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Table booking

This use case is aimed at Restaurant Table Booking Systems, and it describes how to use the Mews POS API to manage table bookings, including:

  • Getting table availability
  • Making and amending bookings
  • Checking booking status

Contents

Checking availability

You can check availability at the POS level by correlating active bookings with tables.

1. Get tables

First call Get tables to get information on restaurant tables, including table names and quantity of seats.

Example request:

GET [PlatformAddress]/api/v2/tables

Areas: If you want to work with restaurant areas, e.g. "terrace", you can also fetch information about Areas, see Do you support restaurant areas?

2. Get bookings

Call Get bookings and filter by the desired booking period, to get the set of all bookings for that period, and the tables they are linked to. Tables with no bookings are free to book. Note that this API Operation supports pagination, to manage requests in case of large amounts of data.

Booking period filters

The relevant booking period filters are:

  • bookingDatetimeGt – greater than
  • bookingDatetimeGteq– greater than or equal to
  • bookingDatetimeLt – less than
  • bookingDatetimeLteq – less than or equal to

Booking status

Check the booking status to see if the booking is active or not. The supported statuses are:

  • confirmed – The booking has been made and confirmed.
  • seated – The customer has arrived and the party is seated.
  • completed – The booking has finished.
  • cancelled – The customer has cancelled the booking.
  • noShow – The customer did not show up and the booking has been registered by the staff as a 'no show'.

Example request:

GET [PlatformAddress]/api/v2/bookings?filter[bookingDatetimeGt]=2024-07-25T16%3A29%3A35%2B00%3A00&filter[bookingDatetimeLt]=2024-07-26T16%3A29%3A35%2B00%3A00

The response will tell you:

  • What table or tables the booking is linked to
  • The booking date and time
  • The booking duration
  • The party size
  • The external booking reference, if applicable

See Get bookings for a full list of supported fields.

Making a table booking

Once you have taken a customer booking, you can set up the booking in Mews POS using Create booking. See the API Operation description for a full list of parameters. You must specify the following parameters as a minimum:

  • Booking date and time
  • Party size
  • Table (linked through booking_relationships)

In addition, it is helpful to also specify the duration, otherwise we will apply a default value of 90 minutes.

  • Duration

Example request:

POST [PlatformAddress]/api/v2/bookings

{
  "data": {
    "type": "bookings",
    "attributes": {
      "status": "confirmed",
      "partySize": 5,
      "bookingDatetime": "2024-10-24T08:44:45.409Z",
      "duration": "120"
    },
    "relationships": {
      "tables": {
        "data": [
          {
            "type": "tables",
            "id": "5efa8b3c-b930-4b31-918d-95ab0e212e78"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Working with customers

If you wish to attach a named customer to a booking, you can do this by adding a customer relationship and linking to a Mews customer profile with the id field.

Example request:

POST [PlatformAddress]/api/v2/bookings

{
  "data": {
    "type": "bookings",
    "attributes": {
      "status": "confirmed",
      "partySize": 5,
      "bookingDatetime": "2024-10-24T08:44:45.409Z",
      "duration": "120"
    },
    "relationships": {
      "customer": {
        "data": {
          "type": "customers",
          "id": "5efa8b3c-b930-4b31-918d-95ab0e212e65"
        }
      },
      "tables": {
        "data": [
          {
            "type": "tables",
            "id": "5efa8b3c-b930-4b31-918d-95ab0e212e78"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

To obtain the profile id, perform a customer look-up using Get customers with either the emailEq or fullNameEq filter. Note that an exact match is required, so care is needed to ensure the search string is correct.

Example request:

GET [PlatformAddress]/api/v2/customers?filter[emailEq][email protected]

If no customer profile exists for the customer, you can create one with Create customer.

Alternate flows

Amending a table booking

To amend an existing booking, use Update booking. You can use this to update any booking parameters, including setting the booking status.

Example request:

PATCH [PlatformAddress]/api/v2/bookings/31b14937-2524-491f-b0a0-dc0a739

Canceling a table booking

To cancel a booking, use Update booking and set the booking status to Cancelled.

Checking on bookings

To check on the details of bookings, use Get bookings (see Checking availability above).

Changing table assignment

The table assignment is made through the relationship between Booking and Table. To change table, remove the old relationship and set a new relationship.

Example request:

PATCH [PlatformAddress]/api/v2/bookings/31b14937-2524-491f-b0a0-dc0a739

{
  "data": {
    "type": "bookings",
    "id": "83f93e1c-b6e1-4040-90cf-3274b6f3c82d",
    "attributes": {
      "status": "confirmed",
      "partySize": 6,
      "bookingDatetime": "2024-10-24T08:44:45.409Z"
    },
    "relationships": {
      "customer": {
        "data": {
          "type": "customers",
          "id": "5efa8b3c-b930-4b31-918d-95ab0e212e65"
        }
      },
      "tables": {
        "data": [
          {
            "type": "tables",
            "id": "7c888ff-b8c30-88bb1-878f-225ab0e38a78"
          }
        ]
      }
    }
  }
}

Walk-in customer scenario

Scenario: A customer arrives without a prior booking and requests a table on-site.

Walk-ins can be created either in the Table Booking System or in Mews POS. A walk-in booking is identified by the isWalkIn flag in booking_attributes. Use this field if creating a walk-in booking.

Walk-ins created through Mews POS have the value "pos" for bookingReference, otherwise this field contains the booking reference from the Table Booking System. Note that walk-ins created through Mews POS always have the initial booking status seated.

Getting status changes

If you want to be notified when a booking changes status in near-real-time, for example when customers are seated or when a booking is closed or canceled, use API Events.

Getting the customer spend

Once the booking status is completed, you can fetch the total amount of customer spend for the booking. First obtain the Order linked to the Booking, then obtain the Invoice linked to the Order. Normally, a Booking will be linked to a single Order and a single Invoice, however in case of a split bill, a Booking will have multiple Orders, each with their own Invoice.

  • Booking --> Order --> Invoice

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if there is a no-show?

How can I be notified of a no-show, where the customer does not turn up for their booking?

  • Answer: Look at the booking status within the Booking record. To be notified of changes to booking status, use API Events.

Is there a way to specify customer preferences?

Is there a way to express customer preferences such as table preferences or dietary requirements?

  • Answer: You are currently recommended to express customer preferences through the Notes field when creating the booking.

Do you support restaurant areas?

Do you support a level of organization between restaurant and table?

Additional help

You may find these additional resources helpful when working with Mews POS in the demo environment:

Help Guides: