Choosing a booking system: 12 questions to ask before you sign

Twelve questions to ask any booking system before you sign: how it's priced, what costs extra, who owns your guest data, contract and notice, deposits, your own website, staff logins, support, exporting your data, and what happens if the company closes.

A booking system sits at the middle of your week. It takes bookings while you sleep, holds your guest list and sometimes your money. Changing later is a hassle, so it pays to ask the right questions before you sign. These twelve work for any system, ours included.

A card titled "12 questions to ask" listing pricing, extras, guest data, contract and notice, deposits, your own website, staff logins and getting your data out

1. How is it priced?

Booking systems charge in broadly three ways: a commission on bookings, a fee for each guest seated (a per-cover fee), or a flat monthly fee. Some mix them. Work out what each would cost in your busiest month and your quietest, using your own numbers. A per-cover fee grows as you get busier; a flat fee doesn't.

2. What's included, and what costs extra?

Ask for the full list: text messages, deposits, gift cards, extra staff logins, extra venues, set-up and training. Card payments also carry the payment provider's own processing fees. A low headline price can become a high bill once the extras are added.

3. Who owns the guest data?

Your guests' names, emails and visit history are among the most valuable things your business has. Ask whether you can see and download all of it, whether you can email guests who've agreed to hear from you, and whether the platform uses your guests to promote other venues.

4. How long is the contract, and what's the notice?

Monthly, yearly or longer? Does it renew automatically, and how much notice do you have to give? Can the price go up during the term, and how much warning do you get? Read the terms, not only the sales page.

5. Can it take deposits and help with no-shows?

Look for deposits, a card held against no-shows, and full payment up front for special nights. Ask where the money lands, how quickly, and who decides on refunds. If you're weighing it up, read should your restaurant take booking deposits?

6. Does it work on your own website and profiles?

Guests should be able to book from your website, Instagram, Facebook and Google profile, on a booking page that's yours, without being sent somewhere that lists other venues beside you. Ask to see the booking page on a phone. There's more in how to take bookings on your own website.

7. Does it bring new guests, and do they cost more?

Some systems come with a diner app or website that sends new guests your way. That can be worth paying for, especially for a new venue. Ask whether those bookings cost more than the ones from your own website, and how the system tells the two apart.

8. Can everyone on the team have their own login?

Shared logins make it impossible to know who changed what. Ask whether each person signs in as themselves, whether you can limit what each role can do, and how many logins your plan includes.

9. What's support like?

Ask how you reach them, whether help with set-up and moving your data is included, and whether there are written guides you can read late at night before a busy service. Read a few before you sign.

10. Can you get your data out yourself?

You should be able to download your bookings, including future ones, and your customer list without asking anyone. Try it during the trial, not on the day you need it.

11. What happens if they close?

It happens. When Quandoo closed in 2026, venues needed their customer lists and future bookings out quickly; our guide to what UK venues needed to do covers it. Ask how a provider would give you notice and your data if it ever closed, and download a copy of your own data now and then anyway.

12. Can you try it properly first?

A free plan, a trial or a live demo lets you book a table as a guest would, on your own phone, and see what your team would see. Make a test booking, change it, then cancel it. If it's confusing for you, it will be confusing for your guests.

Four steps to choosing well: price your busiest and quietest month, read the contract terms, try a test booking on your phone, and download a copy of your data

When ResoFlow might not be the right fit

We'd rather you chose well than chose us. ResoFlow may not suit you if:

• you want a diner marketplace to bring guests who don't know you yet. ResoFlow gives you direct booking links and a venue directory, not a diner app;
• you want Google's Reserve with Google button. ResoFlow isn't part of that partner programme; you add your own booking link to your Google profile instead;
• you need bookings connected to the ordering and payment system you already use at the venue. ResoFlow doesn't offer those connections today; bookings, payments and reports live in ResoFlow itself;
• you want to advertise to a platform's diner network. ResoFlow's marketing works with your own guest list;
• your venue is outside the UK. ResoFlow is for UK venues.

If you're weighing up ResoFlow

ResoFlow has a Free plan and three paid plans, billed monthly or yearly, with 0% commission on table bookings. Cancelling ends a plan at the end of the period you've paid for, and the account owner can download a full export of the venue's data (see How do I export my data?). You can try the live demos without signing up.

Using ResoFlow? Ask Rezo from your dashboard, or email [email protected].