When you own or manage a restaurant or a bar you will find some period of time where you need to make changes to continue growing your business. Typically restaurants owners and managers are looking at creating more awareness, making adjustments with staffing, menu, online reviews, or are ready to integrate online reservations into their business.

5 Ways to Increase Restaurant Reservations

Every hour that a restaurant table sits open is not only an hour of lost revenue but it’s an hour of paid wages and utilities, as well. Utilizing restaurant  reservations could help restaurants to properly staff each location based on expected turnout and could even help to get more customers through the door. Here we offer restaurants 5 tips to help increase their number of online reservations, ensuring their websites are working to driving revenue to each restaurant location. 

1. Make Reservation Link Prominent

Reservation links should be placed above the fold on the web page in large letters for people to easily see and make a reservations. The more time someone has to search for your reservation link, the more likely they are to move onto a competitor instead. Remember, reservations help fill seats and bring in revenue.  

2. Use Booking Services

By being listed on booking websites such as OpenTable, Rezbook, or Zomato Book, you can capture reservations from people who might otherwise not have known about the restaurant or that it takes reservations online.  During peak times of year when your restaurant reservations are in high demand, such as Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, these booking websites can be helpful in bringing in new customers who can become frequent, long-term customers.

3. Create Separate Pages for Each Restaurant Location

While the services you offer at each location might be the same, they are each only relevant to people in that local area. By creating a unique separate page for each restaurant location, it makes it easy for customers to book a table. Adding content such as information about the chef, seasonal specials and location details helps direct toward the local market. 

4. Promote Online Reservation Capabilities

When promoting the restaurant, make sure to include details on how to book reservations online. Nowadays, consumers mainly use online interface for customer services. Online reservations are convenient. Through online reservations, customers can immediately see which days and which times reservations are available.

5. Use a Clear Call to Action

All throughout the website, it is important to include a clear call to action to “Reserve Now.”  For every restaurant location page, it should have its own call to action, in addition to other prominent site pages. Make sure that the booking options are prominently displayed.