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Approving online bookings

Reservations received online can be confirmed automatically, or wait for your approval. You set this service by service, in the booking rules — see SettingsService schedule.

The setting, service by service

Section titled “The setting, service by service”
The Booking approval block of a booking rule.The Booking approval block of a booking rule.

Three choices:

  • Confirm automatically — online bookings are confirmed instantly.
  • Review every booking — every online booking waits for your confirmation.
  • Review larger parties — only bookings at or above a party size wait for your confirmation; you set that threshold with Review parties of this size or more.

The setting applies service by service, and a date exception can override it for a specific day.

You can also hold the table while a request waits, with the Hold the table while a request is pending option (SettingsReservation widget).

Approve or decline a request

Section titled “Approve or decline a request”

Pending requests arrive in the Pending tab of the notification center, with Confirm and Decline; they also appear on the home screen.

The Pending tab of the notification center, with Confirm and Decline.The Pending tab of the notification center, with Confirm and Decline.

A request can be confirmed up to five minutes after its start time; after that, you can only decline it. Nothing is decided for you: see what Service does automatically.

If notifications are on, Service writes to the guest when the request is received, when it is confirmed, and when it is declined.

An already-confirmed reservation that comes back to approve

Section titled “An already-confirmed reservation that comes back to approve”

Guests can change their own reservation, from the link they received by email or SMS. If they raise the party size above your threshold, the reservation goes back to pending and returns to the Pending tab even though you had already confirmed it: the party you accepted is no longer the one that will arrive.

It then waits for your decision like a new request. If the guest lowers the party size afterwards, it stays pending until you confirm it — Service does not confirm it for you.

A change that stays under the threshold makes no difference: the reservation remains confirmed.