Why does it say "having trouble verifying your connection"?

What the "We're having trouble verifying your connection" message means, why it appears, and how to get past it in a few seconds.

Occasionally a full-screen message appears saying "We're having trouble verifying your connection", with a Try again button and a smaller Reload the page link. It can appear to anyone — a customer opening a booking page or a restaurant opening the dashboard.

What it means

ResoFlow runs a quick automatic check that each visit is coming from a real person's browser — it protects restaurants and their customers from bots and abuse. For almost everyone it's completely invisible. On ResoFlow's own website, just reading a page never runs it — it only runs when you open the chat or send something. This message simply means the check couldn't finish; nothing is wrong with your account or booking, and no one is accusing you of anything.

As the message itself says, it's usually temporary — a weak or changing connection can cause it. The common innocent causes:

• a slow or patchy connection — hotel, airport or café Wi-Fi, a train, a weak mobile signal;
• switching networks mid-visit (for example Wi-Fi dropping to mobile data);
• a strict VPN, an ad or content blocker, or a very strict private-browsing mode quietly blocking the check.

What to do

• Press Try again. It re-runs the check on the spot without reloading — the button shows "Checking…" while it works, and the message disappears by itself once the check passes. On a flaky connection, trying a second time a moment later often does it.
• Using a VPN or an ad/content blocker? Pause it (or allow this site) and press Try again.
• Reload the page — the smaller link under the button — or close and reopen the tab.
• Try another connection — for example switch from the venue's Wi-Fi to mobile data, or the other way round.
• Still stuck? If you're a customer, ring the restaurant — they can take your booking directly. If you run a restaurant on ResoFlow, contact support through the chat bubble or the contact page.

"Checking your connection…" on a slow Wi-Fi

On poor Wi-Fi — a hotel, a cellar bar, a busy café — the same check can simply take a while rather than fail. When it does, the app waits with you and says so instead of guessing that something has broken:

• While the check is still running you see "Checking your connection…" with a counter of how long it has been (for example "Checking your connection… 25s"), and a Reload the page link underneath if you'd rather start again. Nothing is wrong — the app is waiting for a slow link, not stuck.
• Once the check has passed and the app is fetching your details, the line changes to "Loading your account…" (or "Loading the portal…" on the staff portal), still with the counter. After about 20 seconds it adds that the connection looks slow and that it will keep trying; it keeps waiting for up to a minute while the link is still answering.
• On the sign-in page the Sign in button does the same: a "Checking your connection…" line appears under it while the check runs, then "Still signing you in — your connection looks slow" if the sign-in itself is taking more than a few seconds. If the sign-in service genuinely can't be reached, you get a clear message — "We couldn't reach the sign-in service on this connection. Check your Wi-Fi and try again." — and the button is ready to try again.
• The staff portal's PIN screen and the customer portal's sign-in code do the same: a "Checking your connection…" counter while the check runs, then their usual messages.

You only see the "We couldn't load your account" card when something has actually failed — the link went dead, or your details never arrived even though the link was answering. The card says which, and Retry picks the check up again (it shows the same counter while it works) rather than starting a blind countdown; Reload the page is always there too.

The booking-page puzzle

Separately, when you submit a booking (or join a waitlist), the form's bot-check can occasionally show a quick puzzle from Cloudflare before it accepts. That's normal — complete it and carry on; your details are untouched.

Related: What do customers see when they pay online? · How do customers use the customer portal?