On my honor…

Thursday, March 31st, 2011

When you make a commitment, you stick to it, right? We’d like to think that everyone follows that mantra, but the truth is, life gets in the way sometimes. Or, sometimes it’s as simple as completely forgetting about something you’ve committed to.

Take restaurant reservations, for example. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that have made a reservation at a restaurant and then completely forgotten about it. Some people are even known to book a reservation at a couple of restaurants to ensure themselves a table, but then forget or decide not to call and cancel one of the reservations.  Sometimes it’s as simple as an inconsideration and the guest doesn’t think about the impact their no show will have on the restaurant.

To guarantee the maximum level of business in a given night, it’s important to take steps to make sure your guests honor their reservations.

Start with a “call-ahead” or “wait-list” system in addition to or instead of taking reservations. Guests can call twenty to thirty minutes ahead of their desired wait time and leave their name. Your reservationist can let the guest know the anticipated wait time.

If no shows are a recurring and troublesome problem, consider asking guests for a credit-card when making a reservation. Establish a deposit policy that lets guests know they will forfeit their deposit or be charged a fixed amount if they do not show up for their reservation. If you are not comfortable asking for a deposit on a regular basis, consider implementing the policy on holidays or other high-volume occasions. Remember, if you request a deposit on a reservation, make sure you seat guests as soon as they arrive so you honor the guest relationship and avoid losing future business.  Consider holding a table for 10 to fifteen minutes before declaring a guest a no-show. If a guest shows you the courtesy of calling to let you know they will be late, hold the table for 30 minutes to acknowledge their consideration.

If you are dealing with a VIP guests, waive their deposit fee or credit card charge to show them you appreciate their loyalty. Consider developing a frequent diner program to help you keep track of your VIP guests.

In addition, follow up with guests who lost their deposit or were charged on their credit card with a phone call or email restating the no show policy and informing them that they were charged because they violated the agreement.

Taking some of these steps can drastically reduce the number of no-shows that occur on any given night and guarantee that you maximize your entire table inventory.

Will you Q?

Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011

Part of my job is educating customers about ways to improve operations so that they can see an immediate impact on their bottom line. Our customers need to run leaner, manage operations successfully and build business consistently. Without the right tools, these tasks are challenging to say the least.

Take, for example, dining reservations for restaurants. Restaurant staff needs a way to manage reservations so that they can take advantage of their entire table inventory. They need the assurance that when their guests go online to make a reservation, they find accurate information and can book a reservation easily. They also need a way to keep guests in their restaurant when they find their requested dining time to be unavailable.

When I’m speaking to prospective customers about reservation management, I ask the following: “Can you rely on the reservation software you are currently using?” The answer is usually “That depends.” For a variety of reasons, customers are unsure. They are spending quite a bit of money on some of the systems out there. There is some benefit to the marketing tools these systems provide, but it’s hard to gauge how much business is lost because guests have been redirected to other area restaurants that may have availability. In some case, there is no benefit at all; rather the restaurant feels it’s something that they need to do because they’ve been told it is good business sense to have some sort of system in place.

We end up discussing things like functionality, integration, marketing, and estimated ROI. Ultimately, I end up walking through the features of our software. What’s exciting is that we’ll soon be able to offer more dining reservation tools for restaurateurs. We will launch ReServe Q, a platform that will allow restaurant guests to make dining reservations or add themselves to a wait list using a restaurant’s website or a mobile device such as an iPhone, Android or Blackberry. As part of the ReServe Q offering, we’re forging strategic partnerships with mobile application aggregators and online dining guides to expand marketing reach for restaurants.

Most importantly, we’ve created a tool that will benefit our customers to the fullest with increased business and a better bottom line.

Will you Q?

What’s News?

Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011

Have you seen our latest press release? Take a read…

ReServe Interactive Celebrates Continued Growth and New Product Initiatives in 2011

ReServe Interactive, an industry leader in dynamic hospitality management software, including dining reservation, table management, catering and event management systems, has achieved 14 consecutive years of growth with significant increases in key business areas including the acquisition of enterprise accounts with multiple installations.

In 2011, ReServe Interactive will introduce several new products that greatly expand the benefits of their software throughout an organization and provide cost-effective, targeted marketing to drive additional business. First to be released is ReServe Gateway, a robust web services platform that enables enterprise customers to integrate and share ReServe data intelligence with other systems, streamline operations, improve productivity and enhance guest services. 

Second, ReServe will launch ReServeQ, a platform enabling guests to make dining reservations or add themselves to a wait list using a mobile device such as an iPhone, Android or Blackberry. As part of the ReServeQ offering, ReServe is forging strategic partnerships with mobile application aggregators and online dining guides to greatly expand marketing reach for restaurants.

“2011 development plans bring functionality that offers an integrated enterprise view of financial and operational data in ReServe that can be easily extracted and used to improve operations and provide convenient guest services,” says Lynn Carter, Chief Technology Officer. “We are committed to incorporating leading-edge technology for the direct benefit of our users, ensuring that ReServe continues to remain an invaluable resource. Leveraging the fastest growing technology sector today, mobile applications and social networking, is a perfect example. Our offerings in this arena are seamlessly integrated with ReServe and provide great value to our customers by driving more business to their restaurants in a targeted and cost-effective manner.”

Carter also explains that development of these new web services is driven by the needs and requests of some of their larger enterprise customers, but the benefits of these enhancements positively impact all of their customers, as well as the restaurant industry as a whole.

“This past year exceeded our expectations. We maintained a strong presence with the small and mid-range markets while experiencing significant growth with our larger, multi-unit enterprise customers,” explains Mike Edmeyer, Vice President of Sales. “The fact that ReServe is the only tool on the market to adequately manage both events and dining reservations in one system has been a large reason for our success.”

About ReServe Interactive

ReServe Interactive specializes in Catering, Event Management, Dining Reservation and Table Managementsoftware applications for the hospitality industry. Established in 1996, ReServe Interactive software is used by more than 8,000 industry professionals across more than 1,000 hospitality venues nationwide including hotels, restaurants, sports and entertainment facilities, golf and private clubs, cultural institutions and wineries. The company has offices in Livermore, California and Delafield, Wisconsin.

Our 15th Year

Thursday, January 27th, 2011

It’s almost hard to believe that we are in our 15^th year of business. So much has changed since we introduced ourselves to the industry in 1996.  What started as an idea to help ourselves has become a force within the hospitality industry. We are literally changing the way our customers are doing business.

Since 1996, our catering, event management, dining reservation and table management product offering has grown to include a web-based solution; we interface with more than 10 industry-leading applications; and we service more than 8,000 users.

And now, in our 15^th year of business, we’re going to take our offering even further by introducing several new features and products including easily implemented web services designed for sharing data between different applications. We are also developing a system designed for publishing restaurant wait times on reader boards throughout a hotel property, as well as features for sharing customer data with a centralized CRM database. Most importantly, we will soon launch a dining reservation focused mobile platform to support iPhone, Android and Blackberry devices.

As time has gone on, we’ve continued to progress and remain a valuable tool for our customers. We’ve helped our customers increase efficiency, enhance productivity and boost revenue. Our platform remains current, ensuring users are able to use the most updated technology solutions to manage their businesses.

This year is a milestone in many respects and we are so grateful for the many customers, industry partners and loyal employees that have brought us to this day. We look forward to making 2011 an unforgettable year.

Online dining reservations – designed with restaurants in mind

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Well, the buzz is certainly intense lately regarding online dining reservation software. There was an article in the Wall Street Journal on May 20 comparing several products including OpenTable, UrbanSpoon and ReservationGenie. The article highlighted restaurateur frustration with excessive fees and the limited availability of cost effective options. I guess I’d be remiss if I didn’t throw our hat in the ring.

ReServeIT from ReServe Interactive allows restaurant guests to book their reservations through a restaurant’s website 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  The difference between us and some of the other applications on the market is that we do not charge a ‘per seat’ or ‘per head’ transaction fee, require excessive set up costs or hit restaurateurs with miscellaneous nickel and dime charges. We offer a solution that puts guests in your dining room and revenue in your pocket.

Also, other systems use simple ‘slot’ technology to book reservations – like a glorified spreadsheet. The user has to make a best guess as to how many online reservations to set aside on a given evening.  What happens when that estimate is off and the online reservation system tells a customer that the dining room is full, even when it’s not? How do you explain it to customers who become frustrated enough to call or stop in only to find that there are actually several seats available? 

ReServeIT utilizes your actual table inventory to determine whether space is available to make a reservation. That means you have accurate, real-time management of your online reservation “pool”.  ReServe will always manage available reservations based on the parameters you define and what is happening in your restaurant in real time. Plus, if a customer’s requested reservation time is not available, you decide where to refer them.  You don’t have to worry about having your potential customers getting sent to your competitor.

Here are some other things to know about ReServeIT:

• You can manage reservations across multiple restaurants within a single database.
• You own your reservation and customer data and won’t get charged to use it to market more effectively.
• Your website and ReServeIT seamlessly integrate so you can customize your links and landing page to present a branded, serviced-oriented image to your guests throughout the reservation process.
• You can use customized short links for social media applications and online dining guides.
• You can add the customized links anywhere you want to accept dining reservations and send branded and personalized reservation confirmations to your guests.

So, to all of you out there that are frustrated with the cost of your current system, know that there are other, more affordable, options available that were designed with your success in mind.

Online dining reservations…

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

I came across a great article in the January 2010 American Express Market Brief about restaurant trends. One of the things touched on was online dining reservations. It states that as few as 14 percent of consumers have made restaurant reservations online.  That seems like a staggeringly low number considering today’s 24/7 Internet connectivity, endless cell phone apps and the ongoing push towards the use of technology for everyday activities, such as socializing, grocery shopping and schooling. But really, if you think about it, technology can be intimidating and with so many new applications and gadgets coming down the pipeline at a steady pace, it’s no wonder that so few have taken advantage of online reservation services.

The research also explained that 44 percent of consumers, when asked what they felt was the primary advantage of using an online tool said they liked the ability to make a reservation when it was convenient for them.  Followed by not having to talk to a live human being, never being put on hold, getting an immediate confirmation of the reservation, having the reservation details entered correctly and earning rewards points for booking online.

What does all of this mean? Online reservation systems are just catching on with consumers and when they do take advantage of the ability to book a reservation online, they do it because it’s convenient and it eliminates some of the hassle associated with calling a restaurant during business hours to book a reservation.

Restaurants have several options for online dining reservation tools. The key is to find one that is convenient and cost effective for them. Steer clear of ‘per seat’ transaction fees. If a busy restaurant takes quite a few reservations online, this fee could end up costing thousands of dollars. The other consideration is finding a tool where reservation data is captured, owned and maintained by the restaurant, and the restaurant alone. Restaurants shouldn’t have to pay to use their own customer data. Finally, when a customer requests a specific reservation time and it’s unavailable, restaurants want to make sure that the guest remains on their site and in their dining room, so the ability to offer alternative dates and times is critical. No one wants a tool that will suggest different restaurants with that available date and time. That’s money out the window.  The ultimate goal should be to implement a tool that will bring in business and boost revenue. Convenience should be just as important to the restaurant owner as it is to the consumer.

ReServe offers an online reservation tool called ReServeIT.  We think it’s pretty convenient – for everyone who uses it.

Thoughts from a Sales Call…

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009

Just last week, I was talking to a restaurant manager who had heard from one of his customer’s that when he tried to make a reservation online, the website said the restaurant was booked solid. Taking a chance, the customer drove over to the restaurant and found out there were actually several tables available. The manager was concerned. How often had he lost out on patrons and revenue because his reservation software had given the wrong information? He was frustrated and wanted a better way to manage his online reservations.

Sadly, I’ve had this same conversation more than once.

Part of my job is educating customers on ways to improve operations so that they can see an immediate impact on their bottom line. The manager I was speaking to needed a way to manage reservations so that he could take advantage of his entire table inventory. He needed reassurance that when his customers go online, they find accurate information and can book a reservation easily. He also needed a way to keep customers in his restaurant when they did find their requested dining time to be unavailable.

Could he rely on the dining reservation software tool he was currently using? That depends. How many times had this happened before? How much business was he losing? Why was there a disconnect between the software and his dining room?

I ended up walking him through the features of our dining reservation software. I focused on our Smart Reservation Technology. It’s different from the static slot system that many restaurant reservation books and other software systems use. We take into account the specifics of the dining room and manage reservations based on the actual table inventory, real time! Regardless if those reservations are booked over the phone or with ReServe’s online dining reservation software. I also informed him that, with our software, he can manage all of his locations in one database, so he can report on the information he gathers, cross reference reservations and data across locations, and cross market to customers all from one place. Also, if a customer’s requested reservation time is unavailable, our software offers up alternative times so that the customer stays in his dining room. We talked for quite a while that day and he seemed to feel better by the time the call was finished.

I love these types of conversations.   Sometimes they turn into a sale.  However, for me, the payoff is knowing that I’ve given a hard working restaurateur some peace of mind and a solution that will make a real difference to his business.