Automated Reservation System
I’m looking to develop a web based reservation system for our dueling piano bar. Currently, we accept our reservations online through a simple email form, that has to be manually copy/pasted from the email to our reservations spreadsheet. Then a confirmation email is sent out manually. While this has worked for the first year of the business, we are growing at a rate where automating the reservation process would be beneficial. Our current website is located at http://www.DuelingPianoPiano.com
I’m looking for a reservation system where guests can click on a time on a calendar similar to the reservations calendar at http://theshouthouse.com/San_Diego/reservations.asp . The times will vary based upon the night of the week. There should be default times for those days of the week which can be overridden manually for special events, etc, via an Admin CMS of sorts.
Once a guest selects a date and time, they will be presented with a form similar to the one we already have, with some minor field changes (Add Zip Code, and Retype Email fields for starters). Once they fill out the form they should be able to submit payment for the reservations if applicable. (Free for Wed & Thurs, $2 per seat for Friday, $3 per seat for Saturday) This should also be based on a default for the day of the week , which could be overridden for special events (New Year’s Eve – $50, etc.) There should be a check box for confirming that they read the “Reservation Policy” which is still being finalized for the new system.
I have not yet selected a Credit Card processor yet, but we have hosting through GO DADDY, if you have experience with their system, otherwise, I’ve heard good things about Authorize.net.
The reservation should automatically populate an internal admin accessible web based spreadsheet for the night selected, and display an instant confirmation, as well as email them a copy of their confirmation. Because we have a capacity of 220 guests, once that capacity has been reached, no new reservations should be accepted, and a NON CONFIRMATION should be instantly displayed and emailed, with suggestions of dates that still have availability, that a guest can select without having to reenter their information. A separate list of NON-CONFIRMED reservations should be collected, so that we can see exactly how many people we have had to turn away for any specific date.
Additional features:
1. Reservation reminder email – 72 hours prior (text to be provided)
2. Reservation reminder email – 48 hours prior (text to be provided)
3. Reservation reminder email – 24 hours prior (text to be provided)
4. Cancel reservation button in Confirmation Email and all reminder emails, should require secondary “Are you sure..” button.
5. Modify reservation button in Confirmation Email and all reminder emails, should allow changing reservation time/guest count. System will need to check for availability prior to accepting modification, and prompt with additional credit card form if adding guests.
6. Admin can manually enter/modify/cancel reservations without using the front end.
7. Admin can manually send duplicate confirmation emails.
8. Should be able to print a printer friendly “Reservations Sheet” for any night.
9. System should have a “Grey List” feature that Admin can send no-show reservations to create a warning if they make another reservation in the future.
10. Guest should be able to modify/cancel reservations up until 48 hours prior to date.
11. If possible, reservations canceled prior to 48 hours prior to date, should be automatically refunded, if not it should send an email to an admin address with the details of the refund that needs to be done manually by the admin.
12. If possible, reservations that are modified to a smaller number should automatically refund the value of the released seats, if not it should send an email to an admin address with the details of the refund that needs to be manually by the admin.
13. Emails are collected in a separate text file for harvesting later, for internal email marketing purposes.
14. System should send a daily email showing a list of total seats reserved for all individual days of the current month and next month, with monthly seats reserved count.
There might be a few additional features as the system is developed, but the more hands off for me, the fewer cut/paste errors can be made, and confirmations can be granted instantly, the better.
Upon selection for the project, I will walk you through our current system (currently housed in Google Docs) to use as a jumping off point in developing the automated system.