Hold a Table as an Option with a Deadline
A company asks about a Christmas dinner for twelve but needs to check internally first. You want to hold the table – but not forever, and not without remembering it.
An option is a table held for a guest who has not yet confirmed, with a deadline.
How to do it
- Open the booking in the detail panel
- Click Håll bordet som option (Hold the table as an option)
- Choose when the deadline expires
- Optionally note why (e.g. "Waiting for the customer to confirm")
The booking shows as an option in the list, in the POS and on the floor map, so anyone on staff can see the table is not fully settled.
Two rules for the deadline
| Rule | Why |
|---|---|
| At most 7 days ahead | An option sitting a month out is not an option, it is a booking you forgot |
| At least 4 hours before the sitting | The table must have time to return to circulation if the guest never gets back |
The system applies whichever is stricter. For a sitting three weeks out the cap is seven days; for a sitting tonight it is four hours before service.
If the sitting is less than four hours away, an option cannot be placed at all. At that point it is either a normal booking or nothing.
When the deadline passes
The table is released automatically and becomes bookable again. The check runs every fifteen minutes.
Released options are listed in the notification bell for seven days, so you see what happened even if nobody was at the screen.
Confirming
If the guest gets back before the deadline, remove the option – the booking becomes a normal confirmed booking on the same table at the same time.
Table bookings only
Options apply to table bookings. Events and resources have their own ways of holding places, through prepayment or a card guarantee on the event itself.
Guests cannot accept an option themselves via an SMS link – you handle the conversation and record the outcome.
Related: Manage a booking, Propose a new time, Create a booking manually
This feature is part of Vendion Booking.
Curious how it looks in practice? Read more about the product or book a short demo.
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