December is the busiest month of the year, and most of what makes it run smoothly is set up in October and November. Work down this list once and your booking page, your team and your guests will all have the right dates, times and prices from the first festive booking. Each step links to the article that explains it.
1. Decide your dates
- Closed on Christmas Day, or no lunch on Christmas Eve? Add a closure for those dates before guests can book them. See Closing dates and one-off changes.
- Open on a day you’re usually shut, such as Boxing Day or a bank holiday Monday? See Opening on a day you’re normally closed (bank holidays).
- Different times or set sittings on Christmas Eve, New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day? Set them once and copy them to the other dates. See Setting up one-off changes for special dates.
2. Set up your festive menus and party nights
- Christmas Day, party nights and New Year’s Eve work well as events: each has its own sittings, guest limit, deposit and booking link you can share. Use Add a range for a run of sittings. See Setting up events and sharing their booking link.
- The same party night on several dates? Give each date the same name and they share one booking link. On the phone you can add several dates at once: see Adding an event on several dates at once.
- Check what guests see by opening the link yourself. See What guests see on your event page.
- Phone bookings for an event go in from the diary. See Booking a guest into an event from the diary.
3. Protect your busiest nights with deposits
- Choose what to ask for: a card to hold the booking, a deposit, or the full price. See Card hold, deposit or pre-payment: which should I ask for?.
- Deposits on a meal, or only on certain days such as Fridays and Saturdays in December. See Setting up deposits and card requirements on a meal and Asking for deposits only on certain days.
- Your cancellation and no-show policy, so guests know where they stand before they book. See Setting your cancellation and no-show policy and Charging a no-show or late-cancellation fee.
- Office parties booked by phone can still pay a deposit. See Taking a deposit for a booking made over the phone and Sending a guest a payment link.
4. Get ready for big groups
- Set the largest party that can book online, with a message telling bigger groups how to reach you. See Setting the largest party that can book online.
- Hear about big bookings straight away. See Getting an email when a large party books.
- Join tables so online bookings can use them together. See Joining tables for bigger parties: table groups and Seating a big party across more than one table.
- Give your team time to re-lay tables between back-to-back sittings. See Table turn time: giving staff time to reset a table.
5. Control how busy it gets
- Take fewer online bookings on your busiest dates and keep room for regulars and walk-ins. See Changing the online guest limit for one date.
- Cap how many guests your whole venue takes at any one time. See Capping guests at one time across your whole venue.
- Keep one area off online booking for a private party. See Stopping online bookings for one area on a date.
6. Sell gift vouchers
- Vouchers are a popular Christmas present, and guests can buy them online at any hour. See Selling gift vouchers.
- Tell people about your voucher page on social media, your website and your Christmas menu. See Sharing your gift voucher page.
- Selling over the counter, and spending them in the new year. See Selling gift vouchers in person and Redeeming a gift voucher and spending part of it.
7. Before each service
- Mention the festive menu in your confirmation email. See Customising your confirmation emails.
- Top up your text credits so reminders keep going out in the busiest weeks. See Texting guests and managing SMS credits.
- Print the service sheet with allergies, notes and deposits for the team. See Printing tonight’s service sheet.
Good to know
- Start early. Guests book Christmas from October. A closure or set sittings added after people have booked doesn’t move or cancel those bookings, so you’d have to contact them yourself.
- Admins only. Schedule changes, events, deposits and vouchers are set up by admins.