Run an invite-only private event

Included in all plansBackofficeFor managers

Needs: Owner or Admin

A private event is a night (or several) that only people with your invite link can book. Everyone else sees your normal hours, with no sign the event exists. Use it for an anniversary dinner, a supper club, a press night or a night for regulars.

Where to find it

Backoffice › Planning › Private events

What it does

You build the event in four steps ("Nothing is live until you share a link"):

  1. What is the night? – Event name and Description (only the description is shown to invited guests), plus Booking rules: Seating duration and Min party / Max party.
  2. Which nights? – click days, pick a range or use a shortcut. Service times replace your normal hours on those dates, so the event works even on a day you are usually closed. Add services with Add another service.
    • Close these dates to the public – the regular widget shows these days as closed. Saving writes a closed day in the Day Planner for each date; turning it off reopens exactly those days.
  3. Where do they sit? – pick areas or individual tables, or leave everything unselected to use the whole floor. Open normally-closed tables for this event lets tables you keep off online booking be booked through the invite only.
  4. How the times go on sale – Time between bookings, Most guests per time (leave empty for no limit) and Times on sale (click a time to take it off sale; Copy to all dates).

Then Invite & share: create one link per audience under Who is it for? (for example "Newsletter" or "Regulars"), with optional Max bookings and Stops working date. Click Create link, then Copy link.

How to set it up

  1. Go to Planning › Private events and click New event.
  2. Work through the steps and click Save draft (or Save changes).
  3. In Invite & share, create a link and copy it straight away.
  4. Send the link to your guests. It opens your booking widget with the event dates.

Good to know

  • A link is shown only once: "copy it now, we only keep an encrypted fingerprint". If one is lost, revoke it and create a new one.
  • Revoke link stops that link immediately; bookings already made are kept. Deleting the event stops all its links.
  • Your normal widget settings (per-shift rules, limits) do not apply to the event; set its own booking rules.
  • The waitlist is not offered on invite links.
  • The list shows each event as Active or Inactive and whether its dates are Closed to the public.

Troubleshooting

A guest says the link shows "This booking link is not valid." or "This invitation has expired." The link was cut off when copied, revoked, or past its Stops working date. Create a new link.

"This invitation has already been fully booked." The link reached its Max bookings. Raise it by creating another link.

"That time is fully booked for this event" Most guests per time or the tables for that time are full. Open more times or tables.

Members of the public can still book that night Close these dates to the public is off. Switch it on and save. If a date was already closed in the Day Planner, it is left as it was.

Invited guests see no tables The selected tables are closed for online booking. Switch on Open normally-closed tables for this event.

"Could not update the public opening for … Set it in the Day Planner." The event saved, but closing the public day failed. Close the day yourself in Planning › Service Calendar.