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You can now have a virtual tour of the Duncan Pavilion and even better see when it's available and book it online for your event!The Duncan Pavilion in Te Kaihau-o-Kupe (Castlecliff), Whanganui is a wonderful venue and the only beach venue available to book in the region!!
This video shows you how you can use our new booking site to see what's on offer at the Duncan, see the available times you can book events, etc and then go ahead and reserve the Duncan Pavilion for your event.
The video is 4 1/2 minutes long as it's showing you the options but actually making your reservation is as fast or faster than booking accommodation on AirBnB and will take less than a minute if you're already registered or maybe two minutes if it's your first time.
How bookings now work:
- You see availability and make a reservation online (this puts a hold on your card and reserves the time so no one else can book it)
- The bookings officer will usually check your booking, add any discounts due and approve your booking within 24 hours. If they have any questions etc they'll get back to you with questions (don't worry your times stay reserved while this happens)
- If you need to change, cancel or just ask questions you can do this online too (prior to 2 weeks before your event you get a full refund less 3.5% booking fee. Less than 2 weeks you get a 50% refund)
Standard rate is only $35/hour. Evening/night bookings are more but discounts apply for Progress Castlecliff Members (first booking $15, local resident 20%, child weekday party 30%) and mean it can cost as little as $20 for a 2 hour weekday event!
Even better every dollar spent for Duncan Pavilion bookings goes back into maintaining and improving the Pavilion.
Backstory:
Progress Castlecliff has managed the Duncan Pavilion bookings on behalf of Whanganui District Council for years. (Council are responsible for external maintenance). We started doing this 20+ years ago when the Pavilion was unused and threatened with demolition to prove how much the community values the building and will use it WHEN given the chance. Not much has changed since then!But it has become increasingly apparent that in 2024 a booking "system" that relies on old & manual processes like an 0508 number & email to find out availability and make bookings, a paper diary, arranging site visits and bank deposits was proving clunky and simply not fit for purpose in a world where people can book and pay for hotels etc in minutes!So at our last meeting the committee voted unanimously to invest in both better systems and then (with systems fixed) in advertising the Pavilion's availability.Chair James and new booking officer Loulou have been busy and the new booking system is now live with different activities and signage to promote the pavilion happening (starting with this post and video). We hope that making bookings easier will mean more use and that will in turn mean more investment in this iconic Castlecliff community place, protecting and ensuring it's future!
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