When a guest books on your booking page, NomNom chooses their table for them the moment they pick a time. It rules out the tables that can’t take the booking, then gives the party the best fit that’s left. Once you know the order, it’s easy to see why a booking landed where it did — and what to change if you’d rather it hadn’t.
Which tables are in the running
At the time the guest picked, a table is only considered if:
- its Online booking switch is on, and its area is Bookable online
- it can be booked that day under Available days, and online that day under Online booking days
- it seats the whole party, adults and children together
- the party isn’t smaller than its Smallest party online
- it’s free for the whole booking, plus any Table turn time you’ve set on the meal: nobody booked on it, and no other guest partway through booking it
- it’s Dog friendly, when the guest is bringing a dog and you’ve marked any tables that way
A table group only counts as free when every table in it is.
Which one it picks
From the tables left, NomNom takes the first in this order:
1. The smallest table that fits. A party of three gets a free four-top before a free six-top.
2. Single tables before table groups. If a six-top and a group that seats six are both free, the six-top goes first.
3. The area with the higher Booking priority. This only comes into play when the guest didn’t choose an area (see below).
4. The table with the higher Priority.
5. Your area order, then the lowest table number. These only settle what is still tied. Table 4 comes before table 9, and tables named with words come after the numbered ones.
Neither priority ever puts a bigger table ahead of a smaller one. Use a table’s Priority to choose which two-tops fill first — the window tables before the ones by the kitchen door, say — and an area’s Booking priority to choose which area fills first when the tables on offer are equally good.
In NomNom Web: Configuration → Tables → click a table. In the phone app: Configuration → Tables → tap a table. Configuration is for admins only.
Which area
If your booking page lists times under each area’s name, the guest chooses the area when they pick a time, and the table always comes from that area. Booking priority and the order of your areas make no difference to these bookings.
If the guest doesn’t choose — because you’ve turned Display rooms off, or the booking came through Reserve with Google — NomNom looks at the free tables in every area together and takes the best fit, in the order above. So a free two-top in your garden is chosen ahead of a free six-top in your restaurant, whichever area is first in your list. When the best tables are equally good, the area with the higher Booking priority fills first.
Every area starts on 1 — Lowest, so until you change one, all your areas are equal and your area order settles the tie. To have one area fill first, give it a higher number. 5 — Highest fills first.
In NomNom Web: Configuration → Areas → click the area → Booking priority → Save. In the phone app: Configuration → Areas → tap the area → Booking priority → Save. Configuration is for admins only.
Changed in October 2026. Until then, the first area in your list with any suitable table free took the booking, so dragging an area to the top made it fill first. The order of your list now only sets how areas are shown on your booking page.
Display rooms: in NomNom Web and the phone app, Settings → Online Booking & Discover → Display rooms (admins only).
Why did an online booking go on my big table?
Nearly always because nothing smaller could take it at that time:
- The smaller tables were booked. Even a short overlap rules a table out, and that includes the table turn time after the booking before it. If you’d rather hold the big table back, give it a Smallest party online — see Keeping big tables for bigger parties online.
- The smaller tables weren’t in the running. Check each one’s Online booking switch, Online booking days and Available days, whether its area is Bookable online, and whether it’s Dog friendly if the guest was bringing a dog.
- Another guest was partway through booking them. Each guest’s table is held while they finish booking.
- The guest chose the area. With Display rooms on, only tables in the area the guest picked are considered, even if a smaller one was free elsewhere.
- A table’s size is wrong. NomNom trusts the Table size you’ve saved: a four-top saved as a six is treated as a six.
You can still move the booking, or tidy up the whole day — see Optimising your table plan.
Good to know
- Bookings you take yourself aren’t picked this way. In NomNom Web or the phone app you choose the table, or leave the booking unallocated. The online-only settings — Online booking, Online booking days, Smallest party online, Dog friendly — don’t limit you, but Available days does.
- Reserve with Google bookings are seated exactly the same way as online bookings where the guest didn’t choose an area. See Getting the Reserve button on Google (Reserve with Google).
- It isn’t retrospective. Changing a table’s or an area’s settings never moves bookings already made.
- Guests changing their own booking. If a guest changes their time or party size online, NomNom picks a table for the new booking afresh.
- Turn lengths matter. The longer each booking holds its table, the fewer tables are free at busy times — see Setting how long a table is held.
- New to tables? See Setting up your areas and tables.