General settings

The settings front page

Settings opens on a front page. Type in Find a setting the words you would use — turn time, quiet hours, step-free — and pick a result to go straight to that setting.

Until the restaurant is set up, a list shows what is left, each step a link to the screen that does it: Add your tables, Say when you serve, Set your address, Go live, Take your first booking. A step is ticked once it is done, and the list goes away when all five are.

Under it, What this restaurant has lists every feature with its state — On, Off, Not in your plan or Always on — and a link to the page where it is set. The list itself has no switches.

The restaurant

Under Restaurant, Name is what the restaurant is called on every screen, in every email and on the booking page. Time zone is the clock every booking time is read against. Country decides which public holidays Special days offers, and which way of writing times is suggested.

Changing the time zone moves no booking — guests are still expected at the same moment — but every screen and every future email then shows a different time. The screen shows how upcoming bookings would shift and, if there are any, asks you to tick that you understand before it saves. Nothing is sent to guests again. Changing when the business day starts asks the same.

Times and party size

Booking rules are grouped by what they govern. Each box shows its range, and the line under it says what the number you type will do.

• Times and turns: Slot interval (min) sets how often a start time is offered; Default turn (min) is how long a table is kept for a booking, unless a service sets its own; Longest turn (min) is the longest you can set a booking to when you take it or change its length; time added when a table runs late can go past it. Hold (min) sets how long a time a guest has picked stays theirs while they fill in the form.
• Party size: Smallest party and Largest party, the party sizes guests can book online. Your team can book any party the tables can seat.

When guests can book

Under When bookings open and close, Lead time (min) is how close to a sitting guests can still book online, and Book up to (days ahead) is how many days ahead a booking can be made. Every service has its own lead time in Services, so the one here applies only where no service covers the time, such as special-day hours outside every service. A service can also set its own booking window there.

What guests may do themselves

Under What guests may do themselves, Guests may cancel online and Guests may change their booking online decide whether a guest can cancel or change a booking from their own link. While one is ticked, the rules it governs show under it: Guest cancel cutoff (min), Guest change cutoff (min), Guest changes per booking and Guests may add people when changing.

During service

Under During service: Late after (min) is when a party shows as late on the service screen; No-show grace (min) is how long after their time a party can be marked a no-show, and is marked one automatically on a night your team is marking guests in; the finish wait beside it is how long after a sitting is over a seated party is marked finished automatically, if nobody has; Nearly full at (%) is how much of a night’s table time must be booked before Activity tells you the night is nearly full; Business day starts at decides which night a booking after midnight belongs to.

Ask walk-ins for an email is ticked to start with: every walk-in then needs an email, as every other booking does. Untick it and a walk-in can be booked with a name and a phone only, and is sent nothing.

Times, and how the room fills

How times are written chooses how every time is written — on the floor, on your booking page, on the manage page and in your guests’ emails. The choices show the time itself, and if your country usually writes it the other way, a button offers that.

How the room fills decides which table a party is given when nobody picks one. Tightest fit first keeps large tables free for large parties. My own order first gives first the tables whose Fill order is First in Floor. Most spare seats a party may be given stops a pair being given a large table: leave it empty for no limit, or type 0 to allow only an exact fit.

Your button and schedule conflicts

Your booking button on other websites lists the websites allowed to show your booking button; the article on your button explains how to put it on your site.

Schedule conflicts lists upcoming bookings that no longer fit your hours after a change to a service or a special day. It only lists them: nothing is moved or cancelled. Services and Special days show a warning with a link here while there are any.

Saving

Nothing on this screen is kept until you press Save. While you have changes, a bar stays at the foot of the screen with Save, Discard and how many fields you changed. A field marked in red holds Save until it is fixed, and Discard asks before it throws anything away.

Leaving with changes asks whether to save or discard them. If the tablet closed before you saved, the screen offers Restore them next time. If another device saved meanwhile, your changes are kept, and Save puts them over theirs.