Restaurant reservation systems: which option to choose

Bookings are often why a restaurant's phone rings in the middle of service. How you take them decides how much time staff lose, how many tables sit empty and whether guests who don't know you yet can find you.

The four options

1. The phone. The guest calls, someone on staff writes it down.
2. A form on your website that sends the request by email or text. The restaurant confirms.
3. A booking platform, on a subscription. Some are just software for managing tables; others also have their own network of diners searching for restaurants in their app.
4. A custom system on your website, built for the restaurant: guests see open times, book and get a confirmation.

The phone and the form

The phone is the simplest option, but it ties someone up at exactly the busiest times, and bookings written on paper get lost or double-booked. A form on your website takes some of the calls and collects requests overnight.

A good form asks only for what you need: date, time, party size, name, phone number and a field for notes (an allergy, a stroller, a birthday). The request lands in the restaurant's inbox or phone, and someone confirms, ideally within the hour. The form collects personal information, so the site needs a privacy policy.

This option has a limit: the guest doesn't know whether they have a table until the confirmation arrives. For a few bookings a day it works well; for dozens, manual confirmations become a job in themselves.

Booking platforms

A booking platform shows guests the open times, sends confirmations and reminders, and gives you a floor plan showing who's coming and where they'll sit. The big difference between them is the network: some are software for the restaurant only, others have an app where diners search for restaurants, so they can bring new guests.

The network costs extra. OpenTable, one of the largest platforms, publishes its US prices:

The standard contract runs one year and renews automatically. OpenTable says it charges cover fees only for seated diners, not for no-shows or cancellations, and charges nothing for phone bookings or walk-ins.

Before choosing any platform, ask about the subscription, the fee per guest or per booking, the minimum contract term and whether you can export your guest list if you leave.

A custom system on your website

A custom system does what a platform does (open times, automatic confirmations, reminders, a floor plan for staff), but on the restaurant's own site, with no fee per booking. Guest data stays with you, and the system can follow your rules: how long a table is held, which tables can be joined, set-menu nights, deposits for groups.

You pay for the build and the maintenance, plus text messages if you use them. It doesn't bring new guests on its own: people reach it from your website, your Google profile and social media. We build it as a web app, connected to the rest of the site.

How to cut no-shows

A booked table that stays empty is a table you couldn't give to someone else. What helps:

• Reminders: one message the day before and one a few hours before.
• A cancel link in the message. A guest who can cancel with one tap tells you more often than one who has to call.
• A waitlist for full nights.
• A card hold or a deposit for large groups and busy nights. The terms (amount, cancellation deadline, when money is refunded) are stated clearly before booking, and the payment goes through your payment processor.

Bookings from Google and ChatGPT

Many guests reach a booking from the restaurant's profile on Google Maps. There you have two options:

• A link to your own booking page, added to the profile. Google says performance data isn't available for custom links.
• One of Google's booking partners, so guests book right from the profile. Google warns that the provider may charge you for bookings made through Google.

ChatGPT can also find restaurants, show open times and complete the booking, but only through the platforms it works with: OpenTable worldwide, Resy in the US and Yelp in the US and Canada. A restaurant that isn't on them can still be recommended by ChatGPT, but the guest has to go to the website or call to book. How to show up in those answers is covered in the guide to ChatGPT and Google's AI answers.

How to choose

• A few bookings a day: the phone and a form on your website.
• The phone rings constantly and staff can't keep up: a system with open times and automatic confirmation, from a platform or custom-built.
• You want new guests, tourists for example: a platform with its own diner network, keeping an eye on the per-guest fee.
• You take many bookings and don't want to pay for each one: a custom system on your website.

Whichever you choose, the booking button belongs on your home page and on your Google profile. The rest is in the guide to what a restaurant website needs.