Method and system for network-enabled venue booking

Abstract

Method and system for network-enabled means to book a venue. Via a network, a bidding sub-system is deployed for providing information related to a venue to a subscriber and receiving a bid from the subscriber to book the venue for a future event. Information related to a received bid is posted via electronic means and provided to a venue representative who represents the venue and desires to receive a bid via the network for booking the venue. Through a venue representative control sub-system, the venue representative is able to select a bid to book the venue for a future event hosted by a subscriber who placed the selected bid via the bidding mechanism.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method implemented on a machine having at least one processor, storage, and a communication platform for bidding over network connections, the method comprising:
 determining one or more subscribers who are interested in booking a venue for a future event based on information related to the one or more subscribers;   providing information related to the venue to the one or more subscribers, the information including a solicitation for at least one bid to book the venue for the future event;   facilitating the one or more subscribers to place at least one bid to book the venue for the future event in response to the solicitation;   receiving the at least one bid from the one or more subscribers; and   providing the received at least one bid to a venue representative who represents the venue and has discretion to select one of the at least one bid.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the step of determining comprises:
 matching professions of the one or more subscribers with a characteristic of the venue.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the information related to the venue includes at least one criterion specified by the venue representative in connection with the solicitation. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein the information related to the venue further includes at least one of locale of the venue, capacity of the venue, a description of the venue, and availability of the venue. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein facilitating the one or more subscribers to place at least one bid comprises:
 creating an account for a subscriber; and   receiving a payment from the subscriber to maintain its ability to place a bid for booking the venue.   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising:
 enabling each of the one or more subscribers who placed a bid to solicit a pledged support from another to support the bid placed by the subscriber. 
 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the another whose pledged support is solicited includes at least one of:
 members of a community to which the subscriber who placed the bid belongs,   buddies of the subscriber,   members of the venue for which the subscriber placed a bid, and   any person associated with the subscriber in an electronically identifiable manner.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the pledged support includes one of a pre-sell purchase order and a pledged commitment to participate in the future event hosted by the subscriber who placed the bid. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the bidding occurs in a context of an Internet community. 
     
     
         10 . A method implemented on a machine having at least one processor, storage, and a communication platform for bidding over network connections, the method comprising:
 determining one or more venues suitable for a future event organized by an event promoter based on information of the future event provided by the event promoter;   providing information related to the one or more venues to the event promoter;   facilitating the event promoter to submit a proposal or hosting the future event at any of the one or more venues;   receiving, from the event promoter, the proposal for hosting the future event; and   providing the received proposal to a venue representative who represents the corresponding venue and has discretion to accept, reject or modify the proposal.   
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the proposal for hosting the future event includes at least one constraint specified by the event promoter based on the information of the future event. 
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the information of the future event includes at least one of a type of the future event, time of the future event, and locale of the future event. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 10 , wherein the step of facilitating comprises:
 upon a request, providing a bidding status associated with each of the one or more venues to the event promoter;   receiving a response to the proposal for hosting the future event from the corresponding venue representative; and   updating the information related to the one or more venues based on the bidding status and/or the received response.   
     
     
         14 . A method implemented on a machine having at least one processor, storage, and a communication platform for bidding over network connections, the method comprising:
 facilitating a consumer to make one or more requests directed to one or more subscribers to place a bid on one or more venues;   receiving the one or more requests from the consumer directed to the one or more subscribers to place the bid; and   providing the one or more requests to the corresponding one or more subscribers to invite the one or more subscribers to place the bid.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14  further comprising:
 interacting with at least one of the one or more subscribers to specify a future event that the at least one subscriber intends to hold. 
 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein at least one of the one or more requests is directed to a particular subscriber specified by the consumer. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein at least one of the one or more requests is directed to any subscriber that satisfies one or more conditions specified by the consumer. 
     
     
         18 . A method implemented on a machine having at least one processor, storage, and a communication platform for bidding over network connections, the method comprising:
 providing information related to a future event to be held at a venue to one or more third party vendors;   facilitating the one or more third party vendors to make at least one offer of service to the future event at the venue;   receiving, from the one or more third party vendors, the at least one offer of service; and   providing the at least one offer to a venue representative who represents the venue and/or a subscriber who placed a bid on the venue for the future event.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising:
 determining whether the at least one offer of service is directed to the venue representative, the subscriber, or both. 
 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18  further comprising:
 receiving a response to the at least one offer from the venue representative and/or the subscriber; and 
 updating the information related to the future event based on the received response.