Enhance Diners' Experience with a Reservation System

When delivering an exceptional dining experience that exceeds expectations, it may come down to the small things that a reservation software can take care of for you. Here are a few of ResDiary's restaurant reservation features that may be helpful in leaving customers happy post-meal.

Make reservations easy

Diners enjoy the energy that comes with a restaurant that is buzzing with activity. Ensuring you have tables filled, offering online bookings – through customisable booking widgets on the venue’s website and social media pages – can help to maximise occupancy.

Getting reservations in advance provides valuable information for attendance numbers, which can help staff prepare for service. ResDiary’s Custom Fields and Customer Lists also provides the opportunity for diners to submit critical information – such as likes/dislikes, dietary requirements, whether the booking is for a special occasion and booking codes for returning guests – which allows the venue to customise the dining experience. These details might be significant in providing an experience that goes above and beyond expectations.

Table allocations

Getting patrons through the door is important, but once they’re there, organising where they are seated can help to facilitate smooth service. There’s a range of table-management functions built-in to ResDiary which assists this, including: table plan view, which automatically allocates bookings and allows staff to view and move bookings in one place. W8List handles walk-ins at busy times and notifies customers when a table is ready. ResPhone uses artificial intelligence to handle phone bookings, and instantly places them into the diary.

Table allocation tools can free staff from certain logistical challenges, which can be useful in redirecting their focus toward providing excellent service.

Marketing & communication

Effective marketing strategies can attract customers to a particular venue, and help to manage (or even heighten) expectations. Consider uploading new dishes on social media, and creating special menus and promotions in line with significant public holidays.

Use all the tools at the venue’s disposal – including customer lists – to reach customers with personalised marketing strategies. There’s a number of marketing techniques that can bring the venue to the customer’s front-of-mind, and generate excitement for the dining experience to come.    

Feedback

Making improvements to the dining experience can be challenging if the venue is not receiving targeted feedback. It may be worth encouraging customers to leave a review at the end of the meal, responding to let them know their feedback is valued and encouraging them to return.

Consider going the extra step, and providing incentives for customers to leave feedback. It may be one customer who identifies something that was otherwise unseen, that ends up elevating the entire dining experience.

An excellent dining experience is worth striving for. Are you ready to enhance your diners' experience? Book a demo of ResDiary to find out how it can work for you.