7 Ways to Increase Your Bookings Revenue
Boosting revenue is a key goal behind any business, and in the hospitality industry, increasing earnings for your restaurant or pub via bookings can bring a sense of security and allow for more effective planning.
Not only does it provide future visibility, allowing you to safely align staffing levels to match demand, but it also offers a direct way to connect with potential guests, encouraging repeat bookings and enhancing overall guest satisfaction.
You'll also gain useful details, like phone numbers and email addresses, which you can use for targeted marketing later down the line, should they opt in.
Take online bookings
One effective way to increase revenue is by expanding the number of bookings you receive. If your pub or restaurant doesn't already accept online bookings, this should be your first step.
Research shows that guests prefer the convenience of booking online, which can also save your staff valuable time.
Integrating with services like Reserve with Google can further boost your operation's visibility, enabling direct bookings straight from Google Maps search results, ultimately increasing bookings.
Don't miss out on last minute requests
Many hospitality businesses struggle to capitalise on last-minute bookings. If you’re not recording all walk-ins in your booking system, it can lead to overbooking conflicts.
Some operators avoid this by not accepting same-day bookings online, but this can deter guests who prefer the convenience of digital reservations.
Instead, consider treating last-minute bookings as requests to be manually confirmed. This allows staff to check availability before accepting the request.
This relies on having a quick way to notify front of house staff of new bookings. Our booking system that is built into our hospitality EPOS enables alerts to be sent to the POS as soon as a request is received, and for staff to accept or reject the booking directly on the till.
Minimise no shows
No-shows can significantly affect your restaurant or pub’s revenue. To minimise this, consider taking deposits or pre-authorised card details, which allow you to charge a fee for late cancellations or no-shows.
Additionally, sending booking reminders via email or SMS can also help limit no shows, especially if you include a simple way for guests to let you know if they’re unable to attend.
Make it easy to cancel
While it might seem counterintuitive, making it easy for guests to cancel can actually help increase your revenue. Allowing guests to quickly cancel and free up a table means that space can be used by someone else, whether through a new reservation or a walk-in.
You can streamline this process by including a cancellation link in confirmation and reminder emails, or SMS messages.
Similarly to the last-minute booking requests, our built-in booking system can send an immediate alert to the POS to notify you of any cancellations. Ensuring front-of-house staff are immediately notified, making availability updates seamless for everyone involved.
Upsell pre-orders
Beyond just maximising bookings, consider ways to increase revenue per booking.
A great way to do this is to offer pre-order options - this could be a bottle of bubbles or crate of beer to be on the table when the guests arrive. Not only does this improve the guest experience, but you’re also getting money in the till before the guests have even arrived.
Many hesitate to offer pre-orders due to the complexity of managing them, mapping products between different systems, or needing to manually key pre-orders from one system to another.
With our EPOS' built-in booking system you can easily set up and manage pre-order items, letting staff view upcoming orders on the EPOS or kitchen screens. Tickets are automatically created for any pre-orders when you mark a booking as arrived.
Improved marketing through data
Online bookings provide valuable data that can be leveraged for targeted marketing.
By capturing details like guest preferences, visit frequency, and spend patterns, you can create personalised marketing campaigns to attract potential guests and encourage repeat bookings.
To collect and use this data effectively, ensure your booking system integrates seamlessly with your business’ CRM and EPOS system. This integration allows you to collect preferences, manage marketing campaigns, customer satisfaction surveys, and loyalty programs from a single platform.
Our hospitality EPOS includes a built-in booking system and CRM, so you can access and utilise this data efficiently, driving more bookings and repeat visits.
Convert booking contacts to loyalty members
Maximise your contacts database by converting previous guests into loyalty scheme members. This allows you to track purchase history every time a guest scans their digital loyalty pass, even without a prior booking.
Loyalty points, exclusive promotions, and push notifications about personalised offers can all serve to increase revenue and improve guest satisfaction.
Encourage guests to join your loyalty program by including opt-in options during the booking process. Automated follow-up emails can also help convert previous booking contacts who aren’t yet loyalty members.
Our hospitality EPOS simplifies this by allowing guests to sign up directly through the online booking form, streamlining the process for both guests and staff.
Conclusion
Our integrated hospitality EPOS system helps you increase bookings, enhance customer satisfaction, and boost your restaurant or pub’s revenue by offering a comprehensive solution that saves time and reduces the need for multiple systems.
To find out more, contact one of our team of hospitality experts.
