How do guests choose their own table at an event?

Let guests pick a table on a plan when they buy tickets — private or shared tables, a smallest party, a table extra, friends at the same table, moving guests and refunding part of an order.

On a seated event you can let guests choose their own table when they buy their tickets. On the event's Basics step, under Seating mode, pick Guests choose their table when they buy: guests then pick a table on a plan of the event's tables (or a list), and you can still move anyone afterwards. It works on every plan that sells event tickets — there's no extra plan for it, and switching it off is never locked by your plan.

Setting up the tables

Tick the event's tables under Available tables for this event as usual. With Guests choose their table when they buy chosen, each table gets its own row:

• Private or Shared. A private table goes to one booking — the whole table, even when the party is smaller than its seats. A shared table is sold by the chair: several parties can sit at it, each always together. Every table starts Private; Make every table shared switches them all at once.
• Smallest party (private tables). It starts at half the table's seats — the rule everyday bookings use, so a 4-seat table takes 2 or more, a 6-seat table 3 or more and a 10-seat table 5 or more — and a table's own online minimum (Settings → Tables and seating) wins when you've set one. Change any of them. A party too small for every free private table is offered shared chairs or the waitlist.
• Extra — an optional charge for the table (a booth, a view), either for the table (paid once by the order) or a person (on each ticket). A shared table's extra is always per person. Guests see the full price, extra included, before they pay. A changed extra applies to new sales only; each ticket keeps what it paid.

Spare chairs at a private table stay with the booking — a table for 4 bought by 2 isn't sold on to anyone else. The line under the tables counts them ("6 spare chairs at private tables").

Three switches sit under the tables:

• Keep each party at one table — on by default for this seating mode: a party always sits at one table, or at tables you've set to join. Your team can still split a party by hand.
• Let buyers save seats for friends — on by default: when a table has spare chairs, the buyer gets a link friends can use to buy tickets at the same table.
• Tell guests their table in advance — off by default. It's about tables YOUR team gives before the night: on, they show on the guest's ticket, email and Wallet pass; off, guests learn them at the door. A table a guest chose always shows.

Landmarks guests see lets you show things that help guests find their table on the plan (the bar, the stage) — nothing else of your venue is shown.

What guests see

After choosing their tickets, guests get a Your table step: the plan (Plan or List), with tables that are taken or too small shown as unavailable, each table's extra, and a choose-for-me option that picks the best free table for their party. Continuing holds the table and their places for 15 minutes, and the page shows how long is left — "Held for you · 14:32 left" (amber for the last two minutes) — on Your details, Check and pay and the payment itself; two minutes before the end the page asks "Still there?" with Keep holding for 15 minutes or Let it go. If the hold runs out before they pay, the page goes back to the plan and says so; if it runs out on the payment step, the card form stops and Try again holds the table again if it's still free. On a phone held sideways, the plan sits beside the rest of the step.

If the table they chose goes while they're paying (someone else finished first), their tickets are still issued — at the best free table at the same price or less. The difference, and our fee on it, go back to them automatically, their confirmation says so, and you get a notification in the bell. Only if nothing fits is the whole order refunded.

Their table then shows on the ticket email, the ticket page, the Wallet pass and the event reminder ("You're at Table 7."). A table the door gives on arrival is never sent to their phone — the Scanner tells them.

Friends at the same table

When their table has spare chairs, the buyer's ticket email and ticket page carry a "Save seats for friends" link. A friend who opens it buys their own tickets straight onto the same table while chairs last — even a private one. The link names nobody, ends when the table is full or when the event starts, and the buyer can end it themselves (Stop sharing on their ticket page). A "for the table" extra has already been paid, so friends pay none; a per-person extra, each friend pays for their own ticket.

The price and our fee

Our platform fee on a table extra is 2.9% of the extra — the 50p part of the ticket fee is charged once per ticket, never again on the extra. Whoever pays the ticket fee (you, or the guest if you pass fees on) pays it on the extra too. Offer codes never discount a table extra, the extra follows the event's VAT rate, and refunding a ticket refunds its extra.

Moving a guest to another table

Open the ticket on the event's attendee list and choose Move to another table (or Give them a table when they don't have one). Pick the new table — the sheet shows the difference in price, and only the difference is settled:

• A cheaper table — refund the difference to how they paid, or give it as gift card credit if you sell gift cards.
• A dearer table — send them a payment link, take it at the venue, or No charge (a free upgrade — recorded with who allowed it and why).
• The same price — no money moves.

The guest gets a "Your table has changed" email naming the new table, and a saved Wallet pass updates itself ("Your table is now Table 3"). Money going back needs the events refund permission and asks you to confirm it's you.

Refunding part of an order

Refund tickets on the attendee list refunds some of an order's tickets on their own — one guest who can't come — without cancelling the rest. The money goes back to how they paid (card, gift card, or both), including those tickets' share of any table extra, and the guest gets an email saying what was refunded. Our fee on a part of an order isn't returned. Everything happens in ResoFlow: you never need your Stripe dashboard for it.

At the door

The Scanner keeps the table a guest chose: it says "Seated at Table 7 — chosen when they bought". At an event where guests choose, a party the door couldn't place says "No table free", so your team can find them a seat.

Related: How do I create an event? · How do I set up ticket tiers, prices and add-ons? · How do I check tickets at the door?