Both the banquet hall and a function hall are venues that are rented by an individual, a group, an organization or an authority to hold specialized events. They have a lot of similarities in terms of structure, pricing and usage such that they are often used for the same purpose and are referred to interchangeably. However, conceptually they are very much different. But before we discuss the difference, let us elaborate on both categories individually and talk about them in detail.
Banquet Hall
Banquet halls are buildings or portions of buildings that are booked by individuals or groups of individuals for holding private functions like weddings, anniversaries, birthday parties, etc. They are mostly constructed as inseparable parts of a hotel, resort or commercial entertainment hub. Banquet halls are also built independently as stand-alone buildings on separate premises for hosting large commercial events or social ceremonies. The banquet halls that are parts of hotels, resorts and clubs offer many additional services to their customers like decoration, catering, complete event management, DJ and photography among others apart from providing the space. The idea is to provide a complete package of associated or related services to the customers so that they can enjoy the event tension and hassle-free. Since food and drinks are already available for guests in the hotels and resorts through their in-house kitchens, providing them for the events and parties is nothing but mere extension of those services. Most banquet halls in Delhi even make these in-house services compulsory inclusions in the venue-booking package. The standalone banquet halls also provide these additional services to their customers through external vendors whom they enlist on their panel. For your better understanding, let us summarize all about banquet halls through some points listed below,
i) In-house Catering and Bar: As discussed already, apart from a few standalone ones, the majority of the banquet halls have their in-house kitchens and bars which make it easy for them to serve cooked food and drinks for events.
ii) Properly Organized: Banquet halls are super organized. Being part of the hotels and resorts, they have all the necessary infrastructure and basic amenities like washrooms, power backup, lifts and spacious car parking ready to successfully host an event or a party.
iii) Budget-friendly: The biggest point in favour of a banquet hall is its affordability. Banquet halls are quality venues at affordable prices. They are relatively cheaper than the other venue options across all venue categories.
iv) Well-managed: Cleaning, maintenance and supervision are key aspects of successful event management. No event or party becomes successful due to its front-office executives. It’s always the back-office staff like the cleaners, waiters, helpers and attendants who make an event successful. And most banquet halls for function have enough manpower to effectively manage all these aspects.
v) Hosting Capacity: Banquet halls vary in shape and size. There are small banquet halls that can’t hold more than 50-60 guests at a time in a sitting position, while there are other banquet halls, which are so large that they can comfortably host as many as 1200 to 1500 people in a sitting position all at the same time. Most reputable hotels and resorts have several banquet halls of different sizes inside their premises so that they can host all kinds of private events right from small birthday parties to large wedding receptions. They can also combine all of those in case there is such a requirement.
vi) Rules & Restrictions: Since banquet halls are indoor spaces, there are certain limitations and restrictions that guests must abide by. If you are planning to burst firecrackers at your wedding, a banquet hall may not be the right place to do so.
Function Hall
On the other hand, function halls are structures or parts of buildings built primarily to host various functions or events like meetings, seminars, convocations, launching ceremonies, etc. Their purpose is to hold all kinds of events other than private parties and celebrations of personal occasions. Just like the banquet halls they can also be big or small in size. A function hall may have a dais or an elevated platform built inside to facilitate the events.
The Difference
All said and discussed, let’s point out the difference between the two below,
i) The first and the foremost and possibly the biggest difference between a banquet hall and a function hall is related to the food. The word “banquet hall” originated from the word “banquet” which means “a formal meal” or a grand feast. So, a banquet hall is a venue or place where people essentially gather for a grand feast usually to celebrate a marriage, birthday or anniversary or any other personal event or occasion. Since food and drinks are related to each other they both can be served at a private party organized in a banquet hall. So, the key element in the case of a banquet hall is food. On the other hand, a function hall originally doesn’t relate to any food and beverage simply because people don’t attend a seminar or an important meeting to enjoy a grand feast or celebrate with booze. Function halls are used for a specific purpose and the purpose is definitely not to celebrate a personal occasion.
ii) The premises of most banquet halls are associated with private clubs, hotels and resorts. In fact, they are part of the overall structures of the hotels or resorts. On the contrary, function halls are not built inside the premises of hotels, clubs or resorts. They are mostly standalone structures built independently on separate land or inside a society.
iii) Banquet halls can be both small as well as large built to meet varied customer requirements. But function halls are usually built to host larger events like seminars and convocations.
iv) Banquet halls provide most of the services in-house. They have kitchens and bars inside their premises which further facilitate this process, whereas function halls do not have these kinds of infrastructure inside their premises.
v) Banquet halls offer some additional services as well like Decoration, DJ, Photography, etc. As discussed above, most of them even provide complete event management services where executives manage everything related to a personal event. But function halls don’t offer any such services. Nor do they have any event management team to organize an event. Everything including the vendors has to be brought in and managed on your own.
Conclusion
Although the two types of halls are conceptually and originally different from each other, it is impossible to practically differentiate between the two in real life. Corporate meetings and convocations are regularly held at the banquet halls of reputable hotels and resorts. Similarly, weddings are often hosted in community function halls. There is no law or restriction to act otherwise. Corporate meetings and seminars are often followed by gala celebrations and grand feasts these days, and community function halls also end up fully managing large social events quite regularly. Therefore, at this current date and time, it is impossible to separate the two when it comes to usage in real life.
