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Best 7 Online Reservation Systems for Restaurants

Since technology and its life-enabling tools have seeped into our everyday schedule, it has become easier to grab any service online in just a few clicks. Even when reserving a seat in a restaurant, anybody can do it online. Without much hassle, customers leverage facilities like real-time waitlists, staff recommendations, and all other information relevant to their visit.

 These applications are also equipped to notify you about the unavailability of dates, your preferred seat, or the limitations on your visit experience if any without the involvement of any restaurant staff. Further, it also gives the customer the freedom to choose a date without calling customer care repeatedly. The whole process is designed to enable a seamless experience for customers and to establish a mark in their hearts in favor of your brand.

 With the giant benefits of online reservations, restaurants are aggressively adopting these applications to make their process seamless. Adding an online reservation system to your business ensures that you deliver the most customer-friendly experience. 

What is the benefit of online reservation systems?

  • Empowers Customers: Through this system, the customer can make adjustments and arrangements for themselves based on any preferred date for booking. Making the site mobile-friendly allows you to increase customer engagement and makes them feel like they are at the ruling end.
  • People Management: Every day, restaurants have to deal with more than 500+customers, and for that, sufficient employees are required for proper management. With an online reservation system, you can save time and resources, and money on hiring employees.
  • Customer Experience: These applications also can set predefined questions that help you know your customers. So, you can also create the most memorable experience for the customers on their visit. 
  • No empty seats: The applications remind your customers of their upcoming booking so that there are little-to-no No-shows. Customers can either cancel for you to make it available for others or can execute the booking. Either case, your restaurant becomes likely to have an empty seat.

However, if you look online, there are plenty of tools to help you manage your restaurant’s reservation system. But, you must opt for the one that suits your restaurant the best.

How can Shopify help your restaurant to stand out from the crowd?

Shopify is your go-to plan when you decide to give online exposure to your business. From any need to every need, Shopify has an app for all your business challenges. Its collection of apps facilitates all your business functions, so you can review outcomes, make decisions and focus on the core areas. From creating your restaurant’s dedicated website to curating an attractive design for it, scheduling appointments, and managing the workforce, Shopify has something for everything to make your work easier.

 Shopify-based appointment booking applications can seamlessly integrate with your website and make schedule management a kid’s job. However, there are a plethora of options available, so, making the right choice is the key here. You should not compromise on your priority features and avail only the best online reservation systems for your restaurant. Let us help you with that.

7 Best online reservation systems

Here are the 7 best reservation systems that are trending in the industry.

Appointo: Appointment Booking App

This is one of the top-rated, most flexible appointment booking tools that help you manage all your appointment schedules accompanied by a house full of other features. The application gives priority to the customer, saves time, and effort, and ensures maximum process efficiency.

 Features

  • Customers get to manage both single & multi-day bookings.
  • Provides access to set up automated emails and notification reminders for upcoming meetings.
  • Empowers customers to manage their bookings, and reschedule or cancel them without any hassle.
  • Allows you to address a group of clients through group appointments.
  • Seamlessly integrates with Google and Microsoft Calendar.
  • Allows you to add multiple team members, multi-language support, and much more.

Restaurant Table Management

This application is from the house of Webkul Software Pvt Ltd. It is a Shopify-based tool that is primarily useful for store owners and more specifically those running their restaurants. It is an extremely easy-to-install, easy-to-use application. You can also conveniently manage the setup with Shopify POS while also helping you manage the workflow, which includes Restaurant Orders and Table Management.

Features:

  • Customers can check on the availability of tables and book them.
  • Allows you to reassign the tables at any time.
  • The customer gets visibility of the Occupancy Status of the Table.
  • Provides access to actionable metrics and statistics on total bookings, orders, and more.

IzyRent: Rentals & Bookings

This application is from the house of SPEAZ. And, it can be integrated with any Shopify website very conveniently. The tool has gained popularity for rentals, appointment booking, and reservations. The application is one of the most customer-friendly applications.

Features: 

 Entirely dynamic, and you do not need to affect the same change in multiple places

  • Access to track all the current bookings and check real-time status.
  • The application uses the fastest and most lightweight calendars -Google Calendar and iCalendar.
  • Boost User experience and performance with super-efficient UI.
  • Allows integration with Zoom and AirBNB.

BookedUp

BookedUp is designed to make the ends meet for appointment booking in online business. This Shopify booking app integrates with multiple apps and enables clients to book appointments, schedule meetings, make phone calls while using the Shopify website, and so on. With its convenient booking method, the software is easy to use and a must-have app for any store.

Features : 

  • Create unlimited booking popups for popular booking services such as Calendly, Acuity, Setmore, and Squarespace scheduling.
  • Booking buttons can be automatically placed either sitewide or at any preferred location on the website website.
  • Allows minimum scheduling notice, double booking protection, 1:1 and group events, daily appointment limits, timezone detection, and many more.

Vbrite

One of the most promising Shopify booking apps, Vbrite enhances the appearance of the website to draw more clients and customers. Additionally, the app can elevate the efficacy and performance of online stores by allowing clients to directly book their tickets on the website, avoiding unnecessary pop-ups or exiting the current page. One of the unique features is - Vbrite can exhibit the upcoming events in the calendar in a carousel style.

 Features :

  • Allow to freely customize the portions and prices of the goods or services
  • Sync with Facebook to acquire more efficiency in marketing strategies 
  • Link with  Eventbrite with just a single click
  • Free trial of 14 days with plenty of amazing features. 

Acerill Appointment Booking

Acerill Appointment Booking app is the best solution for business owners who aim to install an instant booking system on their website. The predominant target of this Shopify booking app is to resolve customers’ booking difficulties and is one of the best options for businesses including salons, restaurants, sports facilities, etc. Its free features allow users to smoothly manage customer or client reservations via Google Calendar.

 Features :

  • One-stop solution for automatic scheduling and running meetings via Zoom, Gotomeetings, and others. 
  • Connect the Customers’ accounts with Stripe or Authorize.net to receive payments during booking.
  • Display the specific calendar dates of staff availability
  • The mobile version of the app is fully compatible and user-friendly, and the subscription rates are relatively cheaper than other software.

BookThatApp Appointments

This tool is from the house of Zetya Pty Ltd and can be easily incorporated with any Shopify build website. This application supports appointment booking for classes, restaurants, beauty salons, and product rentals with no additional charges for executing the booking process. It has a sophisticated resource management system to set the availability and duration of the booking.

Features:

  • Customers and admin can access real-time status and make changes like blocking a date, etc.
  • Allows to access payment features through Shopify POS.
  • Supports partial deposits or security bonds.
  • Allows sending customizable emails and SMS reminders.

Conclusion

Online reservation systems have been making the lives of several restaurant owners super seamless. It’s no longer just about the fact that one can reserve a seat at a restaurant on the go or in the comfort of their house. These tools are built to support you in every way. They won't allow you to sacrifice your valuable time on anything that can be handled by an application. Most of these amazing applications offer a 7-day free trial period to help you make a perfect choice. So research, try and then buy.