The right reservation platform depends on more than where bookings come from. Ask which guest contact details and booking records your restaurant can see, use, and take with it—and whether the answer changes for direct and marketplace reservations.
Get those answers by booking source and in writing before signing. A record visible on a host screen is not necessarily exportable, and an exportable contact is not necessarily available for marketing. If a vendor cannot meet a requirement, decide whether a workable manual process is worth the extra staff time.
Decide which records your team needs
Put one person in charge of this decision. That might be the general manager, who can bring the host lead, marketing manager, and contract decision-maker into the review. The owner of the project should collect the answers, keep the terms, and resolve gaps before the restaurant relies on a new channel.
Start with service, not a feature list. Hosts need enough information to identify a reservation, seat the right party, and handle changes. A manager may need booking history to resolve a complaint. Marketing staff need a separate answer about whether they may use a contact for a particular message.
A small dining room with an experienced host may accept more manual entry than a restaurant handling several services a day. A restaurant that depends on discovery from a marketplace may value that source even if some records are less portable. The question is whether staff can operate with the access actually offered, at a cost the restaurant accepts.
Distinguish three things when talking with vendors:
- Access: What can staff see or retrieve while the account is active?
- Portability: What can the restaurant export, in what format, and for how long?
- Permitted use: What can the restaurant do with each field for service, follow-up, or marketing?
Ask for terms specific to each source. Do not assume a booking made on your website, a marketplace booking, and a Google booking carry identical fields or permissions.
Map each source to a usable record
Trace a booking from the guest's choice of channel through arrival, changes, and eventual export. Assign a person to each step: a host may correct a party size, while a manager controls exports and reviews vendor terms. Include cancellations and no-shows, not just completed visits.
Use the worksheet below as a starting point. Its entries are hypothetical: they describe an operator's requirements and questions, not the capabilities or terms of any named vendor.
| Source and owner | Fields needed for service | Export and use question | Decision if unavailable |
|---|---|---|---|
| Restaurant website; host lead checks incoming bookings | Booking ID, local date and time, party size, status, guest name, and contact method | Can the manager export these fields and appropriate special requests? Which follow-up uses are permitted? | Use a manual record only if the host can maintain it reliably. |
| Marketplace; manager checks the source terms | The same service fields, plus the channel that generated the booking | Are contact details masked or restricted? What can be exported and used after service? | Keep the source for discovery only if limited access is acceptable. |
| Google booking path, where available; manager confirms setup | The same service fields and a recognizable source | Does the record arrive in the reservation system? Do export and use rights differ from website bookings? | Route staff to the agreed source of truth or decline the path. |
| Phone or walk-in; host records the party | Service details the guest provides, including any appropriate request | Who enters and corrects the record, and which uses has the guest agreed to? | Keep a controlled manual process with a named owner. |
The worksheet separates the record needed to run a service from the rights attached to it. For example, a phone number may be useful for a same-day seating issue, but that alone does not establish permission to send promotions. Ask the vendor to explain the applicable permissions and how staff can identify them.
Also ask whether the booking source stays attached when a reservation is changed, canceled, or exported. A source label helps the manager reconcile records, but it does not by itself establish who may use the guest's details. For sensitive or unnecessary special requests, agree on what staff should record and transfer rather than copying every note.
Compare direct and discovery-led approaches
OpenTable offers reservations, restaurant operations, and a diner discovery network. A restaurant's website booking path serves a different purpose: it gives guests already looking at the restaurant a direct way to reserve. Fleksa offers direct restaurant reservations and Google reservation paths where available. Neither approach guarantees bookings or a particular set of guest-data rights.
Compare the approaches against your own service conditions:
- Staff effort: Can hosts manage all sources in one agreed workflow? If not, who checks each screen and handles a conflicting change?
- Guest impact: Can a guest find the booking, change it, and reach the restaurant without being sent between channels?
- Cost dependencies: Ask for written quotes covering recurring charges, source-related charges, setup, and any export or support fees. Separate a quoted processing fee from the total cost of operating the service.
- Vendor limits: Ask which fields and booking statuses are available by source, what can be exported, and whether a receiving system can import them.
For a hypothetical decision, suppose a restaurant values marketplace discovery but requires future bookings to remain available after a contract ends. The manager receives written terms confirming an export of future marketplace bookings with the fields the host needs. The restaurant can keep that channel under its stated requirement, provided the team can use the export. If the vendor cannot provide those records, the manager must either accept a documented manual fallback or reject the channel for that requirement. Discovery value alone does not fix the gap.
There may be reasons to use more than one source. The extra work is assigning a source of truth for each booking and training staff to check it. Compare that work with the expected benefit before adding another channel. The guide to measuring reservation no-show costs can help frame a separate service-cost question; avoid treating no-show costs as a substitute for a reservation quote.
Set a termination pass-or-fail test
Ask each vendor the same question: What can we still access or export after notice is given and after the agreement ends? Request the answer for direct, marketplace, and Google bookings where applicable. Have the person responsible for the contract retain the written response alongside the agreement.
Make the test specific enough to decide:
- Define the required record. For future reservations, include booking identity, local date and time, party size, status, and appropriate special requests. Specify whether the restaurant also needs guest contact details, source, and historical records.
- Set the access window. Ask when export becomes available, when access stops, and whether any fee or support request applies. Confirm the file format and whether status changes are included.
- Check permitted uses. Ask which fields may be used to manage a booking, resolve a service issue, or send marketing. Keep these answers separate.
- Obtain the terms in writing. A pass requires written confirmation that the restaurant can obtain its required records within its chosen window and use them for the stated purposes. A verbal assurance or an unanswered field is not a pass.
If the answer is no, document the fallback. For instance, an authorized manager might maintain a separate service list while the account is active, if the agreement permits it. The list needs a secure location, a correction process, and an owner. If staff cannot maintain it or the terms do not permit it, treat the requirement as failed rather than assuming the data will be available later.
Contract language and permitted uses can be consequential. Ask a qualified adviser to interpret the agreement where needed; a product demonstration is not a substitute for the terms.
Rehearse the handoff before changing systems
Before a live cutover, ask both vendors what transfer methods they support. Do not move customer data without authorized access and a supported method. If direct import is unavailable, determine whether an authorized manual entry process is practical for the number of future bookings.
Run a simulated check with fictional records in a safe practice environment. Include a changed time, a cancellation, and an appropriate special request. The expected result is that staff can identify each booking, preserve its local time and party size, and see the correct status. The simulation must not trigger a real payment, guest message, or courier dispatch. If the practice environment cannot prevent those actions, use a vendor walkthrough or a non-connected worksheet instead.
For the live service pilot, appoint a cutover owner and agree on the time when staff will stop entering changes in the old location. Reconcile the count of future bookings and check individual exceptions against the authorized source. Give hosts a manual escalation path for a missing or conflicting record, and keep the old access available as agreed while the team resolves discrepancies. A rehearsal reduces uncertainty; it does not guarantee uninterrupted service or that every order or booking will transfer.
Compare the worksheet with your current process, then ask Fleksa to demonstrate its restaurant reservation system against your required fields, sources, and handoff questions. You can also review the table reservations documentation and consider how reservations fit alongside your restaurant management software.
Frequently asked questions
Does a direct booking mean the restaurant can use the guest's contact for marketing?
Not automatically. Ask which permissions apply to the specific contact and message, and how staff can identify those permissions.
Should a restaurant avoid marketplace reservations?
Not necessarily. A discovery channel may be worthwhile if its cost, staff work, and record access fit the restaurant's requirements. Get the terms for that source before deciding.
What should remain accessible when a reservation contract ends?
Set your own minimum, especially for future bookings: identity, local date and time, party size, status, and appropriate special requests. Confirm the export window, format, contact access, and permitted uses in writing.
