Reservation Setup Checklist

Use this checklist in order. It starts with physical inventory, then controls demand, then opens the guest journey.

1. Prepare the venue

Confirm the venue address, timezone, contact details, and published site.
Create the intended seating tables with their actual capacities and automatic-use modes.
Mark only genuine seats as available for reservations.
Create table combinations for layouts staff can actually join in service.
Check that floor-plan areas and tables match the host team's language.

2. Set the booking rules

Review settings in draft before making them live. With Reservations off in the draft, several tabs are disabled; set the draft switch as needed to access configuration, then review all intended changes before saving. Do not publish unfinished setup or disable a live service merely to edit one rule.
Set the normal booking duration, slot interval, advance window, and online party-size range.
Choose the inbox that receives enquiries.
Decide whether guests may choose a seating area.
Add reservation tags your team will use consistently.

3. Describe what guests can book

If every booking is the same, the built-in Standard offering is enough. Otherwise choose a preset or add offerings such as Food & drinks, Drinks only, or Tasting menu. Keep one active, guest-selectable default.

Add spaces only when a distinct room, group flow, or private-hire footprint needs its own rules. Ordinary table reservations do not need a space.

For private hire, configure the offering first, then each space's seated and optional standing capacity, complete inventory footprint, allocation mode, request/direct/enquiry flow, and setup/clear-down. Set a dedicated event duration on the offering when it should not inherit normal table turn times.

See Offerings and Rooms, Groups & Private Hire.

4. Protect service capacity

Add every bookable shift and its first and last arrival slots.
Add an optional last-order message and venue closing time.
Set realistic turn times by party size.
Set total shift, concurrent-cover, and rolling pacing limits where needed.
Review busy days separately; pacing should reflect kitchen and host capacity, not only the number of chairs.

See Shifts, Pacing & Turn Times.

5. Set commercial policies

Decide whether a deposit is charged upfront.
Decide whether to hold a card for late-cancellation and no-show fees.
Write clear guest-facing cancellation and change messages.
Set cancellation and modification cutoffs.
Review any shift-specific policy overrides.
Add known closures and one-off service dates.
For paid experiences, verify menu items, promotion, refund terms, and final-bill treatment.

See Deposits, Cancellations & Changes. See Special Days & Paid Experiences for holidays and date-specific packages.

6. Configure walk-ins and full services

Enable the waitlist if you accept walk-ins.
Set an optional waitlist party-size range.
Enable Notify me when full only if you want availability alerts for sold-out searches.
Train staff on the difference between notifying a waitlist party and an availability alert.

See Waitlist & Availability Alerts.

7. Test before publishing

Use an agreed test environment and owned test records where possible. Review the saved enabled state and test the intended guest entry:

smallest, typical, and largest online party sizes;
each guest-selectable offering and space;
first and last slot of each shift;
a closed date and a custom special-service date;
direct confirmation, request, and enquiry flows;
deposit or card collection where required;
private-hire request card saving, acceptance charge, venue decline, and a simulated failed acceptance charge;
private-hire full-day availability against overlapping regular bookings and setup/clear-down buffers;
paid experience, included-item order handoff, and linked promotion;
guest modification and cancellation links;
a full slot with Notify me when full enabled;
waitlist join, table-ready notification, and seating;
booking and waitlist visibility in both Console and App.

Confirm that emails or text messages contain the right venue, time, status, and policy. Review results with the manager and clean up only the owned test artifacts through supported workflows. Do not delete live guest or financial history as a generic cleanup. Review Troubleshooting, then verify the intended published Reservations state and links.

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