Frequently Asked Questions

Several things…

First, we’re not trying to be anything other than a reservation system – and the very best one at that. Our system is not overloaded or burdened with excessive marketing activities, advertising opportunities, flashy gimmicks or 3rd party extras to justify charging you a higher price. The bells and whistles are kept to a minimum providing you with exactly what you need.

Second, and speaking of that higher price, we don’t charge you a penny more than the monthly subscription fee… EVER!!! You’re not charged “per reservation” or “per guest”. Why should you be charged more for using a product you’ve already paid for?

Third… no guest reviews of your restaurant. While good reviews are always welcomed, bad reviews can sometimes be misleading, unjustified and damaging to your business. We're providing you with a reservation system. We’ll leave the reviews to companies like Yelp, Facebook, Zagat, etc., saving you big money in the process and allowing you to use the system for exactly what it’s intended – reservations.

No. We recommend and prefer that you embed the reservation process in to your website. Doing so keeps your guests on your website and maximizes your branding potential. You can also install a custom link to your reservation system on your current website. This brielfy hands off customers to your branded pages but returns them seamlessly back to your website. We’re more concerned about maintaining YOUR brand and image rather than ours. Both methods maintain your establishment's name throughout the entire process without ever exposing your guests to competing restaurants.

We provide the code for both embedding the process to your website or linking to your branded pages on LetsDineOnline. We consider this an important feature of a LetsDineOnline subscription since it maintains your “name and brand” throughout the process. The link contains all the information necessary to direct your guests to your reservation account. Your webmaster or marketing individual should be able to install the link to your website and, if assistance is needed from us, we will be happy to provide it… for free.

We don’t charge you a penny more than the monthly subscription fee… EVER!!! You’re not charged “per reservation” or “per guest”. In other words, why should you be charged more for using a product you’ve already paid for?

Absolutely not! We hate when we’re locked in to contracts and we have no intention of inflicting that pain on our customers. It’s a pay-as-you-go system. While we would certainly want to retain your business for as long as we can, we’re not going to force you into it. We'd rather you stay because our product is perfect for your establishment, not because we locked you in. If a time comes in which you’d like to cancel (as much as we’d hate to see you go), you can do so freely without incurring cancellation fees or costly penalties.

If you cancel in the middle of your 30-day subscription period or in the middle of your 12-month subscription period, you will be able to continue using LetsDineOnline through the last day of each respective period. LetsDineOnline does not offer or provide a pro-rated refund for a cancellation occurring in the middle of your 30-day subscription period or your 12-month subscription period.

Well…. no, but we highly recommend it to effectively manage your reservations. Think of the LetsDineOnline Reservations Tablet as your dashboard. From the tablet your staff can view and manage all aspects of the reservation process. Reservations are sorted from soonest to latest and upcoming days and weeks can be viewed with the click of a button.

The tablet is portable and can be carried around the restaurant allowing managers to evaluate the floor and make table assignments. Pending reservations can be confirmed, deleted or cancelled by authorized staff members directly from the tablet.

Additional Features Include:

• Send messages to your guests who have submitted requests
• Enter guest arrival times
• Assign table numbers to guests and guest parties
• Make changes to an existing reservation
• Step forward day-by-day to view future dates
• View an entire week to better plan for upcoming traffic

The tablet is automatically updated every 60 seconds and displays reservations for the entire day. Even if alerts are completely missed by your staff members, the reservation requests will be immediately visible on the reservations tablet and can be confirmed (or denied) from there.

You can certainly use your own tablet or desktop/laptop computer to manage your reservations. At the time of sign up, you will be able to optionally purchase the LetsDineOnline the tablet.

Phoned-in reservations can be entered directly into your LetsDineOnline Reservation system, in real-time, while on the phone with a requesting customer. The LetsDineOnline reservations screen is equipped with an "Add Reservation" button on every page. Your host/hostess simply enters the details as they are provided by the requesting guest.

Yes. The street address provided by you at the time of signup is all we need to make the system work. Guests will be provided with maps and directions to your location. You'll need to provide an official, accurate street address at the time of signup. If you make a mistake, you can always go back and edit your information form your admin screen.

Yes, each location will need its own full subscription. This is due to overlap of times and dates as well as unique GPS information and directions we provide to your guests for each of your locations. Reservation notifications are unique to the staff members at each location and need to be manged separately. This separation allows each location to view and manage only the reservations which apply to that particular location.

We recommend and prefer that you embed the reservation process in to your website. Doing so keeps your guests on your website and maximizes your branding potential. You can also install a custom link to your reservation system on your current website. This brielfy hands off customers to your branded pages but returns them seamlessly back to your website. We’re more concerned about maintaining YOUR brand and image rather than ours. Both methods maintain your establishment's name throughout the entire process without ever exposing your guests to competing restaurants.

We provide the code for both embedding the process to your website or linking to your branded pages on LetsDineOnline. We consider this an important feature of a LetsDineOnline subscription since it maintains your “name and brand” throughout the process. The link contains all the information necessary to direct your guests to your reservation account. Your webmaster or marketing individual should be able to install the link to your website and, if assistance is needed from us, we will be happy to provide it… for free.

From the LetsDineOnline home page, access your account by:

• Clicking the “Login” button
• Enter your username and password
• Click the “Log in to Your Account” button

There are two ways to do this… day-by-day or “globally” for the year.

Day-By-Day

• From your Account Main Menu screen, click on “Hourly Table Availability”
• Select the date for which you want to set or alter the maximum reservations per time slot
• Scroll to the section titled, “Making changes for date: XX/XX/XXXX”
• Update each time interval with the desired value of reservations you will be taking during that time slot

Globally

• From your Account Main Menu screen, click on “Global Reservation Defaults”
• Click on the day of the week you're wishing to change
• Enter the maximum reservation you’ll accept per time slot in the "Maximum reservations per time slot" text box
• When all changes are made or entered, click on the "Update Days, Dates & Times" button at the bottom of the page

This will update all times slots to the same value, for that day, for the entire year.

There are two ways to do this… day-by-day or “globally” for the year.

Day-By-Day

• From your Current Reservations Dashboard screen, click on the LetsDineOnline logo in the upper right of your screen.
• This will display the “Quick Settings” screen for the current day (to select a future day, step forward to a future date using the right-facing arrow at the top of your screen prior to clicking the LetdDineOnline logo)
• Locate the “Max. guests per reservation” potion of this screen and enter the desired guest count

Globally

• From your Account Main Menu screen, click on “Global Reservation Defaults”
• Click on the day of the week you're wishing to change
• Enter the maximum guests you’ll accept per reservation in the " Maximum guest count per reservation" text box
• When all changes are made or entered, click on the "Update Days, Dates & Times" button at the bottom of the page

This will update all reservation maximum guest count to the same value, for that day, for the entire year.

• From your Account Main Menu screen, click on “Blackout Specific Dates”
• Select the date you wish to blackout
• Select the “Blackout This Day From Reservation Entries” option

NOTE: To reverse a date that has been blacked out: Select the “blacked out” date from the calendar and select the “Make This Day Vvailable for Reservation Entries” option.

• From your Account Main Menu screen, click on “Global Reservation Defaults”
• Select the day of the week you wish to make changes to (Show/Hide buttons)
• In the “Taking XXXXXX Reservations?” section, select “No”

This will remove that day of the week from your reservation system from that day forward. You can always make that day available again if needed.

It’s maddening to keep tables open for a reservation only to have those guests never show up. While there are numerous and, in most cases, justifiable reasons why this may occur, LetsDineOnline allows you to keep track of guests who have a consistent no-show record.

You can establish and set a default no-show “count” for guests from your reservation admin/setup screen. No-Shows, when they occur, can be noted and entered from your reservations tablet.

All guest reservations are tracked via the email address used when reservations are made. When the no-show count for a guest reaches your preset no-show “count”, we will alert you that the guest has reached their no-show limit when their next reservation gets entered. It’s, of course, up to your staff to decide what actions are taken when this occurs.

At the very least, it allows your staff to make informed decisions, during your busiest hours, to insure tables are available to your most reliable guests.

While it’s not required, we highly recommend that you utilize the text message notification feature of our system. It is an alert that gets sent almost immediately as opposed to emails which, depending on the personal email service/provider each of your staff members use, can take several minutes (sometimes as long as 30 minutes) to finally get sent to their smartphone. People are used to letting emails wait, choosing to view them later. Text messages, however, are usually addressed immediately. With per-text-message usage fees mainly a thing of the past, this feature is the most effective way to notify your staff of new reservation requests.

The choice is yours.

From your reservation setup screen you can choose between "Auto-Confirmation" for all reservation requests or retain the ability to confirm reservations manually. It really depends on the rate at which you turn over tables and the amount of walk-ins you get on any particular day.

You already have the ability to determine how many reservations, or "slots", you wish to make available for each time period. For establishments who know that those tables will always remain available for reservations, then Auto-Confirmation is the way to go. However, if your daily traffic (reservations, walk-ins, etc.) varies on a day-to-day basis, then you may want to retain the ability to confirm reservations manually as you receive them.

From the LetsDineOnline home page, access your account by:

• Clicking the “Login” button
• Enter your username and password
• Click the “Log in to Your Account” button

All changes to usernames, passwords or PINs can be accomplished by logging in to your Account Main Menu page and selecting "User & Notification Settings".

It’s maddening to keep tables open for a reservation only to have those guests never show up. While there are numerous and, in most cases, justifiable reasons why this may occur, LetsDineOnline allows you to keep track of guests who have a consistent no-show record.

You can establish and set a default no-show “count” for guests from your reservation admin/setup screen. No-Shows, when they occur, can be noted and entered from your reservations tablet.

All guest reservations are tracked via the email address used when reservations are made. When the no-show count for a guest reaches your preset no-show “count”, we will alert you that the guest has reached their no-show limit when their next reservation gets entered. It’s, of course, up to your staff to decide what actions are taken when this occurs.

At the very least, it allows your staff to make informed decisions, during your busiest hours, to insure tables are available to your most reliable guests.

Well…. no, but we highly recommend it to effectively manage your reservations. Think of the LetsDineOnline Reservations Tablet as your dashboard. From the tablet your staff can view and manage all aspects of the reservation process. Reservations are sorted from soonest to latest and upcoming days and weeks can be viewed with the click of a button.

The tablet is portable and can be carried around the restaurant allowing managers to evaluate the floor and make table assignments. Pending reservations can be confirmed, deleted or cancelled by authorized staff members directly from the tablet.

Additional Features Include:

• Send messages to your guests who have submitted requests
• Enter guest arrival times
• Assign table numbers to guests and guest parties
• Make changes to an existing reservation
• Step forward day-by-day to view future dates
• View an entire week to better plan for upcoming traffic

The tablet is automatically updated every 60 seconds and displays reservations for the entire day. Even if alerts are completely missed by your staff members, the reservation requests will be immediately visible on the reservations tablet and can be confirmed (or denied) from there.

You can certainly use your own tablet or desktop/laptop computer to manage your reservations. At the time of sign up, you will be able to optionally purchase the LetsDineOnline the tablet.

No. We recommend and prefer that you embed the reservation process in to your website. Doing so keeps your guests on your website and maximizes your branding potential. You can also install a custom link to your reservation system on your current website. This brielfy hands off customers to your branded pages but returns them seamlessly back to your website. We’re more concerned about maintaining YOUR brand and image rather than ours. Both methods maintain your establishment's name throughout the entire process without ever exposing your guests to competing restaurants.

We provide the code for both embedding the process to your website or linking to your branded pages on LetsDineOnline. We consider this an important feature of a LetsDineOnline subscription since it maintains your “name and brand” throughout the process. The link contains all the information necessary to direct your guests to your reservation account. Your webmaster or marketing individual should be able to install the link to your website and, if assistance is needed from us, we will be happy to provide it… for free.

Guests can cancel their reservations at any time. When confirmations are sent to your customers, a link is available for them to cancel the reservation if needed. Your Reservations screen will instantly update to show the cancellation and the system is instantly updated to make previously reserved tables available to guests again.

Simply put, you can't overbook reservations… EVER! Once the last available reservation is taken for a particular time slot, that time slot becomes unavailable for guest selection. If your staff (or a guest) cancels or deletes a previously confirmed reservation, that particular time slot becomes immediately available for guest selection.

Phoned-in reservations can be entered directly into your LetsDineOnline Reservation system, in real-time, while on the phone with a requesting customer. The LetsDineOnline reservations screen is equipped with an "Add Reservation" button on every page. Your host/hostess simply enters the details as they are provided by the requesting guest.

The choice is yours.

From your reservation setup screen you can choose between "Auto-Confirmation" for all reservation requests or retain the ability to confirm reservations manually. It really depends on the rate at which you turn over tables and the amount of walk-ins you get on any particular day.

You already have the ability to determine how many reservations, or "slots", you wish to make available for each time period. For establishments who know that those tables will always remain available for reservations, then Auto-Confirmation is the way to go. However, if your daily traffic (reservations, walk-ins, etc.) varies on a day-to-day basis, then you may want to retain the ability to confirm reservations manually as you receive them.

No. We recommend and prefer that you embed the reservation process in to your website. Doing so keeps your guests on your website and maximizes your branding potential. You can also install a custom link to your reservation system on your current website. This brielfy hands off customers to your branded pages but returns them seamlessly back to your website. We’re more concerned about maintaining YOUR brand and image rather than ours. Both methods maintain your establishment's name throughout the entire process without ever exposing your guests to competing restaurants.

We provide the code for both embedding the process to your website or linking to your branded pages on LetsDineOnline. We consider this an important feature of a LetsDineOnline subscription since it maintains your “name and brand” throughout the process. The link contains all the information necessary to direct your guests to your reservation account. Your webmaster or marketing individual should be able to install the link to your website and, if assistance is needed from us, we will be happy to provide it… for free.

Guests can cancel their reservations at any time. When confirmations are sent to your customers, a link is available for them to cancel the reservation if needed. Your Reservations screen will instantly update to show the cancellation and the system is instantly updated to make previously reserved tables available to guests again.

Yes. The street address provided by you at the time of signup is all we need to make the system work. Guests will be provided with maps and directions to your location. You'll need to provide an official, accurate street address at the time of signup. If you make a mistake, you can always go back and edit your information form your admin screen.

While good reviews are always welcomed, bad reviews can sometimes be misleading, unjustified and damaging to your business. We're providing you with a reservation system. We’ll leave the reviews to companies like Yelp, Facebook, Zagat, etc., saving you big money in the process and allowing you to use the system for exactly what it’s intended – Reservations.

No way! We have no interest in using your guests as a path to additional revenue. They're your customers… and that's the way it should stay. LetsDineOnline will never use, distribute or sell contact information to 3rd party entities.

Phoned-in reservations can be entered directly into your LetsDineOnline Reservation system, in real-time, while on the phone with a requesting customer. The LetsDineOnline reservations screen is equipped with an "Add Reservation" button on every page. Your host/hostess simply enters the details as they are provided by the requesting guest.

It’s maddening to keep tables open for a reservation only to have those guests never show up. While there are numerous and, in most cases, justifiable reasons why this may occur, LetsDineOnline allows you to keep track of guests who have a consistent no-show record.

You can establish and set a default no-show “count” for guests from your reservation admin/setup screen. No-Shows, when they occur, can be noted and entered from your reservations tablet.

All guest reservations are tracked via the email address used when reservations are made. When the no-show count for a guest reaches your preset no-show “count”, we will alert you that the guest has reached their no-show limit when their next reservation gets entered. It’s, of course, up to your staff to decide what actions are taken when this occurs.

At the very least, it allows your staff to make informed decisions, during your busiest hours, to insure tables are available to your most reliable guests.

The choice is yours.

From your reservation setup screen you can choose between "Auto-Confirmation" for all reservation requests or retain the ability to confirm reservations manually. It really depends on the rate at which you turn over tables and the amount of walk-ins you get on any particular day.

You already have the ability to determine how many reservations, or "slots", you wish to make available for each time period. For establishments who know that those tables will always remain available for reservations, then Auto-Confirmation is the way to go. However, if your daily traffic (reservations, walk-ins, etc.) varies on a day-to-day basis, then you may want to retain the ability to confirm reservations manually as you receive them.