Christmas is the one time of year diners book months ahead. Until this week, Google would not let them book a NomNom restaurant more than 30 days out. That has changed.
When a diner taps the button on your Google listing to reserve a table, Google decides how far ahead the calendar goes. Its standard window is 30 days, and most restaurant booking systems on Reserve with Google still work to it.
Thirty days sounds like plenty until you look at the calendar. On 10 November, a 30-day window stops on 10 December. Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve simply are not there to choose. Those are the bookings people plan furthest ahead, and a diner who finds an empty calendar on Google does not wait three weeks to try again. They book somewhere else, or they ring you in the middle of service.
What we did about it
NomNom has been sending Google three months of availability for every venue since early November. It made no difference to what diners saw: the calendar still stopped at 30 days. So we asked Google why.
The answer was that a longer window is something Google switches on for each booking partner, by hand, and only after testing. It goes on in Google’s test environment first, the partner proves it works there, and only then does it go live.
We asked on 5 November, and Google switched it on in the test environment that evening. We checked it: our test restaurant’s calendar on Google went from 30 bookable dates to 68. We sent Google the results and asked for the live switch, explaining that our restaurants were taking Christmas bookings now. On Tuesday 10 November, Google switched it on.
We checked a live NomNom restaurant the same day. Its Google booking page had offered 30 dates. It now offers 67, running well into January.
What you have to do
Nothing. Google still asks NomNom what is free at the moment a diner looks, and the answer still comes from the settings you already have: your meals and their times, your tables and your online booking limits.
The one thing worth doing is checking that your diary looks right three months out, because Google can now see that far. If you are closed on Christmas Day, close it in NomNom. If you run different sittings over Christmas or New Year, set them up now. Whatever your diary would take, Google will offer, and nothing else.
What it costs
Nothing extra. There is still no charge per cover and no charge per booking, however far ahead the diner books. NomNom is £29.99 a month per venue, plus VAT (text message credits are bought separately).
Is my restaurant on Google?
If your venue is already on Google, the longer window applies to it now.
If it isn’t, you can switch it on yourself. In NomNom, open Settings, choose Online Booking & Discover and turn on Reserve with Google. The first time, we check that the Google listing really is yours before the button appears, because a button on a restaurant’s listing should only ever lead to that restaurant’s diary. After that, your venue goes to Google with the overnight update. Google only allows the button for restaurants that really take their bookings through their partner, so you also need online booking switched on and a steady flow of bookings in NomNom.
One thing to know before Christmas: Google’s button can’t take a card or a deposit, so with Reserve with Google on, Google bookings come in without one, even if your own booking page asks for one. Your own booking page carries on asking exactly as before.
To check whether your venue is live on Google, email support@nomnom-app.net and a real person will answer. You can read more about how it works in our post from the day it launched.
Why it matters
The busiest weeks of the year are booked weeks in advance. Being bookable on Google only helps if the diner can choose the date they actually want. For NomNom restaurants, that now includes Christmas.