This article explains how to use OctoTable's check-in and check-out features to register customer arrivals and departures, freeing up tables before the expected average meal duration and making slots available again on the booking page and Reserve with Google.
🎯 Why use check-in and check-out
If a customer stays at your venue less than the expected average meal duration, you can free up their table early and allow other customers to book that specific table. The check-in and check-out functions allow you to update table availability in real-time on both the booking page and Reserve with Google.
✅ How to check-in a customer
To check-in a customer when they arrive at your venue, you can access different sections of OctoTable:
Dashboard
Reservations list
Map
Planning
Read the complete article to learn about all the display modes for your reservations list 👇
To register a customer's arrival from the Dashboard or reservations list, simply click on the red button on the right side of the reservation.
When you register the customer as arrived, the button will turn blue, so you'll know the check-in was completed successfully.
To mark a customer's check-in from the map, click on the red icon next to the reservation name. The reservation will automatically move to the Arrived section.
Finally, from Planning, you'll need to click on the reservation displayed on the calendar and click "Go to all details" in the Edit reservation window.
At that point, you'll see the Reception section, where you can fill in the fields related to the customer's arrival and departure time.
🚪 How to check-out a customer
To check-out a customer, you'll need to follow the same procedure used for check-in.
By performing the customer check-out, you'll free up their table, which will immediately become available for online booking again. To do this, click on the blue icon visible next to the reservation.
Once the check-out is complete, you'll see the text "Cancel check-out", confirming that the departure was registered correctly.
From the map, you'll perform the check-out by clicking on the blue button. At that point, the reservation will move to the Departed section.
Finally, from Planning, by viewing the reservation details, you can fill in the field related to the customer's departure time.
📌 Please note The table for the customer whose check-out you perform will become available again before the end of the time set in Configuration > Services hours > Edit > Booking duration.
This way, the table will become available for online booking again.
If you want to discover how to block availability on the online booking page, read the complete article 👇