Setting Up Your Reservation System
Start by defining your tables or bookable resources. For a restaurant, this means entering your table layout — table numbers, seating capacities, and any grouping such as indoor, outdoor, or private dining.
Next, set your reservation hours. These may differ from your operating hours — many restaurants stop taking reservations an hour or more before closing. Set the minimum and maximum party sizes you accept through the booking system.
Finally, define your turn time — how long a party typically occupies a table. This is critical for the system to calculate availability accurately. Different table sizes may have different turn times.
Online Booking
Once configured, the Reservations app generates a booking widget and direct link. Embed the widget on your website or share the link anywhere you would normally list your restaurant.
Customers see available time slots based on your real table availability, party size, and turn times. They select a date, time, and party size, enter their name and contact info, and submit. The reservation appears immediately on your dashboard.
An automatic confirmation goes to the customer via SMS or email with all the details plus calendar integration.
Managing Your Book
The reservations dashboard shows your upcoming bookings by day and time slot. Each reservation shows guest name, party size, time, status, and any notes.
From the dashboard you can confirm, modify, or cancel reservations. You can add notes — dietary restrictions, special occasions, high-top preferences. You can block specific tables or time slots for private events.
When a reserved party arrives, check them in from the dashboard. If they do not arrive within a configurable grace period after their reservation time, the system marks them as a potential no-show and you decide how to handle the table.
No-Show Management
No-shows are managed through a combination of prevention and tracking.
Prevention starts with automated confirmation messages. The system sends a text the day before and the morning of the reservation asking the guest to confirm or cancel. Most no-shows are simply forgotten reservations — a reminder catches them.
For high-demand time slots or large parties, you can optionally require a credit card at booking and define a no-show fee. This is configured per time slot or party size threshold, not as a blanket policy.
Tracking records no-show rates by day, time, party size, and booking source. This data helps you identify patterns and adjust your overbooking buffer or confirmation strategy.
Balancing Reservations and Walk-Ins
The reservations system lets you hold a percentage of your capacity for walk-in traffic. This is configured as a maximum reservation percentage per time slot.
For example, setting a 70% maximum means the system will stop accepting reservations once 70% of your tables are booked for a given time slot, preserving 30% for walk-ins and the queue.
This balance is tunable by day of week and time. Tuesday lunch might allow 50% reservations, while Saturday dinner might go up to 80%. Review your actual mix monthly and adjust.