Accept booking requests from larger groups

Included in all plansBooking widgetFor managers

Needs: Owner or Admin

When a party is bigger than your online maximum, guests can send you a request instead of being turned away. The request arrives as a pending reservation without a table, so you can decide and get back to them.

Where to find it

Backoffice › Settings › Widget Management › Booking Rules › Allow bigger group requests

What it does

  • Shows a More guests? link under the party-size buttons in the widget.
  • The guest fills in a two-step form, "Request for a larger group": group size, occasion (Birthday, Business, Anniversary, Other), preferred date and time, details about the request, then first name, last name, email and phone.
  • The request is saved as a pending reservation with no table assigned. Your team is notified, and the guest gets a confirmation that the request was received ("Thank you for your request. Somebody will be reaching out to you soon.").
  • Max party size for request form sets the largest group that can use the form. It must be above your Maximum Party Size and can be at most 100. The default is 30.

How to set it up

  1. Go to Settings › Widget Management › Booking Rules.
  2. Switch on Allow bigger group requests.
  3. Set Max party size for request form.
  4. Click Save theme.
  5. Handle incoming requests from Reservations or the Host app: confirm and assign a table, or contact the guest.

Good to know

  • The group size in the form starts just above your normal online maximum. Smaller parties book normally.
  • The preferred time list only offers times your location is open; times you closed with Per-slot availability override are not offered.
  • The preferred date and time must be in the future.
  • A request does not hold any table. It only blocks capacity once you assign tables and confirm it.

Troubleshooting

The "More guests?" link does not show Allow bigger group requests is off or not saved, or the guest has not reached the party-size step.

Guest sees "No preferred times are available for that date. Please select another day." The location is closed that day, or all its times are closed online. Check the day in Planning › Service Calendar.

Guest sees "Failed to submit your request. Please try again." The group size is outside the allowed range, the time was closed, or too many requests came from the same connection in a short time. Ask the guest to check the size and try again later, or to call you.

I can't find the request Look for a reservation with status pending and no table on the requested date in Reservations.