Online reservations: fill more tables, cut no-shows

Phone, your own form or a reservation system

There are three basic routes for reservations. The phone is personal and flexible but ties up staff and only works when someone picks up. Your own form on the website is simple and cheap but only creates a request that someone has to confirm. A reservation system shows free tables in real time, confirms automatically and manages the table plan. Many businesses combine them: online for most bookings, by phone for groups and regulars.

A Wirtshaus (traditional inn) with many regulars often manages well with phone and form. A restaurant with two sittings in the evening, a bar with table bookings at the weekend or a hotel with a restaurant for outside guests, on the other hand, benefits clearly from a system. What matters is that your website, Google profile and social media all lead to the same route.

Reservation systems at a glance

Reservation systems fall roughly into two groups. Portals bring their own reach: guests find your venue in the provider's app or on its website. In return, depending on the model, there are fees per guest or per booking, and part of the guest relationship runs through the platform. Software solutions are mainly a tool for your own website and your team, usually for a monthly fee. Many providers combine both. Prices and terms change often, so always get a current quote.

• OpenTable: international reservation portal with an app and table-plan software, part of Booking Holdings.
• TheFork: European portal with an app and restaurant software, owned by American Express since November 2026 (previously Tripadvisor). How widely it is used varies by country and city.
• resmio: reservation software from Germany, mainly for bookings through your own website and Google.
• aleno: reservation and guest management from Switzerland, often used in fine dining and hotels.
• Quandoo: stopped bookings and partner tools at the end of September 2026. If you used Quandoo, remove widgets and links and export guest data by 31 December 2026.

Avoiding no-shows

A reserved table where nobody turns up costs twice: the revenue is lost, and other guests were turned away. No-shows cannot be prevented entirely, but a few measures reduce them considerably. The most important lever is making cancellation as easy as possible. People who can cancel with one click are more likely to do so than those who have to call.

Deposit, credit card, cancellation fee: what applies

Many businesses secure bookings with a credit card guarantee, a deposit or prepaid tickets, for example for a fixed tasting menu, New Year's Eve or events. Legally, the same applies in both countries: a cancellation fee must be clearly agreed in advance, meaning visible at the time of booking and confirmed by the guest. It should reflect the loss that actually threatens; saved expenses such as goods not used must be deducted.

Booking directly through Google

Many guests find your venue through Google Search or Google Maps. In your Google Business Profile you can add a link for table reservations; Google allows up to ten links per category and shows a preferred link first. In addition, Google works with selected reservation providers: if your system is connected, a booking button appears in the profile, often known as “Reserve with Google”. You can check which links are shown directly in your profile.

Make sure that only providers you actually use are linked. According to Google, you can have old links from platforms you no longer work with removed from your profile. How to set up your profile as a whole is covered in the guide to the Google Business Profile.

Data protection for guest data

The name, phone number and email address of a booking are personal data. You may process them to carry out the reservation (Art. 6 Abs. 1 lit. b GDPR). Guests must be informed about what happens to their data (Art. 13 GDPR), for example through a note on the form with a link to the privacy policy. If you work with a reservation system, the provider processes the data on your behalf; that requires a data processing agreement (Art. 28 GDPR).

Take particular care with details about allergies, intolerances or pregnancy in the notes field. These can be health data, which the GDPR specially protects (Art. 9). It is better to ask about such information at the table, or to process it only with explicit consent and only for that visit.

Groups, parties and events

For larger groups, the normal online booking often does not fit: you need to discuss the menu, the room, drinks packages and a deposit beforehand. Set an upper limit in the system, for example eight people, and redirect larger groups to an enquiry form or a phone number. A dedicated page for parties with room sizes and menu suggestions saves a lot of back-and-forth. On the night itself, a printed reserved table sign with name and time shows which table belongs to the group.

• Christmas parties: announce them online early and take enquiries from late summer.
• Events such as wine tastings, live music or cooking evenings: tickets with prepayment instead of free reservations.
• Heurige and Buschenschanken (Austrian wine taverns): show your opening dates online and allow table bookings for larger groups; more about running one is in the guide Heuriger and Buschenschank.
• Hotels: separate table bookings for hotel guests and outside guests so the restaurant is not blocked by residents.

How to embed reservations on your website

The reservation button belongs in the most prominent spot on your website: at the top of the home page and, on phones, fixed to the edge of the screen. It should look the same on every page and lead to the same target as the link in your Google profile. Whether the booking window appears directly on your page or opens a new tab is secondary. What matters is that external widgets only load when guests actually use them, so your page stays fast and can do without a cookie banner. Which other content belongs on the website is covered in the guide Restaurant website: the 13 things your guests look for.

Good bookings end with happy guests who write a review. A Google review QR code on a table card or the bill folder makes it easy for them. How to invite them without breaking the rules is explained in the guide to Google reviews.