Announcing the Latest GuestCenter Update! New Seating Types, Shift Periods & Ultimate Flexibility

When it comes to running your restaurant, you are the expert. You know when the kitchen’s going to get slammed, when you’ll get your next wave of walk-ins, and when you definitely can’t take those large parties. Technology helps, but only to the extent that it can enable you to do what you do best.

Today, we at OpenTable unveiled major updates to our global restaurant management tool, GuestCenter, that are all about giving operators more control — of availability, seating, and your overall “flow.” With the new functionality, you can decide where to seat diners and how you structure specific times within service, so you can seat more guests more efficiently. Plus, you can offer up non-traditional seating options like your bar, high-tops, counter, and outdoor for online reservations, so your guests have more control over their experience, too.

Essentially, these latest GuestCenter enhancements mean that you can set up your table management system to reflect the knowledge and instincts of your best managers, so you’re always making the most of the space you have — every shift, every day.

“I like to tinker a lot with my dining room setup, and the new features in GuestCenter have been great for me. We’ve seen an increase in overall covers and we’ve been able to accommodate many more requests for large party sizes, while still keeping space open for walk-ins when we want it,” said Ben Rogers, Floor Manager at The Promontory in Chicago. “The product is intuitive and I’ve been able to give my host team more leeway and freedom to optimise availability.”

The key benefits of the GuestCenter product updates to restaurants include:

  • Even greater control over the diner flow through each service period
  • Categorisation of table types to create additional availability by making bar, counter, high-top and outdoor seating bookable
  • Define large party size seating times for bigger groups at times when the restaurant can best accommodate them
  • Customisation of shift periods within a service to offer different availability by peak and off-peak times