Episode Summary
Episode Ten: Reservations – The Front Door To Your Business
In this episode of the PAX Hospitality Podcast, Leon Kennedy sits down with guest services and reservation specialist Loren Daniels to unpack one deceptively simple question: how easy is it to book your restaurant? Sparked by Leon’s recent ABC interview and the flood of operator questions that followed, the pair dig into why “reservation strategy” isn’t a nice-to-have—it’s a revenue lever that can move the needle in days, not months.
Loren breaks reservation strategy down into something ultra-practical: unblocking the digital entrance to your venue. From clunky, multi-screen booking journeys and rigid policies to under-used Google Reserve and out-of-date websites, she shows how friction at the top of the funnel quietly kills trade. They explore how availability settings, table joins, party-size rules and scare-off factors on menus (like obscure ingredients or unclear dietary options) can make guests bounce before they ever walk in the door.
The conversation finishes with a playbook any operator can start on today. Loren spells out simple user-testing (“get your mum to make a booking”), daily reservation checklists, realistic policies and multi-channel contact options that actually get answered. Her big message: you don’t need to overhaul your whole tech stack—chip away at one per cent improvements and you’ll see more bums on seats as early as next week.
Topics Covered:
Why “reservation strategy” is one of the fastest, highest-impact levers in a restaurant.
Friction in the booking journey: access, barriers to book and clunky policy overload.
The role of Google Reserve, Google listings and websites in driving (or losing) bookings.
Menu “scare-off factors” and clear dietary communication as part of reservation strategy.
Practical systems: daily res-checklists, phones, reviews and incremental one-percenters.
And the 5 key takeaways?
1. Unblock the entrance: make booking stupidly easy.
If it takes more than a couple of clicks or screens, you’re losing covers long before service.
“Anything more than three clicks to book is just like… you’re kind of losing people.”
2. Treat your reservation system as a daily operational dial, not a set-and-forget.
Availability, party sizes and table joins need to be tuned regularly—especially mid-week.
“One of the biggest mistakes venues do is they set up their reservation strategy early days and never really adjust it again.”
3. Your Google listing and Google Reserve are now part of your front door.
If they’re not synced, accurate and active, guests will assume you’re full—or irrelevant.
“So many more people are booking on Google Reserve than ever before… if you don’t have them synced… people will just assume that they don’t have availability and bounce.”
4. Menus and dietary info can either scare guests off—or give them confidence to book.
Clear menus, dedicated dietary options and consistent messaging across Google, website and socials all sit inside “res strategy”.
“Res strategy guest services… encompasses everything that happens before the guest is in the restaurant dining and after… with the purpose of capturing them and getting them through.”
5. Small, consistent tweaks compound into real revenue.
You don’t need a huge project; five to ten minutes a day of checks and adjustments can lift mid-week trade fast.
“If you logged in today and you noticed that your availability was cooked for midweek, and you change the dials today, you’ll do more covers next week.”
Do-it-today reservation strategies
1. User-Test Your Booking Journey
Ask a non-hospo friend (or your mum!) to make a booking while you watch. Record the process to quickly spot friction points like too many steps, confusing options, or hidden policies.
2. Fix Availability & Table Joins
Ensure your backend reflects real capacity for today and the week ahead. Check party sizes, table joins, and mid-week availability — not just Saturday settings.
3. Sync & Update Google Reserve + Google Listing
Most bookings now start on Google. Make sure your listing is updated, your menus attached, and Google Reserve is correctly connected to your reservation platform.
4. Remove Menu & Website ‘Scare-Off Factors’
Make dietaries clear, ensure menus are current, and remove any uncertainty that might stop a guest from booking. A vegan shouldn’t have to guess what they can eat.
5. Clarify Contact Channels & Respond to Reviews
If you list a phone number, answer it. If not, remove it. Respond to all Google reviews — good and bad — to improve trust and search visibility.
Listen
Credits
The PAX Hospitality Podcast is produced by PAX and Craate Creative. Support for this podcast comes from Square and Brunswick Design and Innovation. Our music is produced by Patricia Heath and Mattias Westergren.