Bookings, pre-orders, reviews and win-backs in one guest hub

The situation

Guests book by calling, messaging on WhatsApp or sending Instagram DMs, roughly 600 booking messages a month, answered by whoever is free on the floor. Catering and party enquiries arrive the same way. Google and Zomato reviews pile up unanswered, and there is no way to reach past guests on quiet weekday evenings.

Booking messages during service go unanswered for hours, and some guests simply go elsewhere.

Party and catering enquiries are worth far more than a table but get the same slow, ad-hoc handling.

Reviews, especially negative ones, sit without a reply for weeks.

Weekday evenings run well below capacity with no simple way to invite regulars back.

Each step

1. Booking conversation. Guests message on WhatsApp or Instagram in English, Hindi or Kannada. The assistant asks date, time, party size and outlet, and checks live availability.

2. Confirm or offer alternatives. If the slot is free, the booking is written to the reservation system and confirmed. If not, the guest is offered the nearest free times or the other outlet. Allergies and occasions are noted on the booking.

3. Reminders and no-show handling. A reminder goes out three hours before with a one-tap cancel. Cancelled tables are released at once. Repeat no-shows are flagged for the manager.

4. Party and catering enquiries. Requests over a set party size or for catering trigger a short form: date, headcount, menu style, dietary needs, budget range. Out-of-hours enquiries get a promise of a callback by noon.

5. Draft catering quote. A quote is drafted from set menus and per-head pricing, then sent to the manager to check and approve before it goes to the guest.

6. Review replies. New Google and Zomato reviews are pulled in daily. AI drafts a reply in the restaurant's voice. Positive replies are approved in one tap; anything at three stars or below goes to the manager with the bill details, if found, to follow up personally.

7. Opted-in guest list. Guests who book are asked once if they want occasional offers. Only those who say yes join the list. Anyone replying STOP is removed immediately and never messaged again.

8. Slow-night win-back. Each morning, bookings for the next few evenings are compared with a normal night. If one is light, a small offer goes to opted-in guests who have not visited in a while, capped so nobody gets more than a couple of messages a month.

What we build

Booking assistant. Takes and confirms table bookings on WhatsApp and Instagram, with live availability and multi-language replies.

Events desk. Captures catering and party requests in full and drafts a quote for the manager to approve.

Review responder. Drafts replies to every review and routes unhappy ones to the manager for a personal response.

Guest list with consent. A simple record of opted-in guests, visit history and opt-outs, kept in line with consent rules.

Slow-night trigger. Watches upcoming bookings and sends capped offers only when an evening looks quiet.

Connects to: WhatsApp Business API, Instagram Messaging API, Reservation system or Google Sheets, Google Business Profile, Zomato reviews (via export or partner access), OpenAI API, Tally Forms, Slack, n8n.

People stay in control

The manager approves every catering quote and every reply to a negative review.

Guests can type 'talk to someone' at any time and the chat goes to staff.

The owner sets offer types and limits; the system never invents discounts.

Large parties beyond the venue's limits are always handled by a person.

Rollout

Week 1: Set up channels and rules. Connect WhatsApp and Instagram, map table layouts and booking rules per outlet, and write the restaurant's tone guide for replies.

Week 2: Booking assistant live. Launch bookings and reminders at one outlet, with staff watching conversations and correcting answers for the first few days.

Week 3: Events desk and reviews. Add catering and party enquiries with quote drafts, and switch on daily review reply drafts.

Week 4: Guest list and second outlet. Start collecting opt-ins, set the slow-night rules and caps, and roll everything out to the second outlet.

Where the value comes from

Fewer lost bookings. Guests get a confirmed table in a minute, even mid-service or after closing, instead of booking somewhere that answered first.

More event revenue. Party and catering enquiries are captured fully and quoted quickly, which is where single enquiries are worth the most.

Fewer empty tables. Reminders and instant release of cancelled tables cut no-shows, and win-back offers fill nights that would otherwise run quiet.

Reputation. Every review gets a reply, and unhappy guests hear from a manager, which helps ratings and repeat visits.

Floor staff focus. Staff stop answering phones and DMs during service and spend that time on the guests in front of them.

What to measure: Median reply time to booking messages; Bookings confirmed through chat per week; No-show rate; Share of reviews replied to within 24 hours; Covers on weekday evenings compared with before.