The biggest concern that most restaurant owners have is losing control of online reservations. Owners should never a worry since your reservation software should have the means to control online activities as you wish. It should be entirely in your hands.
Here's a small list of what restaurant management should control with respect to online bookings.
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1. Close down online reservations entirely at any time.
- Regardless of the reason, managers can stop or start online reservations as needed.
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2. Close any time-slot at any time.
- Create a pause for the kitchen to catch up or to adjust to server availability.
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3. Re-open online reservations or any time slot at any time.
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4. Limit the party size that can book online or define the time slots available for larger parties.
- Ensure that large party policies are followed.
- Reduce the impact of large party bookings on the regular reservation flow for your other guests.
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5. Close the entire day or meal period at any time.
- Make sure managers can react to special situations.
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6. Create special meal plans for holidays or special events
- Have the option to replace the standard meal period or add to it, in the case of a special event.
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7. Close out dates as far into the future as you wish for holidays.
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8. Limit how far into the future that people can book online.
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9. Create a cushion time for current day.
- Setup a rolling cushion of say 60 minutes so anyone looking to book online only sees times 60 minutes in advance of the current time.
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- Alternatively, cut-off same day online reservations at 5:00AM
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10. Create promotions that can be booked online to help fill slower days or to promote standard offerings.
