How to create a restaurant reservation system with WordPress

Two methods to create the reservation system in WordPress: with a paid plugin and with a free one.

Working with open source software like WordPress allows you to create high-quality web pages, such as a reservation system for a restaurant, without paying for third-party software, which usually involves a recurring payment.

Before starting, I leave you some tips before implementing the system:

1. Always create a test page, under the same hosting characteristics as the final one and do tests there
2. Create a page or system that explains to your clients how to use the reservation system, and in which they can send you questions or reports that something is wrong
3. Use a free or paid plugin, always check how fast and good they are for technical support, you cannot afford to have technical problems for a long time
4. Choose a flexible system that has automatic mailings, with reservation reminders to your customers. If it can be with SMS even better
5. If you have a manager, ask him to advise you and teach you all the details, even if that person is still the manager, it is important that you know everything that has to do with customers
6. NEVER, I REPEAT, NEVER use a specialized theme with an integrated reservation system. Because when you want to change the design, the whole system will crash. It is better to have it separate and independent from your design.

OK lets start.

WooCommerce Bookings + Acommodations addon

WooCommerce Bookings is a plugin created by the creators of WordPress that serves to sell “time” through WooCommerce.  Acommodations addon is a free extension that adapts its use for companies such as hotels or restaurants.

The price is US $ 249 (one year of updates and support). It may sound expensive, but it is a very professional system and is well worth the investment.

You need to have installed WooCommerce and configured the store correctly. Both plugins are installed like any other, and it will ask for the license to start working.

Step 1: set up your time slots

The time slots are the hours of your restaurant. Some establish a schedule for reservations and the rest of the time they leave it free.

Suppose your hours are Monday through Friday from 9 am to 8 pm and Saturday and Sunday from 8 am to 4 pm.

We go to Bookings -> Settings and you must leave your schedule like that, as we show in the image.

Step 2: Create a “bookable” product

The next step is to create a product like any other, only with a few differences:

1. In product type, choose “bookable”
2. Choose the duration of the blocks, which really consists of the duration of the reservation. You have two options, you choose the duration or the client chooses it. Suppose the reservation is 1 hour.
3. Choose if you want to leave the calendar visible to choose the day
4. Choose if the reservation requires the client to confirm via email and if it can be canceled and under what circumstances. Let’s say neither of them can be done.

The setting would be As the picture shows.

Step 3: Set price for tables

Not all tables are the same, nor do they have the same view … and not all of them cost the same. Then you must go to the resources tab, or resources, and tell your client that they do not have the same price.

Let’s give it names of people, and thus you will establish a price per block for each table. Thus leaving the configuration.

Step 4: Set availability

Finally, you must tell the system under what hours each of the tables is available for reservation.

In the Availability section. Remaining like this: it is NOT scheduled from 9 pm to 8 am, because it is closed, so you will have what is shown in Image 4.

And voila, you have it.

It takes a lot more settings to make your system more sophisticated, but this is the basic guide to get you started.

Restaurant Reservations: the free and scalable alternative

This plugin is undoubtedly the best to create a reservation system for restaurants: it is free and it is in the official WordPress repository, which guarantees security and compatibility.

Some features of this free plugin are:

1. You do not need WooCommerce, and you can place the system anywhere by placing only a very small code that they give you.
2. Both you as the owner and your client receive notifications for each reservation created
3. Customize all alerts and notifications
4. You can scale the system with four extensions that they sell to make your reservations even better and at affordable prices

The plugin is safe, it is updated frequently and the support is good, although it is not immediate like the paid one, of course. I do not do a tutorial because it is very easy to use.

Which of the two to use?

Maybe you think it’s easy … “the free one, but it’s not like that!”

If your volume of reservations is constant and / or high, and your restaurant has different premises and / or places such as reserved, terraces, or special places, without a doubt you should choose the option of WooCommerce Bookings.

If your restaurant does not have a reservation system or there are few reservations, it is a good idea to start with a free plugin such as restaurant Reservations, and once these improve migrate to WooCommerce Bookings.

You just have to remember that you don’t need to have a multi-Michelin star or high budget restaurant to offer reservations.