Booking requests or automatic confirmation: which suits your restaurant?

By Steve Evans, founder of Table Harmony and restaurant owner in Alicante.
Published 14 October 2026

How booking requests work

With booking requests, a guest selects a date, time and party size, enters their details and submits a request.

The restaurant then reviews it before deciding whether to accept it. The guest should be clearly told that submitting a request does not yet mean their table is confirmed.

For example, you might receive a request for ten people at 20:30. Before accepting, you can consider the bookings already in place, the seating arrangements and whether that arrival time works for your team.

If the requested time does not suit your service, Table Harmony lets you offer another time instead.

When booking requests can be useful

Booking requests can suit restaurants where:

• The owner wants to review reservations before accepting them.
• Staffing or kitchen capacity needs a personal check.
• Larger groups require more thought about seating arrangements.
• The team wants a gradual introduction to online reservations.

Guests can still send a request when the restaurant is closed. However, they need to wait for your response before making plans around a confirmed table.

That makes checking and responding to requests an important part of the daily routine.

How automatic confirmation works

With automatic confirmation, a guest receives confirmation immediately when their reservation meets the restaurant’s booking rules and availability.

Those rules can include opening hours, available tables, party-size limits, booking durations and limits on how many guests can arrive in each time slot.

For example, a couple booking at 19:30 can receive an immediate confirmation if a suitable table is available and the booking falls within your settings.

If there is no suitable availability, the system should not confirm that reservation.

When automatic confirmation can be useful

Automatic confirmation can suit restaurants where:

• Opening hours and table arrangements are predictable.
• The team keeps availability and booking settings up to date.
• Guests benefit from an immediate answer.
• The owner wants to reduce the number of reservations requiring manual review.

It can be particularly useful for guests booking while the restaurant is closed or planning a visit from abroad.

The restaurant’s work shifts from reviewing every reservation to maintaining the rules that determine what can be accepted.

Can you combine requests and automatic confirmation?

Yes. You do not have to use the same approach for every party size.

At our Patagonia restaurants, we use a combination:

• 1–8 people: bookings are confirmed automatically when availability and booking rules allow.
• 9–12 people: guests submit a booking request, which we review before confirming.
• More than 12 people: guests need to contact us directly to arrange their booking.

This gives smaller parties an immediate answer while allowing us to check larger bookings before accepting them.

For groups of more than 12, a direct conversation helps us discuss their requirements and what we can accommodate.

Table Harmony lets you combine automatic confirmation and booking requests according to party size, so you can choose the balance that suits your restaurant.

Which approach gives you more control?

Both approaches give you control, but you exercise it differently.

With booking requests, you make a decision about each reservation that needs approval.

With automatic confirmation, you set the boundaries in advance. The system then accepts bookings within those boundaries.

A restaurant with 40 seats, for example, might still need to limit arrivals at 20:00 so the kitchen is not handling too many orders together. Automatic confirmation should reflect that limit, rather than relying only on the number of empty seats.

Whichever approach you choose, your settings need to match what your team can comfortably manage.

The trade-off: a personal check or an immediate answer

Booking requests give you the opportunity to review a reservation, but they create an ongoing task. Someone needs to check requests and respond promptly.

Automatic confirmation gives guests an immediate answer and reduces manual work, but it relies on accurate availability and carefully chosen booking rules.

Consider three questions:

• Which bookings are we comfortable confirming automatically?
• Which bookings need a personal review?
• Can we reliably check and respond to requests?

You might decide to review every online booking, confirm all suitable bookings automatically, or use a combination like we do at Patagonia.

Can you change your approach later?

Yes. Choosing a booking style does not need to be a permanent decision.

You might begin with requests while your team gets used to the system. Once you are comfortable with your tables, booking durations and arrival limits, you may decide to introduce automatic confirmation for smaller parties.

You may also find that requests continue to suit your restaurant. There is no need to change simply because automatic confirmation is available.

Table Harmony lets you use either approach or combine them.

A restaurant owner’s perspective

When you run a restaurant, an available table is only one part of the decision. You also think about the kitchen, the team and the guests already booked.

At Patagonia, combining automatic confirmation for smaller parties with requests for larger groups gives us a practical balance between convenience and personal oversight.

That is why Table Harmony offers this flexibility. Online reservations should support the way you manage your service.

If you are new to online reservations, read our practical guide to online bookings for small restaurants.