A client portal with no login: the host’s private page
Updated September 15, 2026.
Banquette’s host page is a client portal with no login: a private link the house issues from the party’s record, where the host of a private event reads the evening, the order, the guest list and the invoice, and from which they sign the event contract by typing their name.
No account, no password. The footer carries the house’s name and address, the person who keeps the book, and a mail link with the party in the subject line.
- The host never makes an account or a password. The page is a private link.
- Four tabs: the evening, the order, the guests, the invoice.
- The host signs the event contract by typed name; the general manager or events manager countersigns, and the party becomes contracted.
- Each signature records the typed name, email, time, IP address and browser against a SHA-256 hash of the terms.
- The host cannot pay online, change the menu or the count, or read guests’ dietary notes.
- The house issues the link and can revoke it. It expires, and the database keeps only a digest of it.
What can the host do on the private page?
Four tabs, sized for a thumb.
| Tab | What the host sees | What the host can do |
|---|---|---|
| The evening | Where the agreement stands, in plain words; guests expected; replies (attending, declined, yet to answer); the balance | Open the agreement to sign it or read it again |
| Your order | The menu, by course and dish, and the count the kitchen is cooking for | Read it; changes go to the office |
| Guests | The guest list the office also sees | Add guests one per line; remove a guest after confirming |
| Invoice | The agreement amount, each deposit, payment or refund with its date, the balance or credit, and the schedule marked received, still to come or past due | Read it; print it from the browser |
The guest list is one list, shared with the office. The host pastes or types guests one per line — a name, then an email and a seat count from 1 to 50 if they have them — and every line records whose hand wrote it. The house sends the invitations, and each guest answers on a link of their own; see how guests RSVP with no account.
What can’t the host do?
Pay. Payments are taken by the office, as they are today. Banquette processes no payments and stores no card, and the Invoice tab is a live view of the office’s ledger — not a numbered invoice, and no receipt is emailed.
Change the menu or the count. A party’s menu becomes sellable only when two different chefs have signed it, and changing any course voids their signatures — see the two-chef menu signatures. So changes go through the office, and the count stays the office’s number.
Read what guests told the kitchen. The server strips the text of each dietary note before it reaches the host’s browser. Every staff seat can read the notes, and the printed kitchen sheet lists them.
Nor does the host approve a banquet event order: the page shows the party itself, not a versioned BEO awaiting sign-off.
How does the host sign the event contract?
On a second private page, /sign/<token>, again with no login. It shows the house’s name, the contract title, the party, the date, the venue, the amount and the full text of the terms. The host types their full name and presses “Adopt & sign”.
What comes back: the typed signature, the time in the venue’s own time zone, and the first twelve characters of the terms’ record hash, with a button to print or save a copy. Signed paper re-opens read-only. The host reaches the page from the host page, which mints a fresh signing link on each press and retires the old one.
The evidence behind the e-signature
The terms are fixed when the contract is drafted, by a SHA-256 hash. Each signature adds a row to a table the database allows no one to change or delete: typed name, email, time, IP address and browser.
The countersignature
Only the general manager or the events manager may countersign; the coordinator drafts, sends and voids, but cannot. Countersigning moves the party to contracted in the same transaction.
What it is not: a DocuSign or Dropbox Sign integration, or a certificate of completion. The hash covers the terms as structured data, not a rendered PDF.
How does the private link stay private?
The office issues the host link from the party’s record. The database keeps only a SHA-256 digest of it, never the link itself, and a wrong, expired or revoked link returns a plain 404 that says nothing about the party. The host, signing and RSVP pages set no cookies; more in the privacy policy.
| Link | Address | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| Host page | /host/<token> | 30 days after the event; held open while a balance or credit stands, up to a year after the party — and past the year, each payment or still-pending installment holds it another thirty days |
| Signing page | /sign/<token> | 30 days after it was last sent; a fresh link retires the old |
| Guest RSVP | /rsvp/<token> | 30 days after the event |
The house can revoke any of them at any time.
Why a portal without a login?
Because the host is a guest of the house, not a user of software. An account asks for a password chosen for one evening and forgotten by the next. A link asks nothing: open it, read, sign.
How do other event portals handle sign-in?
Two examples, from the vendors’ own documentation, checked September 15, 2026.
- Tripleseat’s help center describes Guest Portal access only through links the venue sends, and documents no guest login or account. Contacts listed on the event can pay online there, which Banquette’s host page does not do. More in Banquette and Tripleseat, compared.
- Planning Pod’s client portal needs a login the venue invites the client to create; contracts, proposals and BEOs can still be e-signed from an emailed link with no account. More in Banquette and Planning Pod, compared.
Sources: Tripleseat, Guest Portal tips (updated December 2022); Tripleseat, Pay Online in the Guest Portal (updated September 2023); Planning Pod, client portals; Planning Pod, e-signatures for contracts; Planning Pod, e-signatures for proposals; Planning Pod, signatures for BEOs.
Questions about the host page
Does the host need an account or a password?
No. The host page is a private link the house issues from the party’s record: nothing to sign up for, nothing to remember, no app. It opens in any browser, phone included.
Can the host pay a deposit or the balance on the page?
No. Banquette processes no payments and stores no card. The office takes payment as it does today and records it; the Invoice tab shows each deposit, payment or refund with its date, the balance and the schedule.
Can the host change the menu or the guest count?
No. The order tab shows the menu and the count the kitchen is cooking for, and asks the host to write to the office for any change, with a mail link to the house.
What is recorded when the host signs the contract?
The typed name, email, time, IP address and browser, in a table the database allows no one to edit or delete, against a SHA-256 hash of the terms fixed when the contract was drafted. It is a built-in typed-name signature, not a DocuSign integration, and it issues no certificate of completion.
Who countersigns, and when is the event contracted?
The general manager or the events manager countersigns from the console; the coordinator can draft, send and void a contract but cannot countersign. The countersignature moves the party to contracted in the same step.
What happens if the link is forwarded?
Anyone holding the link can open the page, and the house can revoke it at any time; a revoked, expired or mistyped link returns a plain 404. A host link never shows what guests told the kitchen, only that a note was left.
How long does the link last?
A host link expires 30 days after the event. It stays open while a balance or credit stands, up to a year after the party — and past the year, only while the money is still moving: each recorded payment, and each installment still to fall due, holds it open another thirty days. A signing link expires 30 days after it was last sent.
Each guest answers on their own link: coming or not, how many seats, and a note for the kitchen.
A party’s menu becomes sellable only when two different chefs have signed it.
The couple’s own page, the guest list and the payment schedule, on one book.
Flat monthly, per property: Solo at $249 includes e-signatures; House is $499.