Split guests into groups

Large events rarely have a single guest group: adults, children, suppliers, musicians. With guest groups you record that split on the event. Important: there is still exactly one guest count per event — Univents keeps using that single number for costing, staffing and documents.

Guest groups are available from the Core plan. Your own prices per guest group — a percentage, free of charge or a fixed item price — are available from the Growth plan.

Create groups once

1. Open Settings > Guest groups.
2. The first time you open it, Univents creates two groups for you: Adults and Children. You can rename or delete them.
3. New group adds more, for example “Musicians” or “Suppliers”.

Every group has a Counts as a guest switch. When it is off, the group appears in the split but its count does not go into the guest count. That is the right place for musicians, photographers or staff.

Price per group

Every group has a price mode. It applies to all per-guest items and sits in the same list, in the Price column:

• Full price — the group pays what the item costs.
• Percentage of the price — a share rather than a discount: 50 means half price. The percentage applies to the price after the customer price group.
• Free of charge — the group gets a position at 0.00 € with its guest count.
• Do not charge — no position is created for the group. That is the right place for musicians and suppliers.

Groups that do not count as guests start with Do not charge.

Prices per guest group on the item

The group’s price mode applies everywhere. A single item can override it: open Inventory, open the item and scroll to Price & Stock → Prices per guest group. There is a price field per group.

• Empty means: the group’s price mode applies.
• An entered price applies only to this item and this group — even when the customer has a price group. A children’s buffet at 18 € stays at 18.00 €.
• Payroll items and tickets keep their price — guest groups do not apply to them. A package can carry a price per guest group; it sits on the package line, and the components still cost 0.00.

Prices per guest group require the Growth plan — the groups themselves are available from Core.

Split an event

1. Open an event and scroll to the Guests in groups card.
2. Click Split into groups.
3. Enter the count per group. Groups you leave empty are not part of the split.
4. The total is locked and follows from the groups that count as guests.
5. Save.

The card then shows the split and the event’s total. Edit split changes it, Remove split takes you back to a single guest count.

Splitting while creating, copying and in series

• While creating: the guest step of the wizard offers a Split into groups block as soon as you have groups. Enter numbers there and the total follows from them and is locked. Leave the block alone and the guest count stays free.
• Copy: copying an event gives the copy the original’s split, counts per group included.
• Series: if you enter a split while creating a series, every event in the series gets the same split.

One position per group

As soon as one group has its own price mode or the item carries a fixed group price, Univents creates a per-guest item per group — one booking position per group, in the order of your groups. A “Menu” at 40.00 € with 50 % for children becomes, with 60 adults, 12 children and 5 musicians:

• Menu – Adults, 60 guests × 40.00 €
• Menu – Children, 12 guests × 20.00 €
• Menu – Musicians, 5 guests × 40.00 €

For each of these positions:

• The group’s count sits on the guest axis of the position, not in the quantity — the factor chain reads “12 guests × 20.00 €”.
• A group with 0 guests gets no position.
• A group set to Free of charge gets a position at 0.00 € with its guest count.
• A fixed group price on the item replaces the base price; a percentage applies to the price after the customer price group.
• Price conditions such as “weekend +10 %” hit every group line the same way; a line discount applies per line.

On the quote, each group line is its own position carrying the group name — in the PDF and on the e-invoice just the same. In the bookings and in the editor, each line also carries a badge with the group name.

Nothing set up? Then everything stays as before: one position per item, one price, the same guest count. Anyone who does not maintain prices per guest group notices no difference.

On the booking page

When a guest enters a number per group on the multi-step booking page, the cart shows one line per group with its own price — “Menu – Children, 12 × 20.00” — and the total below it. What is saved is the same line the cart shows: unit price, guest count and group name.

• Sidebar and recap carry one line per group with the group name; the mobile bar still shows only the total.
• “Per guest” disappears as soon as an item is split — with child prices that would be an average nobody pays.
• Surcharges from the menu appear as one line per group, with that group’s guest count and the full surcharge. A free group pays no surcharge.
• Non-counting groups (musicians, suppliers) are priced by their price type but do not go into the guest count.
• Inquiry page now asks per group as well — the split applies there in the same way, even when prices are hidden on the page. The webshop still asks for a single guest count and calculates without group prices.
• Packages split like any item: you get one line per group, with the price on the package line and that group’s count. The components cost 0.00 and count in full for kitchen quantities and purchasing in every group — 12 children means 12 × the component quantities. Smaller children’s portions are handled through how the costing counts, not through a separate price.

Without the Growth plan the page still asks for the groups but calculates with a single line: the numbers still reach the inquiry, yet no separate price per group is created.

If a group is archived or taken off the page, booking with it is no longer possible: on submit a notice appears that the selection is no longer available and nothing is saved. Reload the page and check the numbers.

When the split changes

When you change a group’s count on the event, its positions follow:

• Counts follow: the group line then sits in the bookings and in open quote drafts with the new guest count — recalculated with the price, not the old amount times the new number.
• Group down to 0: the position disappears, even if it was the last of its kind.
• New group (0 → 3 teenagers): no position appears on its own. The bookings show “A line for Teenagers (3) is missing for: Menu, Buffet — add it”; Add creates it with one click.
• Changed by you: if you adjusted a group line’s count yourself or deleted the line, it stays that way. Univents does not overwrite your number and does not recreate a deleted line.
• Sent and accepted documents stay unchanged and keep the familiar “outdated” notice — as with any other change to the event.
• Same item twice on the same day with groups: Univents changes nothing and asks you to check the positions.

Set a fixed group price later? An existing unsplit position stays put; the bookings show “Menu is not yet split by guest group — split”. One click splits it, as long as no quote has been sent for it. Remove the group price again and existing group lines stay as they are.

Changing the guest count, prices stay

If only the guest count changes — through the guest groups, an accepted change request from the customer portal, the AI assistant or Apply guest count from the guest list — drafts and a new quote version only follow with the quantities of the per-guest line items. Unit prices stay as they are in the document: going from 60 to 70 guests turns 60 × €40.00 into 70 × €40.00, not into a new price. If the date or duration of the event changes as well, Univents recalculates the prices as before. If the new guest count moves a line into another tier (a price rule by guest count or quantity, such as “from 100 guests −€2”), the price of that line adapts; this only applies to lines whose price comes from the catalogue or from price rules. Lines with an individual price, for example from a template or set by hand, keep their price; if you want the tier there, use Recalculate prices. If the date or room changes at the same time, everything is recalculated as before.

If you change the number through the guest groups and drafts exist, Univents asks Recalculate documents?. With Recalculate documents, the drafts apply the new guest count to their per-guest line items; with Later this only happens once you recalculate yourself. Unit prices stay unchanged either way. If a line item keeps its own price, the card then shows the note “N line items kept their own price; check them if a tier price should apply.”

If a per-guest line has a quantity entered by hand that differs from the guest count, it stays unchanged when you apply the new guest count. Univents tells you and names the first affected lines – change the quantity directly in the document if needed.

Import and AI chat

• Import: the event import template has one Guests <Group> column per group — “Guests Adults”, “Guests Children” and so on. Numbers there create the split along with the event. The Guest count column may stay empty; a number that differs from the groups’ sum makes the review step report the row as an error. A group your account does not have is never created by the import — the row stops with a named error. Details: Spreadsheet import: products, contacts and events.
• Item import: the product template gets one Preis <Group> column per active guest group — for example “Preis Kinder”. If a customer price group has the same name, the guest group’s column reads Preis Kinder (guest group). The value is the fixed net price; an empty cell neither sets nor deletes anything. Details: Importing products.
• AI chat: “Set the children to 10” or “Split 60 adults and 12 children across Saturday’s wedding”. Univents looks up the event (or the inquiry), matches the name to the right group and answers with the new guest count and the whole split. Groups you leave out disappear from the split; “Lift the split” puts the event back to a single guest count. If you add a per-guest item through the chat, the group lines appear just as in the bookings; ask for an event’s price and Univents calculates per group and states the total.

Customer portal and guest list

In the customer portal the groups appear with their counts below the guest count. The customer can propose a new number per group; it only applies once you accept the change request — like any other request in the back office.

When the guest list brings in a new number via Adopt guest count, the difference moves into the first counting group and the message names that group. If the requested number cannot be reached because of the other groups, Univents says so too.

What happens to the guest count

The total stays the event’s number. It shows in the KPI row and is used everywhere else: per-guest positions on quotes and invoices, staffing, materials.

• If the guest count changes elsewhere, for example while editing the event, the difference moves into the first counting group. The sum of the groups therefore always matches the total.
• If the total changes, Univents checks the event’s finance documents. In drafts, the quantities of the per-guest line items follow and unit prices stay (see “Changing the guest count, prices stay”); for quotes and invoices already sent, Univents asks you first.
• Only non-counting groups: if you only enter groups that do not count as guests, the guest count stays empty. The split still shows on the event.

What stays one line

• Packages split like any item: each group gets a position with the price and that group’s count; the components carry no price of their own and do not appear on the document. For kitchen quantities and purchasing, every component counts in full per group (12 children = 12 × the component quantities); smaller children’s portions are handled through how the costing counts, not through the price.
• Payroll items and tickets keep their price — group prices do not apply to them.
• Costing stays one line per item. It calculates with its own costed price, not with the guest group’s price. If the item is already on the quote as a group line, it does not add a second position.
• The public booking page shows one line per group with its own price in the cart (see On the booking page). The split also applies in the bookings, in the editor and on the quotes and invoices that come from them.

Archive a group instead of deleting it

A group you no longer need can be archived. It then no longer appears on new events; counts already entered stay and keep counting. Existing group lines keep their price.

Deleting only works while no event uses the group and it sits in no booking or document position — otherwise Univents tells you the group is still in use. Remove the split there first, archive the group, or remove the position.