How to handle a reservation in person or on the phone?

When your patrons had a great time at your place, of course a big part has to do with you. We are all her to make their experience memorable or at least as convenient as possible. They might even want to make another reservation to try another product or service you offer.
Another possibility is that a person just walks in for some information or is already planning on making a reservation.

Start with the welcoming part, you can check out this skill in my other blogs.

Since you want to use your time as efficient as possible, we need some quick info when people want to make a reservation in person:

Some reservations are obviously more important than others, and that mainly means: ‘How much will they spent’. The higher that amount, the more time we can spent on making the reservation.
Usually anything under 8 persons doesn’t require much time.
Depending on the policy or system of your company you write down all necessary info where it should be.
Confirm everything when done and follow-up with a short email. This is easily automated.

The most important rule:

It is very important to correctly write down contact information, unlike email you will most likely never be able to contact them again in case you have any questions or something happens. TIP: when they walk-in, ask for a business-card to add to the reservation.

Personal note:

The small reservation till around 8 people are usually easy to handle. They do not need extraordinary space for their reservation. All stays the same, its just a reservation. I know the person making the reservation can make it sound like a big deal, but they probably live a dull life and for them having a few people around is reason enough for stress and excitement. Just handle them swiftly because it’s not so special and we need to get going. When they call or come in during a rush I usually make sure to let them, with a smile, that their timing was not great. “Next time you make a reservation anywhere, please think about when to call/come in, so the person taking the reservation will be able to have more time for you.” I like to educate patrons as well, we all know most of them need it.

I recommend bigger parties to be handled by senior employees or designated managers with authority to make decisions. Confirm all in a follow-up email, just so there is no misunderstanding on agreed menus, pricing, seating and whatever they might find to bitch about.

Sincerely,

Den The Man

Some reservations are obviously more important than others, and that mainly means: ‘How much will they spent’. The higher that amount, the more time we can spent on making the reservation.

Usually anything under 8 persons doesn’t require much time.

Depending on the policy or system of your company you write down all necessary info where it should be.

Confirm everything when done and follow-up with a short email. This is easily automated.

It is very important to correctly write down contact information, unlike email you will most likely never be able to contact them again in case you have any questions or something happens. TIP: when they walk-in, ask for a business-card to add to the reservation.

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