An online booking has landed in your garden, your bar or upstairs when you’d rather it was somewhere else. NomNom never picks an area at random. Either the guest chose it, or they weren’t given the choice and NomNom took the first area in your list with a suitable table free. Here’s how to tell which, and what to change.
Did the guest choose the area?
With Display rooms switched on, which is how it starts, your booking page shows each time under the name of its area, with the area’s description underneath if you’ve written one. The guest chooses the area when they choose the time, and NomNom always gives them a table in that area.
The areas appear in the same order as your list under Configuration → Areas, so the area at the top is the one guests see first. A bistro with an outdoor terrace asked us, as the summer ended, to show the bistro first on their booking page instead of the terrace. The answer was that list: once the bistro is dragged above the terrace, the booking page shows the bistro’s times first.
When the guest doesn’t choose
If you’ve turned Display rooms off, or the booking came through Reserve with Google, the guest never sees your areas. NomNom then works down your areas in the order they’re listed under Configuration → Areas. The first area that serves that meal at that time, and has a suitable table free, gets the booking.
So a free six-top in your first area wins over a free two-top in your second, and a couple can end up in the garden simply because the garden is top of the list. How NomNom chooses the table inside the area is explained in How NomNom picks a table for an online booking.
In NomNom Web: Configuration → Areas. In the phone app: Configuration → Areas → Edit.
Causes and what to do
- The wrong area is first in your list. Drag your areas into the order you want them filled, using the handle on the left of each one. On the phone, tap Edit first. Your booking page and new online bookings then follow the new order.
- The area shouldn’t take online bookings at all. Switch off its Online switch. The area and its tables are then hidden from your booking page, and your team can still book it as normal.
- Only some of its tables should go online. Switch off WEB on those tables, or limit the days they can be booked. See Choosing when each table can be booked.
- Guests keep choosing an area you’d rather they didn’t. Move your preferred area to the top, and give each area a short description, such as Outdoor seating, not covered. It shows under the area’s name on your booking page.
- You’d rather decide the area yourself. Turn Display rooms off so guests just pick a time, then move bookings between areas on the day. Bear in mind NomNom will fill your first area first.
In NomNom Web and the phone app: Settings → Online Booking & Discover → Display rooms, under BOOKING OPTIONS.
Moving a booking to another area
In NomNom Web, right-click the booking and choose Move to table. Pick the area along the top of the window, then click a free table. The booking moves to that area along with its table. In the phone app, tap the booking and choose Move to.
Good to know
- Bookings already made don’t move. Changing the order of your areas, or switching one off, only affects new online bookings.
- Your team always chooses. A booking you take yourself goes in whichever area you pick.
- Reserve with Google never shows your areas, whatever Display rooms is set to, so it always follows your area order. See Getting the Reserve button on Google (Reserve with Google).
- Renaming an area is safe. Its tables and bookings follow the new name.
- Only admins can open Configuration and Settings.