How to set up online table bookings for your restaurant

A guest who wants to book at 11 pm won’t phone the next morning. They’ll book somewhere else. Online bookings fill tables while you’re closed. Your rules decide which bookings come in, so the diary never takes more than the kitchen and floor can handle.

Bookings come in through a booking widget. This guide sets one up from start to finish.

Before you start

• Lay out your rooms and tables first. Guests can only book tables that exist in Settings > Rooms. See How to set up your restaurant floor plan.
• Decide your largest party size online, how far ahead guests can book and how late they can cancel.

Step 1: Open your booking widget

1. Go to Settings > Business setup > Booking. You’ll see the Booking widget list.
2. Open Main booking widget, or select Create booking widget to start a new one.

The widget has five tabs: Basic info, Booking rules, Booking form, Confirmation & security and Cancellation policy. Your changes apply to the location named at the bottom of the settings menu.

Step 2: Name it and add photos

On Basic info, give the widget a Booking widget name your team will recognise. Add Featured images of your dining room or signature dishes. Guests see them on the booking page, and you can drag them to change the order.

The widget uses your restaurant’s colours and logo. To give this widget its own look, turn on Customize branding for this widget under Custom branding.

Step 3: Set your booking rules

Open Booking rules. These settings decide which bookings guests can make.

Setting	What it controls	Example
Min persons allowed / Max persons allowed	The party sizes guests can book online	1 to 10
Time slot interval	How often booking times are offered	Every 30 minutes
Booking allowed from (days in advance)	How far ahead guests can book	30 days
Booking must be made (hours before)	The latest a guest can book before the time they want	2 hours
Buffer time (minutes)	Time kept free between bookings on a table, for clearing and resetting	30 minutes
No show time (minutes)	How long after the booking time a guest who hasn’t arrived counts as a no-show	30 minutes
Week starts on	The first day of the week on the booking calendar	Monday

Tip: A buffer that’s too short gives your team no time to reset tables on a busy night, and one that’s too long leaves tables empty. Start at 15 to 30 minutes and adjust after a few services.

Step 4: Decide which bookings need your approval

Some bookings are worth checking before you confirm them, like a party of twelve on a Saturday. Under Approval threshold:

1. Turn on Require manual approval.
2. Set Party size above, for example 6 persons.
3. Under Apply rule for, choose All bookings, Weekend bookings or Special seating areas. If you pick special seating, choose the rooms it applies to.
4. Set Auto-cancel if not approved within, so a guest isn’t left waiting if nobody approves their booking in time.

Bookings that need approval appear as Awaiting approval on the Reservations page until someone selects Approve.

Step 5: Choose what guests are asked

Open Booking form. Name, email, phone number, party size, date and time are always asked for. You can also:

• tick Ask for an occasion (Birthday, Anniversary, etc.), so your team knows when to bring a candle
• tick Ask for number of children / infants, so high chairs are ready
• add your own questions under Custom fields, such as dietary requirements, as text, dropdown, checkbox or radio fields, and make them required if you need the answer

Under Marketing consent, write the labels guests see beside the email and SMS opt-in boxes. Guests who tick them can receive your campaigns later.

Step 6: Confirmation and spam protection

On Confirmation & security:

• Turn on Enable reCAPTCHA and add your site key and secret key if you’re getting spam bookings.
• Add a Redirect URL to send guests to your own thank-you page after they book.
• Add Terms & conditions, which appear on the booking confirmation page.

Step 7: Set your cancellation policy

On Cancellation policy:

1. Leave Cancellation allowed on if guests can cancel their own booking.
2. Set the Cancellation window, in hours before the reservation. Guests who cancel before it get a full refund of any deposit. After it, there’s no refund.
3. Turn on Allow booking modifications so guests can change their own booking, and Approval required if you want to check changes first.

Select Save changes.

Step 8: Put the widget where guests will find it

Select Install at the top of the widget to get your booking link and website code. See How to add booking and online ordering to your website and Google.