Fill your tables: Introducing Yelp Guest Manager’s Booking Links feature

The easier online booking is, the more customers you’ll have doing it. Until now, users of Yelp Guest Manager have had Yelp, Google, and Apple Maps as options for offering reservations. But now, Yelp lets you list tables anywhere you want on the internet.

So, if you’re looking to beef up your online presence and make the most of your reservation software, you’re getting another arrow in your quiver.

Let’s take a look at some specific features and how these will work across platforms. But first: Why the need for more online table reservations?

Keeping up with an increasingly tough market

Costs are up across the board. That’s as true for restaurants as it is for customers. So, with restaurants having to slash costs wherever possible (often while increasing pricing, too) and many customers having tighter budgets, competition is increasingly stiff in the restaurant industry. Restaurants need to get any edge they can to get customers in the door.

Yelp Guest Manager has already proven itself as the best bang-for-the-buck table management system out there, and really as a whole-package front-of-house (FOH) management system. It covers table booking, waitlists, floor plan and table management, allows for two-way SMS communication with customers, creates guest profiles, and has an extraordinarily low cancellation and no-show rate. Customers who hop on the waitlist get notifications when their table is ready so they don’t have to waste time.

Of course, it syncs with the best third-party online ordering apps and POS systems as well as other third-party apps for your ease of use.

Combine that with a flat fee and no charge per cover and Guest Manager has proved a winner for many of Yelp’s clients so far. The majority of restaurants agree: Yelp Guest Manager helps them reach more guests.*

But just like the industry, the product needed to evolve and keep up with the times. Adding reservation links to put anywhere—like social media platforms—ensures customers have an easier time than ever navigating to your booking page and then, hopefully, pulling the trigger.

How does it work?

We’ve made using Booking Links as simple as possible so customers can pick a time slot from social media posts or your restaurant website with just a few simple clicks. Unique URLs will be created for each platform that you can then copy and paste.

Step one is to add a link under “Settings” and share that link.

This is what it’ll look like from the customer’s end:

You can view multiple booking links to make sharing more efficient.

The reservation page diners see will look like this—user-friendly, clean, and effective at capturing people already searching on Yelp:

Waitlists will look like this for guests:

Links across social media

Getting your restaurant booking links out across social media can take three forms. Restaurants can pair up with influencers, grow organic traffic, and increase their paid traffic via ads. Let’s look at each.

Influencers

A large number of foodies follow social media influencers’ suggestions for food. Pairing up with these influencers with an affiliate marketing plan can make a win-win scenario for both influencer and restaurant—as well as the customer, of course.

Note that Booking Links is not a revenue sharing platform, so influencers you work with won’t be incentivized to spam your links everywhere—and that’s a good thing.

Organic traffic

Two out of three restaurants agree: Yelp Guest Manager helps them grow their online presence.** One way that Guest Manager does so is by increasing a restaurant’s visibility on Yelp, especially when paired with Yelp Ads. But adding reservation links to a restaurant’s social media pages is likely to cause a significant influx of reservations from new customers. That’s certainly the goal here.

The less friction there is between a guest and a reservation, the more likely they are to make it. Streamline the restaurant reservation system for your customers and watch your digital reservation book fill up fast.

There’s also the old-school sort of organic traffic: word of mouth. These days “word of mouth” stretches to include natural social media posts, especially from customers sharing an excellent booking and dining experience.

Paid traffic

Advertising is how social media companies make a lot of their income. Visual-forward platforms like Instagram and TikTok can be especially valuable for restaurants, who get to show off their food, venue, personality, and much more in a tangible way. Creating an ad campaign using these platforms with a link makes for a seamless transition from ad to booked reservation. Remove a barrier between customer and the reservation system and you’re looking at a higher likelihood of success in converting would-be customers to actual customers.

Offline integrations

Links to your reservation system can be done offline as well via QR code. Imagine, for example, you’re sponsoring a local football team or a social club. Any banners that are printed can have your QR code on it, which will lead customers directly to your booking page. This can also be accomplished with business cards, brochures, or on any other bit of printed material.

Measuring metrics

Naturally, you’ll want to see how well your campaigns are doing. You can check conversion rates from links across various platforms to see what’s working where. There is also a data dashboard to help visualize the success of your restaurant booking system. With this functionality, you’ll be able to get a clear view of how well your links are performing.

Note that, like with Yelp Guest Manager, there are no reservation fees. A monthly flat fee covers everything you need.

Frequently asked questions

We’re sure restaurant owners will have questions. If you want to speak with us directly, you can always contact us at 877-571-YELP. Below are a few common questions we’ve heard so far.

Will I have to pay extra for this feature?

No. We will not charge additional fees for Booking Links.

How do I get started?

For existing Yelp Guest Manager customers, you’ll be able to access Booking Links by visiting the Yelp Guest Manager tab in your Yelp Business Owner account. If you need additional support, please call us.

What accounts are eligible for Booking Links?

This feature is available for all Yelp Guest Manager customers using either the reservation or waitlist feature.

Can you use the feature to create a link for guests to join the waitlist?

Yes, you can create unique links for both reservations and waitlist using Booking Links.

Work smarter, not harder

Using Yelp Guest Manager is already one of the best ways to run your front-of-house, and it’s evolving to get even smarter. Guest Manager already syncs with third-party point-of-sale and delivery tools, offers tableside credit card processing, allows for fully customizable floor plans, handles online reservations and waitlists, provides two-way text messages with customers, and a whole lot more. That “whole lot more” now includes online booking links.

We’d like to tell you more but we’d much rather show you. Reach out to us for a free demo and we’ll show you all the ways we can make your restaurant run more smoothly.