Take Table Bookings on WhatsApp with ResDiary

This recipe takes a table request on WhatsApp, Instagram or web chat to a confirmed booking in ResDiary. Part of the ResDiary integration.

What happens today

Guests who would rather message than call send “any table for 2 Saturday 7.30?” on WhatsApp or Instagram. The team reads it between services, checks the diary, and replies hours later. Weekend slots go to whoever booked through a form or answered first.

The flow that works

The guest asks for a table. AeroChat gets the date, time and covers, asking only for what is missing.
It checks availability in ResDiary and offers the time, or the two nearest free times.
The guest picks one. AeroChat creates the booking in ResDiary with the name, phone number and notes.
It confirms the booking with the address and your policies.

The recipe

Copy this into AeroChat

When a guest asks to book a table, follow these steps.

Find out the date, time and number of people. If they say “tonight” or “Saturday”, work out the date.

Check availability in ResDiary for that number of covers. If the time is free, offer it. If not, offer the two nearest free times in the same service.

When they choose, ask for the name for the booking and any occasion, dietary need or seating request.

Create the booking in ResDiary with their name, phone number, covers and notes.

Confirm the date, time, covers and our address, and tell them we hold the table for 15 minutes (example).

For groups of more than 10 (example), do not book. Collect the date, size and occasion and hand the conversation to our team. Never book a time ResDiary does not show as free. Reply in the guest’s language.

Change the group limit and hold time to your own before you paste it.

What to connect

ResDiary. Request API access for your venue from ResDiary. They send the credentials. Enter them in the AeroChat dashboard when asked. Keep your online availability rules in ResDiary, so AeroChat only offers what you release.
Your menu and policies. Upload your menu, opening hours, address and hold policy to the AeroChat knowledge base.

Using a different system? If it has a public API, it connects to AeroChat the same way: describe what you want, paste in its key, and it runs.

Can’t find your tool? Message us in the chat on this page and we’ll tell you how it connects.

What you still decide

The largest party that can book in chat.
What you release for booking in each service.
Whether busy dates need a deposit.

The result to expect

Guests who message get a booking straight away, in the same chat, from the same diary your team uses. Compare bookings that come in by message for a month before and after.

Next: change or cancel a booking. See also: restaurant table reservations.