The phone rings at 6.45 pm, in the middle of the first sitting. Nobody can pick it up. By the time someone checks the missed calls at 11 pm, the table for four that caller wanted for Saturday has gone to the place down the road. Meanwhile there are three unanswered Instagram messages asking about a birthday booking, and a WhatsApp from a regular who wants "the usual table, Friday, 8ish".
This guide looks at how restaurants take reservations 24/7 in practice. It goes through every channel guests use, from online booking widgets and Google to phone calls, WhatsApp and Instagram DMs, and the newer option of an AI that answers them. It also covers the parts that don't change whatever channel the booking arrives through: table management, large groups and deposits. We make an AI receptionist, Klugon, and we explain where it helps a restaurant and where a dedicated reservation system is the better tool.
Where reservations actually come from
Most restaurants take bookings through four or five channels at once, and guests don't care which one is easiest for you. A typical mix:
- an online booking widget on your own website;
- third-party discovery apps and Google;
- the phone;
- WhatsApp, Instagram DMs and Facebook Messenger;
- walk-ins and the waitlist at the door.
The aim isn't to force everyone into one channel. It's to make sure each channel can either take a booking at any hour or pass the guest somewhere that can, and that every booking ends up in one book.
Online reservation systems and booking widgets
For most restaurants, the backbone of 24/7 booking is a dedicated reservation system. The common ones include OpenTable, Resy, SevenRooms, Tock, TheFork, Quandoo, ResDiary and Tablein, along with the reservation modules built into some point-of-sale systems. They differ in network reach, pricing model and the markets they focus on, but they share a core set of features.
What a reservation system does well
- Table inventory. You map your floor plan: table numbers, sizes, which tables can be pushed together, and which sections are open on which nights.
- Covers and pacing. You limit how many covers arrive in each 15-minute window, so the kitchen isn't hit by 40 covers at 7.30 pm.
- Turn times. You set how long a table is held by party size and time of day: perhaps 90 minutes for two, two hours for six, longer on a Saturday.
- Party size rules. Online booking is open up to a set party size, with larger groups asked to contact you.
- Guest notes and history. Allergies, anniversaries, high chairs and regulars' preferences sit on the guest profile.
- Card guarantees and deposits through the system's own payment provider, where offered.
- Automatic confirmations and reminders by email, and sometimes by text message.
- A waitlist for full nights and for walk-ins.
The trade-offs
- Cost. Pricing ranges from a flat monthly fee to per-cover charges, and the network apps often charge more for guests they send you than for bookings through your own website. Read each vendor's pricing page carefully, because the per-cover line is where bills grow.
- Guests with questions don't use widgets. "Can you do a gluten-free birthday cake?" or "Is there step-free access?" still arrives by phone or message.
- Widgets stop at a party size. That's deliberate, but it pushes your most valuable bookings onto the phone.
If you're weighing up one network app against alternatives, our OpenTable alternative comparison sets out the options.
Google reservations
Many guests find you on Google Search or Maps, so the booking button there matters. There are two ways to take reservations from your Google Business Profile.
Reserve with Google through a provider
If your reservation system is one of Google's booking partners, you can switch on bookings from your Business Profile. Guests book without leaving Google, and the booking lands in your reservation system. Google's help page on setting up bookings through a provider explains the steps: open your profile, choose Bookings, pick your provider. Google says providers can take up to a week to appear on your profile, and that providers may charge you for bookings made through Google, so check your contract. Restaurant waitlists on Google also need a Reserve with Google provider.
Google keeps a list of Reserve with Google partners by category, which is the quickest way to see whether your system qualifies.
A plain reservation link
If your system isn't a partner, or you take bookings some other way, you can add your own booking link to your profile. Guests tap it and land on your booking page. It's simpler, but Google doesn't show performance data for custom links.
Our post on adding a booking link to your Google Business Profile goes through both options step by step.
Phone reservations
The phone is still where many of the bookings that matter arrive: big tables, regulars, older guests, special occasions, and anyone with a question.
Why the phone is the hardest channel to cover
The calls come at the worst time. People ring about dinner during dinner, when the person nearest the phone is carrying three plates. They ring at lunch about tonight. Few call at 3 pm, when you'd have time.
Common approaches:
- The host stand answers during service. It works when you have a dedicated host. On a short-staffed night the phone just rings.
- An answering machine with your booking link. Cheap, and better than nothing, but many callers hang up without leaving a message.
- Call forwarding to a manager's mobile. Fine in a small place; tiring when it's every night.
- A human answering service. It works for hours you can't cover, at a per-minute or per-call cost. Staff usually take a message or follow a script rather than book into your system.
- An AI phone receptionist that answers every call, including during service. More on this below.
Whichever you choose, a missed call is rarely a guest who tries again. Our guide to missed calls and lost revenue works through what unanswered calls cost.
WhatsApp and Instagram DMs
Messages are now a reservation channel in their own right, especially with younger guests and in markets where WhatsApp is how people talk to businesses.
Guests message the number on your website or Google profile, ask for a table, and expect a reply within the hour. With the free WhatsApp Business app your team answers by hand, with an away message for closed hours. With the WhatsApp Business Platform (the API), software or an AI can answer and book.
Two Meta rules matter for restaurants. You can reply freely only within 24 hours of the guest's last message, so an enquiry left until the next day may need an approved template to answer. And Meta's WhatsApp pricing changed on 1 October 2026: each business number gets 1,000 free service messages a month, then Meta charges per message. Our guide on how to set up WhatsApp booking covers the setup, the rules and the costs in detail.
Instagram DMs
For many restaurants Instagram is the shop window, and guests reply to a post or story with "do you have a table for 6 on Friday?". Instagram DMs can be answered by a person in the app, or connected to software through Meta's API, which needs a professional account linked to a Facebook Page and Meta's app review for automated replies.
The habit that matters most: don't let DMs become a second, unofficial reservation book. Every booking made in a message thread needs to go into the same book as everything else, immediately.
How restaurants take reservations 24/7 with AI
AI assistants can now answer the phone, WhatsApp, Instagram and your website chat at any hour, and some can book. For a restaurant, it's worth being precise about what that means, because restaurant booking is harder than booking a haircut.
What an AI is good at
- Answering every call, including the ones during service.
- Answering the questions that come before a booking: opening hours, menus, dietary options, parking, dog policy, corkage, whether you take walk-ins.
- Collecting the details for a booking request or a large party enquiry, and passing them to your team.
- Replying to messages overnight, so WhatsApp's 24-hour window doesn't close on a guest.
- Sending guests a link to your booking page.
Where it depends on the calendar behind it
An AI books into whatever system it's connected to. If that system understands tables, covers and turn times, the AI's bookings will too. If it's a general appointment calendar, the AI is booking time slots, not tables. That's the main question to ask any vendor: when your AI says "you're booked", where does that booking go, and does it know which table?
Table management realities
Whatever channel a reservation comes through, the hard part happens on the floor plan. A few realities every restaurant manages.
Tables aren't interchangeable
A two-top by the window, a booth for four and a round table for eight can't stand in for each other. Seating a couple at a six-top on a Saturday costs you four covers. Reservation systems match party size to table size; a general calendar doesn't.
Combining tables
Parties of five or six often need two tables pushed together, which takes both out of the plan for the whole sitting. Good systems know which tables can join. On paper, managers do this in their head.
Turn times and sittings
Some restaurants run fixed sittings (6 pm and 8.30 pm); others stagger arrivals and rely on turn times. Either way, how long a table is held drives how many covers you can take. A booking system that holds every table for the same time regardless of party size will either over-promise or leave gaps.
Walk-ins and buffer
Most restaurants hold back some tables for walk-ins and regulars, especially on busy nights. Online channels shouldn't sell every last table.
No-shows and late cancellations
No-shows hurt most on fully booked nights. The usual tools are reminders, card guarantees and deposits, and a clear cancellation policy stated at the point of booking.
Large groups
Groups of eight or more are where restaurants make and lose the most money on a single booking. Common practice:
- Online booking stops at a party size, often 6 or 8, with a "contact us" note above it.
- A person handles the enquiry: confirms the date, the space, the menu and the timing with the kitchen.
- Set menus or pre-orders are common for big tables, so the kitchen isn't firing 14 different mains at once.
- A deposit or card guarantee is usual for large groups and for peak dates.
- Service charge policy is stated up front for large tables, where it applies.
- Private hire for exclusive use of a room is handled separately, often with a minimum spend.
Whatever answers your phone and messages should recognise a large group early and pass it to a person, with the details already collected: name, contact number, date, time, number of guests, occasion and any dietary needs.
Deposits and card guarantees
Deposits and card guarantees are common general practice for:
- peak dates such as Christmas, New Year's Eve, Valentine's Day and Mother's Day;
- large groups;
- tasting menus and small, high-demand dining rooms;
- restaurants with a history of no-shows.
The common models are a card guarantee (a no-show fee charged only if the guest doesn't turn up or cancels late), a deposit taken off the final bill, and prepaid tickets for set menus. Most reservation systems take these through their own payment provider. Be clear about the amount, the cancellation window and how refunds work, and put the terms in writing at the point of booking.
Klugon doesn't take deposits, card guarantees or no-show fees. If you need them, take them through your reservation system or payment provider, and have Klugon hand those bookings to your team or send the guest your booking link.
Klugon for restaurants: what it does and doesn't do
Klugon is an AI receptionist that answers phone calls, WhatsApp, Instagram DMs, Messenger and your website chat. Here's an honest account of how it fits a restaurant.
What it does
- Answers every call, at any hour. The AI phone receptionist picks up whenever a voice plan is live and a number is routed, with no business-hours limit, so calls during service and after closing are answered. You can keep your existing number and forward it to Klugon.
- Answers messages on WhatsApp and Instagram, plus Messenger and the website widget, from the same assistant. See Instagram and Messenger automation.
- Answers questions from your own information: menus, allergen policy, opening hours, directions, private dining, dog policy, uploaded as documents, pasted text or pages from your website.
- Speaks several languages on calls: English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Dutch, Japanese and Arabic.
- Books into its own calendar, using your opening hours, timezone, slot interval, minimum notice, how far ahead you take bookings and closed dates.
- Saves leads and hands conversations to your team. It marks the conversation as needing a person in the inbox, and posts to Slack or Zapier if you've connected them (voice or social Business tier and above).
- Shares links, such as your reservation page, menu or map, from a links library you set up.
What it doesn't do
This is the important part for a restaurant.
- It doesn't manage tables or covers. Klugon's calendar books time slots for services, checked per staff member. It has no floor plan, no table sizes, no table combining, no cover pacing and no party size field. The number of guests can be written in the booking notes, but the calendar doesn't use it.
- It doesn't connect to OpenTable, Resy, SevenRooms or any other reservation system. Bookings made by Klugon stay in Klugon. If you also take bookings in a reservation system, the two won't see each other, and you can double-book.
- It doesn't take deposits, card guarantees or no-show fees.
- It sends no confirmations or reminders by email, text or WhatsApp. The guest gets a booking reference in the conversation itself, and that's all.
- It can't transfer a call to a person. When a caller needs your team, the AI saves their details with a note and posts it to Slack or Zapier on voice Business and above, so someone can call back.
- It doesn't call guests back or make any outbound calls.
Three ways a restaurant can use it
1. Answer and redirect (most restaurants with a reservation system). Keep your reservation system as the only book. Klugon answers calls, WhatsApp and DMs around the clock, handles the questions, sends the guest your booking link, and hands large groups, special requests and anything urgent to your team. No double-booking risk, because Klugon doesn't book tables.
2. Klugon as the book (small places with simple seating). A café, a small bistro or a place that takes bookings in fixed slots with few tables can use Klugon's calendar as the reservation book. Klugon's calendar lets one booking per staff member occupy a slot, so a business with no staff list can only hold one booking at each time. A workaround is to list each bookable table as a separate "staff member" on a booking service, so each table can hold its own booking. It works for a handful of similar tables, but it can't match party size to table size or combine tables, and it has nothing for walk-ins. Test it on quiet nights before relying on it, and if your floor is any more complicated, use option 1.
3. Overflow and enquiries only. Klugon answers only when the host can't, collects booking requests and large-party enquiries as leads, and your team confirms them in your own system the next morning.
A sample call
A sample call. The restaurant is made up, and Klugon's voices are AI-generated.
Behind the scenes, the AI saved a lead with those details, and if Slack is connected the team sees it straight away.
Cost
Klugon has three products: voice, social (WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger) and the website chatbot. A restaurant answering the phone pays from $99 a month for the voice agent plus $9 a month for the number; adding WhatsApp and Instagram is the social agent from $79 a month, plus $19 a month when you connect WhatsApp. Full details are on the pricing page. There's a 7-day trial with a card required, and a phone number can only be added once the trial ends; during the trial you test the assistant in the browser.
Our restaurant AI receptionist page covers restaurant setup in more depth, and the café assistant page covers smaller venues.
A 24/7 reservations checklist
Use this whether or not you use AI.
- Pick one book. Every booking, from every channel, goes into one system. Decide which.
- Put a booking route everywhere a guest looks: website, Google Business Profile, Instagram bio, WhatsApp profile, menu QR codes.
- Set your party size limit for online bookings and say what happens above it.
- Decide your deposit and cancellation policy for peak dates and large groups, and put it in writing at the point of booking.
- Cover the phone during service, through a host, a forward, an answering service or an AI.
- Answer messages overnight or first thing, before WhatsApp's 24-hour window closes.
- Write down what a person must handle: large groups, private hire, allergies you can't guarantee, complaints, press and supplier calls.
- Hold back tables for walk-ins on your busiest nights.
- Check the book against the floor plan before each service.
How to measure whether it's working
After a month, look at:
- Bookings by channel and hour. How many came in after closing or during service? Those are the ones a 24/7 setup is for.
- Missed calls, from your phone provider's call log, before and after.
- Unanswered messages older than 24 hours on WhatsApp and Instagram.
- Large-group enquiries and how many were confirmed.
- No-shows by channel. If one channel produces more, tighten its policy.
- Double-bookings. Even one a month means two books are running side by side.
For more on answering outside opening hours, see the after-hours answering service page.
Frequently asked questions
How do restaurants take reservations 24/7 without staff?
Mostly through an online reservation system linked from their website and Google, which takes bookings at any hour. The phone and messages are covered by an answering service, an AI receptionist or a booking link in an away message.
Is Reserve with Google free for restaurants?
Google's help page doesn't list a charge from Google itself, but you need a supported booking provider, and Google notes that providers may charge for bookings made through Google. Check your provider's terms.
Can an AI book restaurant tables?
It depends on the calendar behind it. An AI connected to a table-based reservation system can book tables. Klugon books into its own calendar, which handles time slots per staff member, not table inventory, party sizes or table combinations.
Does Klugon work with OpenTable, Resy or SevenRooms?
No. Klugon has no integration with restaurant reservation systems. It can answer calls and messages and send guests your booking link, but its own bookings stay in Klugon.
Should restaurants take deposits?
Many do for peak dates, large groups and tasting menus, as a deposit or a card guarantee with a stated cancellation window. Klugon doesn't take deposits or no-show fees.
How should restaurants handle large group bookings?
Cap online bookings at a party size, then have a person handle bigger groups: menu, timing, deposit and any service charge. An AI or answering service should collect the details and pass them on.
Can guests book a table on WhatsApp?
Yes. Your team can take bookings in the WhatsApp Business app by hand, or software on the WhatsApp API can reply and book. Meta's 24-hour reply window and per-message pricing apply on the API.
Does Klugon send booking confirmations or reminders?
No. The guest gets a booking reference in the call or chat. Klugon sends no emails, text messages or WhatsApp reminders afterwards.
Taking reservations around the clock is less about any one tool than about making sure every channel either books into the same place or hands the guest to something that does. Get that right, and the 6.45 pm phone call stops being a lost table.