--- title: "Reservations" description: "Let customers book online, manage shifts and closing days, and follow up every reservation on the table plan." url: "https://unipage.be/en/support/unipos-plus/working-with-tables/reservations" --- # Reservations With the reservation module, you manage your dining room, your tables and your reservations in one place. Customers book online via your reservation page or via a widget on your own website, automatically receive a confirmation and a reminder, and you see every reservation appear on the table plan. The module builds on the [table plan](https://unipage.be/en/support/unipos-plus/working-with-tables/managing-the-table-plan) that you also use on the POS. > **Good to know:** You find **Reservations** (Reservaties) in the navigation bar of your management page. The module has its own sidebar: Reservations, Areas, Receipts, Shifts, Exceptions, Analytics and Settings. ## What do you need? Availability is always calculated based on three things: your tables, your shifts and your exceptions. So set these up properly first. 1. **Tables**: under **Areas** (Gebieden) you draw your dining room. For each table, you set **Min guests** and **Max guests**, and you can link a table QR code. If you are temporarily not using an area, for example the terrace in winter, you close it with **Close for reservations** (Sluiten voor reservaties): those tables then do not count. You can read how to draw the table plan in [Managing the table plan](https://unipage.be/en/support/unipos-plus/working-with-tables/managing-the-table-plan). 2. **Shifts**: when customers can book, for example Lunch and Dinner. 3. **Exceptions**: the days when you are closed. ## Shifts Go to [Shifts](https://beheer.unipage.eu/deeplink/shifts). You see a weekly calendar. Drag over an empty slot to create a shift, or click an existing shift to edit it. You can also drag a shift or make it longer by pulling its edge. For each shift, you set: - **Title**, for example "Lunch", "Dinner" or "Sunday Brunch". - **Minimum group size** and **Maximum group size**: how many people one reservation may include. If you prefer to handle groups above a certain number by phone, set the maximum lower. - **Repeat**: no repeat, every day, every week, every month or every year. With **Weekdays only** and **Months only** you limit the repetition, for example a brunch on Sundays only, or a terrace shift only from May to September. - **Start** and **End**: the start and end time, and from and until when the series runs. If you delete a recurring shift, the management page asks what exactly you want: **This occurrence only** (closes the shift only on that day), **This and all future occurrences** (ends the series from that day) or **Delete entire series**. ## Exceptions You set closing days, holidays or a private event under [Exceptions](https://beheer.unipage.eu/deeplink/shift-exceptions). Click **Add exception**, choose a **Date**, and under **Shift** choose whether you close the **Whole business** or just one shift (for example only lunch). Optionally add a **Reason**; with the quick options Christmas, New Year, Private event and Renovation, this takes one click. On that date, customers can no longer book online for the closed shifts. ## Settings Under [Settings](https://beheer.unipage.eu/deeplink/booking-settings) in the sidebar of the reservation module, you find four tabs. ### General - **Default seating time**: how long a table stays occupied per reservation, 90 minutes by default. This also determines when a table becomes available again in the availability. - **Reservation lead time**: how many minutes in advance a time slot can still be booked, 30 by default. This way you don't receive a reservation for a table that starts in five minutes. - **Confirm reservations automatically**: if this is on, every online reservation is confirmed immediately and the customer receives a confirmation straight away. If it is off, the reservation comes in as **Pending**, the customer receives a message that their request has been registered, and you confirm it yourself. ### Questionnaire Do you want to ask something extra when booking, such as a menu choice or dietary requests? Click **Add question**. For each question, you choose a type (**Text**, **Long text**, **Number** or **Dropdown list**) and whether it is **Required**. By default, one question is set up: "Comments", with the hint "For example: a table by the window please". You see the answers in the reservation details and in the confirmation e-mails. ### Reminders Reminders are on by default and are sent by e-mail, by default 24 hours and 2 hours before the reservation. You can set up to four times with **Add time**. If you have the SMS feature on your account, you can also enable **SMS reminders**. If you change the time of a reservation, the reminders shift automatically; if you cancel it, they lapse. ### No-show With **No-show grace period** you set after how many minutes a guest who has not turned up is automatically marked as a no-show, 30 minutes by default. Every quarter of an hour, the system checks the reservations that are **Pending** or **Confirmed** and whose time plus the grace period has passed, and sets them to **No-show**. The table then becomes free again. ## How does your customer book? Customers can book online in two ways: - **Via your reservation page**: your webshop address followed by `/reservation`. The QR code that you create under Settings, Flyer also points to this page, see [Promote your webshop](https://unipage.be/en/support/webshop/marketing-and-customers/promote-your-webshop). - **Via a widget on your own website**: under **Settings**, **API** in the management page, you find a piece of code under "Reservation Module" that you (or your web developer) paste on your website. The widget then appears as a "Reserveer" button. The customer chooses the number of people, a date and an available time slot, fills in their name, e-mail address and phone number, and answers any questions you have set. They then immediately receive a confirmation e-mail (and an SMS if you have the SMS feature) with the date, the time and the number of people. At the same moment, you receive a "New reservation" e-mail with all the details. > **Good to know:** A customer cannot cancel their reservation online themselves. If they phone or e-mail to cancel, you do that in the reservation details with **Cancelling** (Annuleren). ## Following up reservations [Reservations](https://beheer.unipage.eu/deeplink/reservaties) opens on the **Table plan** (Tafelplan) of today by default. With the date button and the arrows at the top, you jump to another day. On the left, you see all reservations for that day: time, name, number of people, shift and table. On the right, you see the table plan, where the occupied tables at the chosen time are coloured. With the **List** button you switch to a table with all details, and with **Print** you print the day's reservation list, handy at the reception. Click a reservation to open the details. There are three tabs: - **Details**: the contact details, the time, the number of guests, the table, the customer's comments and your **Internal notes (staff only)**. Here you adjust the reservation with **Change** or cancel it. - **Contact**: send the customer an e-mail directly from the management page, and see what was sent earlier. - **History**: all previous reservations of this customer, with the number of cancellations and their earlier notes. ### Statuses A reservation goes through these statuses. With the buttons in the list or in the details, you move it one step further yourself. - **Pending**: came in online, not yet confirmed. Click **Confirm**. - **Confirmed**: the customer has received a confirmation. On arrival, you click **Seated**. - **Seated**: the guests are at the table. After they leave, you click **Completed**. - **Completed**: the table is free again. - **No-show**: the guest did not turn up, manually or automatically after the grace period. - **Cancelled**: cancelled by you. By accident? With **Restore** you put it back. ### Tags For each reservation, you can set **Tags** that your customer gave or that you add yourself: Birthday, Anniversary, Business, Wheelchair, High chair, Dietary requests, Quiet table and Window. In addition, there are **Internal tags** that the customer never sees: VIP, Problematic, First time, Regular customer and Severe allergy. They appear as a badge in the list, so your team sees at a glance what is going on. ## Entering a reservation yourself For a phone reservation or a guest at the door, click a free (green) table on the table plan and choose **New reservation** or **Place walk-in**. A table that is already reserved at that time is coloured differently and cannot be selected. Fill in the date, the time, the number of guests and the **Length of stay**. With **Search existing customer**, you retrieve the details of a returning customer via name, e-mail or phone; otherwise, you fill them in yourself. Choose a **Status** (Not confirmed or Confirmed) and whether you want to send a **Confirmation message**. A walk-in is immediately set to **Seated**. > **Tip:** Always fill in an e-mail address and phone number. Without an e-mail address, the customer receives no confirmation or reminder. ## Merge tables for large groups Is a group coming that does not fit at one table? Click **Merge tables** on the table plan. Give the group a **Group name**, tick at least two tables and choose the **Type**: - **Permanent**: the group is always available for large reservations, including online. Handy for a fixed long table. - **Temporary**: only for a specific reservation, for example a family party on Saturday. By default, the capacity of the group is the sum of the tables. Under **Advanced settings**, you adjust this with the **Guests modifier** (for example -2 if two seats are lost by pushing the tables together) or with your own minimum and maximum. Merged tables get a link icon on the table plan. Under **Existing groups**, you delete a group again; the tables then become available separately again. > **Tip:** Put the number of people in the group name, for example "Long table middle: 16 people". This way your team immediately sees what is possible. ## Limiting no-shows Empty tables cost revenue. Besides the automatic no-show detection, the module keeps track per customer (based on e-mail address or phone number) of how often they did not turn up. From two no-shows, the customer gets a red badge with the number in the reservation list, and in the details the warning "Warning: repeated no-shows". This way you decide yourself whether to confirm such a reservation, or to phone first. ## Analytics Under **Analytics**, you choose a period and see the total number of reservations and guests, the no-show percentage, the average group size, and charts per day, per hour, per weekday and per table. With **CSV Export**, you take the figures to Excel. Handy for spotting busy moments and adjusting your shifts. --- *This is a markdown version of [https://unipage.be/en/support/unipos-plus/working-with-tables/reservations](https://unipage.be/en/support/unipos-plus/working-with-tables/reservations) for AI/LLM use. Every page on https://unipage.be is available as markdown by appending `.md` to the URL; see also [https://unipage.be/llms.txt](https://unipage.be/llms.txt).*