture additional revenue without adding new contracts

6. Construction sites 

Small and mid-sized construction companies often handle employee travel week to week without a formal process. Usually, it's just a few hotel links and a credit card. Presto turns that into a recurring revenue opportunity.

Whether you're booking rooms for your own crew or sharing a booking link with clients, project managers, or subcontractors, Presto makes sure every hotel stay drives value back to your business.

With Presto, construction companies can:

• • Simplify travel logistics for crews on the move
  • Generate commission on travel they were already booking
  • Monetize hotel stays for clients and partners visiting the site

7. Youth sports tournaments 

Presto is a perfect add-on for housing companies managing youth tournaments. Once the block closes or fills, families still need a place to stay. That’s where Presto comes in.

With Presto, you can:

• • Capture post-block bookings that would otherwise go to third-party sites
  • Keep families in the loop with curated, event-specific hotel options
  • Extend your revenue window without adding operational lift

Conclusion: Stop Sending Guests Away With Nothing in Return

You already know the problem. Traditional housing works for long-lead events, but it leaves gaps when everything moves fast. Contracts carry risk, RFPs take too long, and overflow demand slips away. That’s lost revenue, lost visibility, and no way to connect hotel stays back to your event.

Presto by EventPipe closes those gaps. It gives you live hotel inventory in a branded booking page you can launch in minutes. No contracts, no minimums, no setup headaches. Just a simple way to capture the bookings already happening around your event and turn them into revenue you control.

You are already sending people to hotels. With Presto, you finally get paid for it. Ready to see it in action? Schedule a demo of Presto by EventPipe.