When the customers reach a restaurant and come to know that no table is available and you have to wait in a queue. How irritating it will be for them! Now, they do not need to wait to get your lunch or dinner table thanks to the restaurant reservation app. The apps allow customers to book a table in their favorite restaurant with just a few clicks on your smartphone.
Many restaurant reservation applications are out there where users can find the restaurants, menu, and book the table. Restaurants can deliver a better customer experience by allowing them to book the table in advance before actually visiting the place.
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To enable customers with convenience and restaurant with better guest management, the restaurant reservation apps consist of a few highly essential features. Let’s delve into it!
Top 9 Important Features of the Restaurant Reservation App
Restaurant reservation app features for customers
- Registration
To find the restaurants at the nearest place, customers need to register with the app through their phone number, email address, and Facebook or Google accounts.
Allow users to create their profile, where they can mention their preferred locations and favorite cuisines. Based on this information, the app will provide relevant suggestions for the nearby restaurants to the customers. - Advanced search
Once the user fills the details required to complete their profile and enables the location tracking, they will be able to see the nearby restaurants, reviews & ratings given by the customers and available reservation time.
Customers can search for a restaurant in a specific area and city. They can apply filters by cuisine, location, rating, and so on.
The restaurant reservation app enables customers with more information about the restaurant such as pricing, phone number, parking availability, payment options, a short description, and open hours.
Moreover, customers can view the seating arrangement in a particular restaurant to check the table position. It helps them to choose the right seat, where they feel comfortable.
To offer a reliable experience to the customer, the app has to keep updating its database to manage the reservations. The customers should get clarity about how many seats are available and the locations of the available tables. - Seating options
The restaurants offer various options to the customers so that they can choose as per their preferences such as standard, bar or outside seating. Not just that, the restaurant reservation apps allow customers to search for restaurants by seating options. Isn’t it cool? - Reviews & ratings
If the customer visits a restaurant for the first time, they are not aware of the food, ambiance, and service of it. So, they check reviews and ratings provided by the other customers for that particular restaurant.
It gives them confidence in their buying decision. If they find positive reviews, they go ahead with the reservation. But, if they read negative reviews, then they search for other good restaurants. - Booking and Scheduling
Once the customer is confident to visit a restaurant, they can book the table in advance. The app allows them to schedule their visit to a restaurant on a priority basis. - Online payment system
If the restaurant charges extra for the reservation, then the customer can pay the amount through online payment using the credit card, debit card, net banking, mobile wallet, mobile payment apps, etc.
Restaurant reservation app features for restaurants - Restaurant registration
If you are an owner of a restaurant business, then you need to be a part of the restaurant reservation app. There is a simple registration process that can be completed by filling the form or opting for the phone.
But the restaurant has to pass the verification conducted by the app admin. It is usually done over the phone.
After completion of the verification process, the restaurant owner will get an account where they can add varied details such as contact details, menu, description of the cuisine, prices, pictures of food and ambiance, hours of services, and more.
The app enables restaurant owners to view customer reviews about their restaurants, analytics and statistics reports on the performance of the restaurants.
Moreover, restaurant owners can run seasonal and ongoing promotions on the home screen of the restaurant reservation app. Through the advertisement, you can run advertisements for special occasions and provide special offers to maximize customer footfalls. - Guest management software
Restaurant businesses manage bookings through guest management software. The software allows restaurants to manage online reservations, cancellation, seating, staff assignment, and no-show.
The software provides a widget to the restaurants which they can integrate on their website or Facebook page. Restaurants can accept and track reservations from any page or website. The guest management sends automatic reservation confirmation to the customers through email.
Other interesting features and functionality of guest management software contain manage tables, manage floor plans, track revenue, optimize seating, create shift reports for restaurant employees, create profiles of restaurant guests (for marketing), and more. - Point of Sale (PoS) integration
The guest management software allows restaurants for PoS integration such as Olimpos, Aloha, Toast, and so on.
Along with accepting the payments, the PoS system enables restaurants with updated information about the revenue and performance comparison of all the point of sale and marketing channels.
Another major benefit of PoS integration is that it allows customers to pay from their mobile phones using the restaurant reservation app. Thus, they need to wait for the bill and they can leave early.
Conclusion
Are you planning to invest in a restaurant reservation app in 2020?
If yes, then I guess you are clear at least about the feature part as you know which features you should consider and why.
But, if you want to develop a custom restaurant reservation app to address your specific business needs, then consult a mobile app development company. Skilled professionals guide you with what features, functionality, integration, and technology stack you should consider building the app at highly affordable rates.
Enable customers and restaurant owners with a robust platform where they can book and manage the table reservation by developing a next-generation restaurant reservation application.
