Guests can make bookings instead of joining a virtual queue.
So where do I start?
Upon clicking the bookings tab found in your 'Settings', you'll notice that you won't be able to enable bookings straight away:
This is simply so that you can ensure you have your booking preferences perfected before going live with it.
Step 1: Maximum Party Size
Before being able to create your booking setup, you first have to decide what the largest party size you're allowing to book
Step 2: Booking Throughput
Once you've decided on the maximum party size, the main setup journey begins
Step 2A: As soon as you click 'Create setup', you'll have the ability to pick which:
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Days diners are able to book for - selected bookable days will appear blue
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Hour ranges booking is available - you can have as many or as little time breaks in between. Don't worry about the booking slots available per hour (e.g. every 15minutes / 30minutes etc.) as the option for that will follow once your main booking throughput has been saved
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Limitations per booking range - i.e.:
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Party Size - How many parties of 2 / 3 / 4 etc. are able to book within that time range
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Booking Limit: This determines how many parties of this party size you want to be able to book within the time range (Seating Time)
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Seating Time: This determines how long that party will be using a table.
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Once you've decided your bookable days, hours & party size booking limits, all you'll need to do is press 'Save' and then 'Back to Summary'.
Your saved booking throughput will be summarised and shown as below:
Step 2B: Once your booking throughput has been completed you can then choose your booking increments, i.e. is a booking available every 15minutes, 30 minutes or 45minutes? The selected time increment will be shown in blue:
Step 2C: The final step in completing your booking settings is deciding how far in advance diners are able to book at your restaurant. You'll have the option of 'hours', 'days', or 'weeks' in advance (chosen option will be highlighted in blue) - i.e. if you chose weeks and set it for 4, then it means diners will be able to book 4 weeks in advance.
Once decided press 'Save'
Step 2D (Optional): If there is a day you know the restaurant will not be accepting bookings, e.g. christmas day, or team dinners, you can also block off particular days, disabling diners from making any bookings for those set days.
Have your days selected out? Press 'Save' and there'll be no bookings for that day.
Step 3: Booking Link For Your Website
Having completed your booking preferences, you'll need to add a link to your website to allow diners to start booking.
The 'Copy Link' is all you'll need to add to your website, and we'll handle the rest.
Step 4: System Visibility
You've set your booking system up! Now that your booking link is up and diners are able to start reserving directly via your website, you'll need to decide how far in advance on the day you want the bookings to show up on your main 'queue' page. This is completely flexible and the ability to change the hours or minutes before a booking appears on your main page is at your complete discretion,
In addition to the bookings that are appearing on your queue page (depending on how far in advance you want it to show up), you can also have an overall view of all your bookings by selecting 'Bookings' in the sidebar menu.
Step 5: Getting The Ball Rolling
Your booking system is now ready to be used. The only thing left to do is scroll back to the top of your booking settings page and toggle bookings on. If the toggle is blue, then diners will be able to start reserving their spot to dine at your restaurant.
As always, if you ever decide to disable bookings, just toggle the tab 'off' and diners will no longer be able to make any future reservations.