How to set up default and special opening hours

A very important setting of your Resos profile is the opening hours. With Resos, you can select and modify your default and special opening hours. With special opening hours, you ensure that your guests can only book a table for an event, holiday, or special day.

For an overview of how opening hours, seatings, durations, and capacity rules work together, see the Resos seatings and booking limits feature.

Video walkthrough

Prefer to watch instead of read? This short video walks through the whole setup:

Default opening hours

The system allows you to select your opening hours by going to Menu → Settings & add-ons → General → Opening hours. There you will define and select your default opening hours. Once you have added the hours for all the days/some days of the week, the system will allow your guests to book a table only during the opening hours (when the restaurant is “open”). Opening hours have an internal purpose, so your guests are not able to see them, which gives you more flexibility in case you need to add extra time before you open or close the venue.

It is also possible to select different opening hours on the same day. If, for instance, you have a lunch break every day at a specific time, you can include it in your opening hours by adding two opening hours for one day. Making a reservation during the staff break will not be possible, which will make your break even more enjoyable.

Moreover, if you offer different types of services (for example buffet and à la carte), you can also add an opening hour for each, resulting in multiple opening hours per day. Guests then see all of them on the same time step of the booking page, one after the other (see How several opening hours show to guests).

How several opening hours show to guests

When a day has more than one opening hour, the time step of the booking page lists every opening hour that still has available times (or waitlist times), one under the other. Your opening hours are not a separate screen; guests tap a time in the group they want. If guests choose an area or an experience first, the groups appear after that choice.

Each group is headed by the opening hour’s Title and shows its Note underneath. An opening hour with neither a Title nor a Note has no heading, so two services without titles look like one long list of times. Give each service a Title such as “Lunch” or “Dinner Buffet” in the General tab of the opening hour, and the guest sees separate options.

An opening hour with no available times left does not appear at all, and neither does its heading.

When setting up your opening hours, you can also:

1. Customize your seatings - add a customized booking duration and time internal for that specific day.
2. Add limits for bookings/guests - choose to limit the number of bookings, guests or both for an entire opening hour or for a time interval.
3. Enable payments - activate the prepayment add-on or the no-show fee for specific opening hours.
4. Add fields - choose which custom fields to enable for the specific opening hour.

Different hours on different days

Each regular opening hour belongs to one weekday, chosen in its Day field. So if you close early on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, those days need their own opening hours with the earlier Guests leave by time. Changing Monday’s opening hour never changes Wednesday’s.

To build a week quickly, set up one day and click the Duplicate icon on its row. The copy lands on the next weekday (a copy of Sunday goes to Monday), and you only change the times that differ.

If a weekday still shows the wrong times to guests, open the Special tab and look for an open special opening hour covering those dates. An open special without Supplement (add to regular hours) replaces your regular hours on every date it covers.

When the kitchen closes before the restaurant

Your opening hours in Resos are booking hours, not the hours on your door, and guests never see them. Set them around the kitchen, not the bar.

The second time on an opening hour is Guests leave by, and Resos counts the last bookable time backwards from it using your booking duration. For example, if the kitchen takes its last table at 21:00 and a booking lasts two hours, set Guests leave by to 23:00, even if the restaurant stays open until midnight. Check the Last booking slot line on the opening hour to confirm the result. If your durations differ by party size, see booking duration based on the number of people.

Different hours for each area

If your terrace or a private room keeps shorter hours than the main dining room, give each area its own opening hours. Turn on Allow guests to choose area and Define opening hours per area (the steps are in block tables, areas and times from online booking). Both switches stay greyed out unless Managing tables is set to Add table(s) to bookings automatically and you have at least two areas, and Define opening hours per area also stays greyed out until Allow guests to choose area is switched on.

Then add one opening hour per area for each day, and tick the matching area in its Areas list. For example, a patio opening hour from 16:30 to 19:30 and a loft opening hour from 17:30 to 21:30. Guests choose the area first and see only that area’s times.

Edit, duplicate or delete an opening hour

Every row in the Regular and Special tabs has three icons: Edit (the pencil), Duplicate and Delete (the bin). Delete removes the opening hour straight away and shows “Opening hour deleted”, so there is no separate save.

Opening hours that belong to an experience are listed in the Experiences tab instead. They have only an Edit icon, and it takes you to the Experiences settings.

Special opening hours

Another option that makes Resos such a flexible restaurant system, is the opportunity to select special opening hours. If the restaurant will be closed for a private party or a national holiday, you let guests know about it, and mark the day as closed for reservations. You can also add extended other opening hours for these events that will override the default opening hours.

Go to Menu → Settings & add-ons → General → Opening hours and open the Special tab to add or manage special opening hours. Here, you can select specific dates when your restaurant has different opening hours, runs an event, or is closed.

This short video shows how to set up special opening hours step by step:

Offer a service on certain dates only

If a service runs only on some dates, such as a brunch on selected Sundays, keep it out of your regular opening hours and add it as a special opening hour for each date.

1. Make sure your regular opening hours for that weekday do not include the brunch.
2. Go to Menu → Settings & add-ons → General → Opening hours, open the Special tab and click Add special hours.
3. Choose Open, pick the date, and set the brunch hours. Add a Title such as “Brunch” and, if you like, a Note.
4. Turn on Supplement (add to regular hours). Its help text reads: “When enabled, this opening hour adds to regular hours instead of replacing them”.
5. Save, and repeat for each brunch date.

Without Supplement (add to regular hours), an open special opening hour replaces all regular opening hours on that date, so guests could book only the brunch and nothing else that day.

Different hours for a period, such as school holidays

You do not need to add a special opening hour for every day of a holiday period. An open special opening hour can cover a date range:

1. Go to Menu → Settings & add-ons → General → Opening hours, open the Special tab and click Add special hours.
2. The window opens with Closed selected. Choose Open first, then Date range, because choosing Open sets the period back to Single date. Pick a From date and a To date.
3. Set the hours, then the Seatings, Limits and Payment tabs. A special opening hour has its own settings there and does not copy them from your regular hours, so set any no-show fee or prepayment there too, or bookings in the period are taken without it.
4. Save. Add one special like this for each service you run in the period, for example one for lunch and one for dinner.

The same hours apply to every day in the range, weekends included, and the range also opens any day inside it that you have closed with a closed special opening hour, such as a holiday. If some days of the period need other hours or stay closed, split it into shorter ranges or single dates. On the day after the To date, your regular opening hours apply again by themselves.

Close one service for a while, such as lunch for a month

To stop one service for a few weeks or a month without touching your regular opening hours, add an open special opening hour with a Date range for each service you keep, and leave Supplement (add to regular hours) off. For example, to close lunch in May, add one for your dinner hours from 1 May to 31 May. It replaces all regular opening hours on those dates, so only dinner can be booked until the To date, and your regular hours, lunch included, apply again the day after.

A special opening hour has its own Seatings, Limits and Payment settings and does not copy them from your regular hours. Set them on each special, including any no-show fee or prepayment, or bookings in the period are taken without them.

A date range also opens the days you are normally closed, and it overrides any closed special opening hour inside it that closes a whole day, such as a holiday you have already closed. A closed Time interval inside the range still blocks its hours. If you close on some weekdays or on set dates in the period, split the range into shorter ranges that leave those days out.

Change your regular hours from a future date

Regular opening hours have no start date. A change in the Regular tab applies to every bookable date as soon as you save, so it cannot be scheduled ahead, and there is no date range without a To date. To switch to new hours from a set date, for example evening service only from 25 May:

1. Add a special opening hour for each service you run from that date: choose Open before Date range, set the new hours and leave Supplement (add to regular hours) off. Set the From date to the first day of the new hours. Set its Seatings, Limits and Payment too, including any no-show fee or prepayment, because a special does not copy them from your regular hours.
2. Set the To date at least as far past the From date as your Max time in advance (see how far in advance guests can book), so no guest can book the old hours on a later date in the meantime.
3. On the first day of the new hours, change the Regular tab to the new hours, then delete the special opening hours.

As above, a date range also opens days you are normally closed and overrides closed special opening hours inside it that close a whole day, so split it around your closed weekdays and holidays. Bookings already made for the old hours are not cancelled; check them in the Schedule.

Stop one service on a specific date

If the service is part of your regular opening hours but is not running on one date, close just that part of the day. Add a closed special opening hour for the date, choose Time interval, and set the hours of that service. The rest of the day stays open. A closed time interval blocks all your regular opening hours in that window (with opening hours per area, only those in the areas you pick), so if another service runs at the same time, it loses those times too. In that case, skip the time interval and instead add an open special opening hour for the date for each service you are still running, without Supplement (add to regular hours), so together they replace your regular opening hours for that day. The steps for a time interval are in Close for online booking for the rest of the day.

To tell guests why the service is missing, add a booking notice that names the date. See how to add a notice to your booking page.

Show guests a message for a specific date

Default opening hours and open special opening hours have a Note field. The note appears above that opening hour’s available booking or waitlist times in the booking flow, so it is useful for guest reminders like “Limited seats” or “Smart casual”. It only appears on the days that opening hour applies to, and only while it has booking or waitlist times to show. Closed special opening hours do not have a Note field.

Choose the message that fits your opening hours:

1. Tell guests something for one open date or event. Add or edit an open special opening hour for that date and fill in its Note field. The note appears above that opening hour’s available booking or waitlist times on that date.
2. Close online booking for a date but explain why. Create a closed special opening hour for that date and add a Booking notice with the closure dates. A fully closed date cannot normally be selected in the calendar, so use the notice to explain why it is unavailable. Remove the notice when you reopen. See how to add a notice to your booking page for setup.

The Custom fully booked message is a restaurant-wide fallback for guests who reach the time-selection step with nothing available. It is not a message for one specific closed date.

This is not a way to send a message to your whole guest list. Resos does not have a bulk promotional broadcast feature; for that, use an integration such as Mailchimp, or message existing bookings individually.

A special opening day cannot be booked

If you opened a day you are normally closed, such as a bank holiday, and guests still cannot book it, check these four things on the special opening hour first:

1. The times fit. Open the special and look at its Last booking slot. If a party size shows no last slot, or the form shows an error under the times, Guests leave by is too close to Opens at for that booking duration and those guests get no times at all.
2. The areas are ticked. With Define opening hours per area on, a special opening hour only offers the areas ticked in its Areas list.
3. The date was not closed with the shortcut. Open the Schedule on that date. If the three dots menu shows Open bookings today, online booking is closed for the date; click it to reopen.
4. The date is inside your booking window. A date beyond Max time in advance is not offered. See how far in advance guests can book.

If all four look right, work through why your booking page shows fully booked. If guests get an error message when they submit the booking, send us the date and the exact message at hi@resos.com.

We hope you found this guide useful. If you have any questions about setting up the booking system or any general questions about Resos, do not hesitate to contact us at hi@resos.com. Our support representatives are excited to offer their help!