Blog
The GuestKeepr blog
Practical articles for owners and managers of clubs, restaurants and salons: how to cut no-shows, stop losing booking requests, keep a guest database and set up a booking bot.
Problem
Where venues lose bookings and guests
WhatsApp chaos at the front desk: how to bring order
Bookings get lost in private chats. How to gather the conversations in one place and not lose what was agreed.
7 min read
The reservation book: what to replace the paper one with
Where a paper reservation book lets you down, and what an electronic replacement needs: overlap checks, history, phone access, an activity log.
7 min read
Restaurant no-shows: what to do
Why guests don't turn up for their bookings, how to set rules and keep a record of no-shows. A practical guide.
7 min read
Client no-shows in a salon: how to reduce them
What to do about no-shows in a beauty salon: appointment rules, the client's history and the “didn't come” mark.
7 min read
Booking cancellation policy: how to write one
A template of cancellation rules for a restaurant, club or salon: what to include, how to get it across to the guest, where to keep it.
7 min read
After-hours booking requests: how not to lose them
Guests write when you're closed. How to organise taking booking requests outside the shift without losing bookings.
7 min read
Solution
How a booking bot and guest records help
A booking bot for a restaurant: what it can do
What a front-desk bot in Telegram and WhatsApp does: it checks places, creates, moves and cancels bookings and calls a person. And what it doesn't do.
7 min read
A booking bot for a beauty salon: how it works
A Telegram and WhatsApp bot shows specialists and free times, and the appointment is saved in the dashboard. The scenario, what it can do and its limits.
7 min read
Bookings via WhatsApp and Telegram
How WhatsApp and Telegram differ for a booking bot: the 24-hour window, confirming the number, the language of replies, and what's needed to connect.
7 min read
A virtual front desk for a club
How a virtual front desk takes bookings for tables and VIP rooms in a nightclub, and where a person stays in the process. Limits and control.
7 min read
Comparison
How to choose and what to compare
A bot or an online widget: what to choose for a venue
Two ways of taking bookings compared: the guest writes in a messenger, or fills in a form on the website. Pros, cons, and when each one fits.
6 min read
AI or human front desk: which to choose
What to give the bot, what to leave to a person, and how to organise the handover so that the guest doesn't notice the seam between them.
7 min read
How to choose a table booking system
Criteria for a restaurant or a club: channels, roles, data, language and pricing. A checklist that isn't tied to any vendor.
7 min read
Practice
Setting up, step by step
A restaurant's guest database: what to keep on the card
What data a guest card needs and what's better not collected. Preferences, staff notes, merging duplicates and deleting data.
6 min read
A double-booked table: how to rule it out
Why one table ends up booked twice, and how to keep records in which overlapping times are impossible.
7 min read
How to set up a booking bot for a venue
Step by step: channels, places, menu, venue profile, roles. What to prepare before launch so that the bot answers correctly from day one.
6 min read
A menu for the bot: how to prepare it so it answers correctly
Which menu formats are supported, and how to set out the menu, terms, dress code and ready answers so that the bot doesn't confuse guests.
7 min read
Seating guests and the live floor
How to see the floor in real time: who's seated, who came without a booking, which booking is next at each table and when the peak hours are.
7 min read
Regular guests: how to recognise and remember them
How to mark regular guests, record their habits and give the whole shift a shared visit history without unnecessary bureaucracy.
7 min read
Staff roles in the dashboard: who sees what
How to divide permissions between the manager, host, general manager and owner, invite people by email and sign in with a PIN on a shared tablet.
6 min read