How do I set up and seat walk-ins?

Switch on walk-ins, tune the defaults, and seat walk-up guests manually or with Smart Walk-In auto-placement.

Walk-ins are off by default — switch on Enable Walk-Ins in Settings → Walk-ins, and a walk-in button joins the creation options across the dashboard. Owners, Admins and Managers can open this settings page (Hosts can't see Settings by default).

The settings

Walk-in flow card:

• Enable Walk-Ins — the master switch (default off).
• Enable Smart Walk-Ins — automatic best-table placement (default off). Plan-gated: Available on Complete plan.
• Default Walk-In Duration — default 90 mins, range 15–480.
• Last Walk-In Cutoff Before Close — default 60 mins, range 0–180. Walk-ins are blocked once fewer minutes remain, and one that would overrun closing is automatically shortened.
• Apply party-size duration rules to walk-ins — default off; uses your duration-by-party-size rules from Booking rules.

Walk-in modal defaults card: Default party size (default 2, range 1–10) and Require customer name on manual walk-ins (default off — Smart Walk-Ins stay anonymous regardless).

Table splitting card: Auto-Split Manual Walk-Ins and Auto-Split Smart Walk-Ins (both default off; both Available on Plus plan and above). When auto-split is off and a party would need tables combined, the failure message says so — it ends "(Auto-split is turned off in Settings → Walk-ins.)" — rather than implying the party can't be seated at all.

Floor plan inclusion card: per-floor-plan tick boxes controlling which rooms Smart Walk-Ins may use.

Seating a walk-in manually

• Click Add walk-in in the top bar, or click a free table on the floor plan and choose New walk-in.
• Fill in Customer Name (optional unless you've required it), Table (via Add Table, which opens a Select a Table floor-plan picker), and Customers.
• Optionally add Email (optional) and Phone (optional) — with tick boxes to Send confirmation email / Send confirmation SMS — plus Occasion, Allergies, Dietary, Notes and Staff notes.
• Click Confirm Walk-In.

Table availability respects your turnaround (cleaning) time — a just-cleared table isn't offered until the gap has passed.

Smart Walk-In

Click Smart Walk-In, answer How many guests?, then Find Tables. The system picks the best available table(s) and shows Ready to confirm — click Confirm & Return. If things aren't perfect it asks first: Tables split required (the only option is separate tables — Proceed Anyway or Cancel Walk-In), Oversized Table (Assign Anyway, Try Waitlist Instead or Cancel Walk-In), or No tables currently available, which suggests the next workable time and offers Create Reservation Instead or Add to Waitlist.

Related: How do I run service from the floor plan? · How do I control booking times and durations? · How do I manage the waitlist during service?