Reservation Genie Blog

We created a way to help our clients improve their review site ratings on popular review sites like Yelp, Trip Advisor, Google, and Facebook. We automatically send a text message to all customers the day after their reservation asking them to rate their experience. If the outcome is less than 5 stars, we ask for feedback and post those comments in a report. If it’s 5 stars, we encourage customers to write a review on the sites above. Read More →

Reservation Genie released a virtual gift card tool for our clients today. We manage many of our clients websites and will add a snazzy promotion to your website for you. Other clients are welcome to add it themselves. The tool works with the help of industry leading online merchant solution Stripe. After you set up a Stripe account and link it to Reservation Genie, all it takes is adding a Gift Cards button to your homepage and pointing it at your personal gift card tracking link in a process very similar to adding a reservations button. Read More →

Restaurant owners can now promote their restaurant off peak hours with Diamond Tables. Reservation Genie rolled out a new website for members called the Diamond Tables Club that focuses exclusively on promoting slow days and times at restaurants with a special incentive for customers. The system is designed to combat known issues with Open Table’s 1000 point table model, weak customers from concepts like Groupon, and the poor sales + bad reviews associated with restaurant week promotions. Read More →

We routinely rebuild and optimize our clients’ websites as part of a upgrade package we offer. Reservation Genie benefits when our clients have good websites as that leads to more reservations and happier customers. So we do it for a lot less than your typical web design shop. The first step is to audit your current site and see where there’s room for improvement. Read More →

Nick Gray, a Zerve customer, reported they are shutting down. The Wall Street Journal confirmed it. Zerve offered a unique tour reservation system that was loved by many tour operators and now their customers may be forced to find a new system quickly. Reservation Genie can offer a quick alternative with unique concierge management tools to help you manage your tour business. Read More →

RESERVATION GENIE = RESERVATION GENIUS!
We measured total reservations per month over a 2 year period for several restaurants using Reservation Genie and Open Table. All restaurants saw an increase in total reservations of 15 – 25% per month, year over year. Read More →

Restaurants can increase customer visits per year using Reservation Genie’s loyalty tools that merge Automated Email Marketing with a Restaurant Loyalty Program that is based on completing reservations. Why put an Open Table widget on your website when they steer your customers towards your competitors that pay premiums to be featured as 1000 point tables? Reservation Genie will drive them back to your restaurant. Read More →

We recently rolled out our new Search & Filter platform in our primary cities. This is most notable in New York City where restaurants are working together to support a reservation system that doesn’t lead to cover fees from patrons regardless of how they book. There you can search for available tables by date, time, and party size as well as filter results by cuisine and neighborhood. Read More →

We’re seeing a lot of restaurants getting their Google Business Profile Hijacked by online ordering companies, mobile app ordering, and social media promoters. This effectively drives website visitors from your site to theirs and is the smartest black hat search engine optimization technique I’ve seen in awhile. Read More →

Courting concierges to send their guests to your business requires building a relationship. A lot of restaurants think that by passing out free appetizer cards concierges will suddenly start sending them hundreds of customers every week. While offering a guest perk to concierges is something we highly recommend, it’s more about building a relationship with the concierge. You have to ensure them their guests will have a great experience and demonstrate that you appreciate their referrals. Read More →

Our Mobile Optimized Restaurant Reservation System helps lower Open Table fees by reducing friction associated with managing two inventories and enables restaurants to get the best of both worlds. Now every manager can access and manage reservations from their phones as well as block their inventory when they get slammed. Restaurants managing two systems are seeing an average increase of 20% in overall bookings. Read More →

Open Table can turn into an addiction for restaurants…financially pleasurable in the beginning, but a resulting in a long term dependency that results in paying for the regular customers with no net gain in business. Just say no to the Open Table booking widget and try the Reservation Genie Rehab for your Open Table addiction. Read More →

Building a free booking community takes time and initiative. Why send your customers to a system that will incentivize them to visit your competitors when you can send them to one that encourages them to come back to your restaurant? It all starts with adding a restaurant booking widget to your website. Adding one of these to your website can help you lower cover fees, drive repeat business, increase reservation conversion, and build a free booking community at the same time. Read More →

We didn’t mean to get into the restaurant website design business. It started out with just helping a client add a reservations link to their website. Some were concerned they were being overcharged by web designers and couldn’t tell if they were being sold useless bells and whistles. We eventually decided to offer it to clients for $500 a website. Read More →

I wasn’t too surprised a couple of weeks ago when Yelp bought SeatMe. I mean, I was surprised they paid 12.7 million for a system with 104 restaurant clients as that comes to about $121k per restaurant. But I was surprised to see Open Table buy Rezbook yesterday. Mostly because with 2000 restaurants and the price per restaurant set by the recent SeatMe purchase implies the going rate would be 242 million. Read More →

We have been building a restaurant table management software alternative to Open Table by adding layers to the concept over time. Our version is responsive, which means that it works on any device. That means you can use it on an Ipad, Android tablet, laptop, regular computer, or a 23" All-in-One touch screen computer (our favorite option). Read More →