Set up table reservations

With the Reservations add-on your guests reserve a table on your website – no phone call, no payment. You run all reservations in one daily list, enter phone reservations and walk-ins yourself in seconds and see at a glance which table is taken when. Events and blocked periods of your venue block the tables automatically, so nothing is ever booked twice.

Unlock the module

Reservations is an add-on for €49 per month or €490 per year, independent of your plan. You can test it free for 7 days: open Reservations (directly at /home/<your-workspace>/reservierungen) and click Try. As long as the module is not active, the Reservations entry does not appear in the sidebar.

If the module expires, your existing reservations stay readable. You can still mark them as seated, done or no-show and cancel them. New reservations and the widget on your website are locked.

Create tables

Open Reservations → Settings → Tables.

1. Click Take over from floor plan.
2. Choose the venue and the floor plan your restaurant is drawn in.
3. Univents shows a preview: every round or rectangular table becomes a bookable table, the seats come from the floor plan.
4. Click Take over.

If you change the floor plan later, just take it over again: new tables are added, changed seats are updated, deleted tables are deactivated. Without a floor plan, you add tables by hand with Add table.

For each table you set the minimum and maximum number of guests and whether it is bookable online. Switch a regulars' table off for online booking – your team can still assign it.

Combinations: if two tables can be pushed together, set under Combinations for how many guests that works (e.g. table 2 + table 3 for 6–8 guests). Univents always assigns the smallest fitting single table first and only uses a combination when no single table fits.

Create an offering

Under Offerings you define what your guests reserve, for example “Table in the restaurant”.

• Tables: which tables the system assigns from.
• Dwell time: how long a table is occupied – staggered by party size, e.g. up to 2 guests 90 minutes, up to 6 guests 120 minutes, otherwise 150 minutes.
• Slot interval: how often start times are offered (e.g. every 30 minutes).
• Buffer: time for clearing and resetting after each reservation.
• Lead time and maximum days in advance: how short-notice and how far ahead guests can reserve online.
• Guests online: from which party size online reservations are no longer possible.
• Confirmation: automatic (default) or manual. With manual confirmation the reservation holds the table until you accept or decline it.
• Self-cancellation: whether and up to how many hours before guests may cancel via the link in their confirmation email.

Set service hours

Under Service hours you enter your time windows per weekday, for example Lunch 11:30–14:30 with last start 13:30 and Dinner 17:30–22:30 with last start 21:00. Your guests first choose lunch or dinner and only see start times up to the last start. Take over from opening hours pre-fills the table from your venue's opening hours; adjust it afterwards.

Exceptions apply to single days: closed (e.g. company holidays) or with different times (e.g. Christmas Eve lunch only). Public holidays do not close automatically – many restaurants are open on exactly those days.

Blocks apply to individual tables at certain times. All-day blocks and public holidays are maintained at the venue as usual; they block all tables there.

General settings

Under General you set:

• which address Univents notifies about new online reservations and cancellations,
• from which party size a group does not reserve but sends an inquiry via your booking page – the inquiry arrives with your inquiries as usual and is linked to the reservation,
• whether guests get a reminder before their visit (default: 24 hours before),
• whether guests are created as contacts automatically.

Daily list and timeline

Under Reservations you see all reservations of the day – as a list or as a timeline with one row per table. Events and blocks appear hatched.

• New reservation: for phone calls. The same rules apply as online; Univents suggests the fitting table. With an email address the guest receives a confirmation.
• Walk-in: guests without a reservation. Pick the party size, done – the best free table is marked as occupied from now.
• Seated, Done, No-show: any team member sets these right at the table. “Done” before the planned end frees the table immediately. No-shows are counted on the contact.
• Move checks the same rules as a new reservation. If the new time is taken, everything stays as it was.
• Print creates the daily list for printing or as a PDF.

If your tables come from a floor plan, Univents additionally shows below the list which tables are occupied at a given time.

Who may do what?

Everyone who may see events sees the daily list. Any team member may set the status (seated, done, no-show). Creating reservations, entering walk-ins and moving requires the create events permission; cancelling and changing the settings requires edit events.

How to embed the reservation widget on your website is explained in Embed the reservation widget on your website.