Table bookings, run from WhatsApp
With the bookings add-on, guests book a table on your own website in under a minute, and you run the whole thing from the same WhatsApp chat you use to change the site. No app, no login, no screen behind the bar. Here is what you can say.
£29 a month, or £290 a year, on top of your site. Tick it when you start your free trial, or ask for it in the chat. Pricing
Switching it on
Say the word
Set up table bookings on the website
The agent asks one thing: how many people you will seat by booking at any one time. Start at about half your chairs, because the system counts people rather than tables and walk-ins fill the rest. You can raise it any time.
Give it your kitchen hours
The kitchen is open 12 to 2.30 and 6 to 9, Tuesday to Saturday, and 12 to 4 on Sunday
Booking times follow your kitchen hours, day by day, lunch and evening apart. If you never give them, they follow your opening hours instead.
Publish
Publish
You see a preview of the Book a table page first, in your site's own look, and nothing goes live until you say so. Then paste the page's address into the Bookings field of your Google Business Profile, so people find it from the map.
Things you can say
Every day
Bookings tonight?
The list: time, how many, name, phone, any note, and a reference. "Tomorrow", "Saturday", "this weekend" and "this week" work too.
Book a table for 4 at 7.30 for the Smiths, 07700 900123
A booking that came by phone or over the bar goes in the same way, so the website cannot promise those seats to someone else. If the time is full, you are offered the nearest free ones, or say "squeeze them in".
Can we fit 8 in on Saturday at 7?
The free times for that many people, before you promise anything on the phone.
Cancel CHA-4K7Q
The reference is on every booking. If the guest gave an email they are told; if not, you are reminded to ring them.
No more bookings tonight
Closes the website for the rest of the day. Bookings already made are kept, and tomorrow opens as normal by itself.
Dates and rules
No bookings on Christmas Day, private party
A closed date shows as closed on the site, with your reason. "Open Christmas Day again" undoes it.
We can take 40 now
Raise or lower the number of people you seat by booking at once. It takes effect straight away.
Keep tables for an hour and a half
Two hours is the norm. Say if a big party should have longer: "parties of 6 or more get two and a half hours".
Only take parties up to 6 online
Bigger parties are told to ring you. The smallest party can be set too.
Last booking an hour before the kitchen closes
The last slot, how much notice a booking needs, and how far ahead people can book are all yours to set.
No more than 20 people starting at once
A pacing limit for the kitchen, so a busy slot does not land all at once.
How it feels to guests and staff
Hold every booking until I confirm it
Each booking waits for you; "confirm CHA-4K7Q" sends the guest their confirmation. "Confirm bookings straight away again" switches back.
Put "Dogs welcome in the bar" on the booking form
One line of your own on the form, for house rules or a warm word.
Only tell me about bookings, not the staff
By default everyone who can edit the site hears about each booking on WhatsApp. Narrow it to the owners, or widen it again.
Take the booking page off the site
Bookings go back to by phone. Everything already booked is kept and can still be listed.
What your guests get
- A Book a table page on your own website, in your site's look: how many, which day, what time, name, mobile, done in under a minute. No account.
- A confirmation email with the details and a link to cancel, so a change of plan frees the table without a phone call.
- A reminder email the morning before.
- Times they cannot book are simply not offered: closed days, full slots, parties bigger than you take online (they are asked to ring).
What you get
- Every booking on WhatsApp the moment it is made, and by email to your business address.
- The day's list whenever you ask for it.
- A privacy notice on your site, written for the details the form collects, naming you as the business responsible and us as the people running it for you.
Not yet
No deposits or card holds, no table plan, no waiting list, no text messages to guests. Guests are emailed and their mobile number is there for you to ring. Tell us if you need any of these; what gets built next comes from what owners ask for.