Case Studies
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16 Oct, 2023
Hear from Max Reilly, licensee of popular Sydney bar and restaurant, Stanleys, who realised significant benefits after changing their booking system from OpenTable to ResDiary.
One of the first changes Max made when he became the licensee of Stanleys’ Bar was to change the booking system from OpenTable to ResDiary in early 2023.
Having used ResDiary in the past, he knew it would provide a better booking system and save the business money.
Four additional function enquiries every week
“One of the key areas where ResDiary provides more value than OpenTable is with the Event Management feature, which drives new events and functions bookings, and provides the system to track and manage those events.
Max said Stanleys are averaging about four function enquiries weekly that they were not getting previously.
“Function enquiries have definitely increased because OpenTable did not have an events or functions feature"
“Function enquiries have definitely increased because OpenTable did not have an events or functions feature, only group bookings. But with ResDiary there is the option to customise different event types so people can choose exactly what their event is,” he said.
Stanley’s functions and events form has resulted in an extra four events enquiries per week on average.
Reduced bills
Max said that ResDiary’s flat-fee model has also seen their monthly bill reduced, compared to OpenTable’s commission-based fee structure.
“Our bill has definitely gone down since we stopped paying commissions with OpenTable, and we are getting far more value out of ResDiary too”
“Our bill has definitely gone down since we stopped paying commissions with OpenTable, and we are getting far more value out of ResDiary too,” he said.
Increased revenue with better table control
ResDiary’s table management is far superior to OpenTable’s according to Max, who said that better table control has led to increased revenue.
“It has definitely improved our yield. With OpenTable it was very difficult to manage tables. I would have to do it and then tell all the staff, but now with ResDiary everyone knows how many free tables we have to work with,” Max said.
ResDiary offers a better user experience
“The layout for OpenTable was not the best either. It was quite confusing.” Max said.
“ResDiary is really intuitive and I know I can rely on it, whereas I did notice that OpenTable would falter sometimes. We would go to close out the day for a function, and it would still be accepting bookings.”
“You can do a lot with ResDiary that OpenTable can’t do. For example, OpenTable didn’t let us style, and customise the booking form to meet our brand guidelines,” Max said.
“You can do a lot with ResDiary that OpenTable can’t do."
Speaking of the migration process from OpenTable to ResDiary, Max described it as “easy”.
“Marlese in support was super helpful with the transition, and the team picked it up very quickly,” he said.
Ultimately, Stanleys’ decision to switch from OpenTable to ResDiary has resulted in tangible benefits through increased revenue from events bookings and improved table management, as well as reduced costs, and better restaurant efficiencies.
To learn more about how ResDiary compares with OpenTable, please see This Head-to-Head Comparison or book a demo today
