In this article, we explain the deadline settings for your shifts.
To improve planning in the restaurant, you can specify the time until when guests can make online reservations. You can find the settings on the respective shift under Settings > Shifts. There are two options for the lead time:
1. Online reservation deadline buffer (in minutes)
With this setting, you specify that a reservation must always be made at least X minutes in advance.
Example:
If the deadline buffer is set to 60 minutes, a guest can only make a reservation for 18:00 until 16:59 at the latest.
Use case:
This option is suitable if you need a flexible lead time for each reservation, regardless of the beginning of the shift.
2. Fixed deadline for online reservations (by time)
With this setting, you can define a fixed time from which online bookings are no longer possible for an entire shift.
Example:
If the deadline for the evening shift is set at 16:00, no more reservations can be made for the evening - regardless of the time of the desired reservation.
You can also set the deadline several days in advance.
Example:
You can specify that reservations for Friday evening are to be blocked on Thursday at 12:00 noon.
Use case:
This option is ideal if you want to finalise reservations for an entire shift in good time - e.g. to better plan staff and capacities.
💡 No lead time required?
If you want your guests to be able to book online in real time, this is of course also possible:
Simply leave the ‘Online reservations deadline buffer (in min)’ field empty.
The two fields for the deadline for online reservations by time are mandatory fields. If you don't want a limit, you can simply set 23:30 and 0 days here, for example. This means that the deadline only applies at 11.30 pm on the same day - and is therefore practically no longer relevant.
Which option is right for you?
- Use the deadline buffer if you want a flexible lead time for each reservation.
- Use the fixed deadline if you want to block an entire shift for online reservations at a specific time..
- Leave the settings empty or set them far into the future if you want to allow reservations in real time.
- Of course, both variants can also be combined so that the deadline that is active earlier applies.
💡 Tip: Regardless of the online deadline, reservations can of course still be made by telephone or directly on site.