How guests book a table in the booking widget

The booking widget is the page or pop-up guests use to reserve a table on your website, microsite or booking link. This article walks through every screen a guest sees, so you can explain it or spot where a guest got stuck.

Where to find it

Preview it yourself in Backoffice › Settings › Widget Management (the Live Preview panel, or Open in New Tab).

What it does

The guest moves through these screens in order:

1. Party size – "For how many people would you like to make a reservation?". Buttons run from your minimum to your maximum party size. If you allow bigger group requests, a More guests? link appears below. Experiences you mark as highlighted can show here too.
2. Date and time – a calendar, then the available times. Days that are closed, fully booked or not yet open for booking cannot be picked. If the guest picks a day too far ahead they see "Not bookable yet – Reservations open … days in advance". Times can be grouped by service, and experience cards appear for the chosen date.
3. Your Details – Title (optional), First Name, Last Name, Email Address and Phone Number are required. Special requests is optional. If gift voucher linking is on, an I have a gift voucher field can appear.
4. Additional Information (only if you switched it on) – children, accessibility, dietary needs and occasion.
5. Confirm – "Almost Ready!" summary of date, time, guests, seating, experience and contact details. The optional marketing opt-in box and the link to your terms appear here. If a payment is due, the total and any administration fee are shown before the guest commits.
6. Payment (only when a deposit or ticket price applies) – the payment opens in a new window; the widget shows "Awaiting Payment" until it is paid.
7. Reservation Confirmed! – the confirmation code, a note that the email was sent (with Resend email), Open in guest app, add-to-calendar, Share and wallet buttons.

The guest can switch language at any time from the language button at the top.

Good to know

• Every time shown is checked against your shifts, tables, booking rules, pacing and online limits. If a time is taken while the guest is filling in details, they see "This time was just taken" and pick again.
• One email address can make up to 8 online bookings per hour, and one internet connection up to 20 bookings per 10 minutes. Beyond that, the booking is refused for a while. This mostly affects staff testing the widget.
• Online bookings are limited to 20 guests. Bigger parties use the More guests? request form.
• A red message under the name field ("Name contains invalid characters") is only a warning. It can appear for names with accents. The guest can still continue.

Troubleshooting

The widget shows no times at all No shift is open on that day, or every table is closed for online booking. Check Planning › Service Calendar for that date and your shifts under Settings › Location hours and shifts. Also check your online guest limits and pacing.

Guest sees "Online booking unavailable" or "Online booking is temporarily unavailable" The account's subscription is inactive, or a free plan has used its monthly cover allowance (50 covers per month). Contact 10Seat support about the subscription.

Guest sees "Unable to load available times. Please try again." when pressing confirm The time is no longer free, or the guest (or your team testing) made too many bookings in a short time. Wait an hour, or try with a different email address.

Guest sees "We couldn't confirm your booking. Please don't book again…" The connection dropped while the booking was being saved. Ask the guest not to book again. Look up the booking by name in Reservations before making a new one.

Guest did not get the confirmation email On the success screen they can tap Resend email. Ask them to check spam and the address they typed.