Reservation Settings
Console: Settings → Location settings → Reservations. Confirm the working
location. Review the Overview and any inventory warnings before editing. Saving
validates configured rules, but it does not prove physical suitability, guest
message delivery, or successful payment. Verify the saved result and intended
flow.
Settings tabs
| Tab | What it controls |
|---|
| General | Online status, booking window, duration, party sizes, areas, and tags |
| Offerings & Spaces | Guest choices, paid experiences, private rooms, group flows, and inventory footprints |
| Shifts | Arrival windows, turn times, cover limits, pacing, shift overrides, and special days |
| Blocks | Selected-table or whole-venue unavailability for a defined window |
| Deposit & Cancellations | Upfront deposits and late-cancellation or no-show fees |
| Modification | Whether and how late guests can change a booking |
| Integration | Public booking, waitlist, and website-widget links |
General settings
| Setting | What it means |
|---|
| Reservations | Master switch for new reservation searches and bookings |
| Notify me when full | Lets guests request an availability alert for a sold-out search; this is not the walk-in waitlist |
| Automatically rearrange floating bookings | Allows reviewed Floating reservations to move between suitable tables; Locked bookings stay in place |
| Lock tables chosen by staff | Controls future staff selections; existing locked bookings remain locked unless changed individually |
| Auto-Open Order | Opens an order automatically when staff seat a reservation |
| Default booking duration | The normal time a table remains occupied; offerings and turn-time rules can override it |
| Slot interval | The spacing between guest arrival choices, from 5 to 120 minutes |
| Max days in advance | How far into the future guests can search |
| Minimum advance notice | How long before arrival online booking closes |
| Minimum guests | Smallest party accepted online |
| Maximum online guests | Largest party accepted online before space or enquiry rules are considered |
| Enquiry notifications | Inbox for private-hire and other booking enquiries |
| Seating areas | Which venue areas can receive online reservations |
| Let guests choose an area | Offers eligible area preferences during booking |
| Reservation tags | Optional categories and venue-defined labels staff can attach to reservations |
Party sizes can range from 1 to 100. The slot interval can be 5–120 minutes and
the default duration 15–480 minutes. Choose operational values rather than the
largest possible values.
When Reservations is off in the draft, several other tabs are disabled. Review
the full configuration before saving an enabled state. Fix these settings
before saving identifies blockers; Review booking coverage identifies
issues requiring inspection. A warning or successful save is not proof that
every intended party can book.
Recommended configuration approach
Start with the fewest rules that describe the venue correctly:
- Use the Standard offering when all reservations behave alike.
- Add an offering only when the guest choice changes duration, pacing, party
limits, or eligible tables.
- Add a space only for a distinct room, table footprint, request, or enquiry
flow.
- Add pacing limits only where seating every free table at once would overload
service.
- Add a special day only when one exact date replaces the weekly service.
Presets can create a sensible starting structure for a standard restaurant,
food-and-drinks plus drinks-only service, a bar or lounge, or a restaurant with
a private room. Applying a preset replaces offerings and spaces only. It does
not itself change tables, shifts, deposits, orders, or existing reservations.
Review the preview and referenced offerings: a preset that removes choices used
by shifts, special dates, spaces, or tables is blocked until those links are
resolved. After applying it to the draft, save and reopen to verify.
Integration links
The Integration tab uses the venue's published TablePort site. It provides:
- the restaurant site;
- the direct booking page;
- the dedicated private-hire page, when an exclusive hire space is active;
- the waitlist page; and
- the booking-widget builder for an existing website.
In the site builder, navigation and call-to-action links can target Private
hire directly. Use that destination for event content; do not send
private-hire visitors into the regular booking page or a generic enquiry form
unless every hire is deliberately enquiry-only.
Test links in a private browser window before sharing them. If the venue site is
not published, complete that setup first.
If table inventory cannot load, refresh it before applying presets or choosing
private-space tables. Review missing/inactive inventory and removed-offering
references through the offered repair links. Preserve existing configuration
rather than replacing it from an empty error view. After uncertain saves, reopen
the same location and compare before resubmitting.