How to take table bookings online

Do you actually need online bookings?

If you turn people away on busy nights, spend time on the phone taking bookings, get no-shows, or have customers messaging you on Instagram asking for a table, yes. Online bookings mean customers book when they think of it, at 10pm on the sofa, rather than when you are open to answer. They also get a confirmation and a reminder, which cuts no-shows on its own. If you are a walk-in only cafe with a queue out the door, you may not need it, and there is no shame in that.

What you need

• A booking page customers can use on a phone in under a minute, with no account to create.
• A way to get bookings to your staff: email at least, a push notification to a phone ideally.
• Rules that stop the kitchen being slammed: turn times, a cap on covers per service, pacing.
• Confirmation and reminder emails with a way for customers to cancel.
• Somewhere to put the link: Google, Instagram, Facebook, your website, your menus.
• A price that does not depend on how busy you are.

You do not need a marketplace listing, a floor plan editor, an app in the app store, a till integration or a contract. Those are for a different kind of business.

Step 1: choose a system

There are three kinds. Marketplaces such as OpenTable and TheFork list you in their app and charge per diner for the bookings that come through it. Front of house systems such as ResDiary do everything, at a monthly price to match. Booking systems such as Tablez take bookings and tell your staff, for a flat price or free. If you are a 30 to 80 cover independent, start with a booking system. You can always add a marketplace later if you find you need diners you cannot reach yourself.

Tablez is free up to 60 bookings a month and £5 a month paid yearly after that, with no per cover fees. The rest of this guide uses it as the example, but the principles apply to any system.

Step 2: set up your venue (ten minutes)

Opening hours and services

Set the days and times you take bookings. Split lunch and dinner if you have both. Remember that the last booking time is not the closing time: if the kitchen closes at 9:30, the last slot for a two hour turn might be 8:30, and Tablez works that out for you if you tell it.

Tables

Enter tables as groups: how many 2 seaters, 4 seaters, 6 seaters, plus any named tables. Decide whether large parties can combine two tables. Do not add tables you want to keep for walk-ins.

Turn times

How long a table is occupied by party size. Typical starting points: 90 minutes for 1 to 2, 2 hours for 3 to 4, 2 and a half for 5 to 8. Adjust once you see how it goes; too short and you seat people at tables still finishing, too long and you leave tables empty.

Cover caps and pacing

Set a maximum number of covers per service and per 15 minutes. A 40 cover restaurant with one chef might allow 12 covers every 15 minutes at most. This is the single setting that stops a busy night turning into a bad one.

How bookings are confirmed

Instant for small parties is the default and what customers prefer. Staff approved for large parties so you can phone them. Live check for busy nights, where the customer waits a couple of minutes while staff tap accept. Tablez has all three on every plan; pick per party size.

Step 3: get it to your staff

Install the staff app on the bar or pass phone and the manager's own phone. Make sure notifications are allowed. Do a test booking from your own phone and watch it arrive. Agree who answers requests and what happens if nobody does. Tablez lets you choose: decline politely, or park it as a request to email later.

Step 4: put the link everywhere

1. Google Business Profile. Add your booking link as the reservation link. Most bookings for most venues start with a Google search of your name.
2. Instagram bio and Facebook page button. See Instagram and Facebook.
3. Your website. One line of code on WordPress, Squarespace, Wix or anything else. See the booking widget.
4. Menus, bills and the window. A QR code. People book their next visit while paying for this one.
5. Your phone answer message. "To book a table, visit ..." for when you cannot answer.

Step 5: the first month

Watch where bookings come from and when. Adjust turn times and caps once you have a feel for it. Mark no-shows so you build a picture. Ask customers how they found the booking page. Expect the phone to ring less, which is the point.

Things to avoid

• Asking for too much. Name, phone, email, party size, time. Anything more and people give up. Allergies and requests go in an optional box.
• Forcing an account. Nobody wants a password for a pub.
• Per cover fees. They punish your best nights. Tablez has none; check the small print on anything else.
• Long contracts. A booking system should earn its keep every month.
• Booking out the whole room. Keep tables for walk-ins unless you really are booking only.
• Ignoring no-shows. Reminder emails, easy cancellation and a phone call for big groups. Our no-shows guide goes deeper.

Worldwide note

None of this is UK specific. Tablez is built in the UK but works anywhere: set your time zone and everything shows local times, and cards from any country are fine. The advice on Google, Instagram and pacing applies in Lisbon or Melbourne just as it does in Leeds.