Also calledStand bookingFloor salesSpace booking
Zone pricing and premium positions
Not every square metre is worth the same. Corner stands, positions on a main aisle and anything near the entrance carry a premium, and pricing them on the plan captures that value automatically instead of leaving it to a negotiation. Zones also let you protect a product category or a national pavilion.
Holds, and why they must expire
Sales conversations need a reservation, but a hold that only exists in someone's memory is how two exhibitors end up sold the same stand. A hold with an expiry on it returns the space to the floor by itself and keeps the plan honest.
Self-serve versus assisted sales
Large exhibitors will always want a call. Smaller ones convert far better when they can look at the plan at midnight, see what is free, see the price and book it. A good setup serves both from the same live plan rather than from a PDF that is already out of date.