Most comparisons on this topic come from companies that sell a reservation system. So we name no vendors and no prices here. We show you how to answer the question with your own numbers.
What are the three options, and how do they differ?
There are three basic routes: a portal, the phone, and booking on your own page. Each solves a different problem.
| Commission portal | Phone | Your own page | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Per guest or booking, depending on the contract a base fee too | Staff time, missed calls | A tool or flat fee, no per-guest commission |
| New guests | Possible, the portal has its own audience | No, callers already know you | Rarely by itself, guests have to find you |
| Availability | Around the clock | When someone picks up | Around the clock |
| Guest contact | Depends on the contract | Your list, often on paper | With you or your tool |
| What goes wrong | Two calendars out of sync | Mishearing, unreadable notes | Requests nobody answers |
| Fits when | Tables stay empty and you lack new guests | It's quiet, or for large groups | Guests mainly come from your area, Google and Instagram |
What does a reservation portal really cost?
A portal costs what your contract says, and the number that matters is the price per truly new guest. We deliberately quote no market prices. Use the number from your own offer.
Restaurant Laterne gets 200 guests a month through a portal. Suppose the portal charges 2 euros per guest. That's an example figure, not a market price.
- Cost: 200 × 2 euros = 400 euros a month.
- Of those, 100 guests would have come anyway, such as regulars.
- So 100 are truly new: 400 euros ÷ 100 = 4 euros per new guest.
Whether that's worth it depends on what such a guest brings you and whether they come back.
The sums turn against you when regulars get used to booking through the portal. Then you're paying for guests you already have. Our article on what a regular is worth shows how to work out that value. To find out how many are already regulars, simply ask at the table for four weeks how they heard of you.
What should you ask before signing with a portal?
Before signing, pin down exactly what you pay for and who controls the guest data. Send these questions in writing and get written answers.
- Do you pay per guest or per booking, and from what point exactly?
- What does a guest who doesn't show or cancels cost?
- What does a booking through your own website cost, if you add the tool there?
- Do you still pay when a regular books for the tenth time?
- Can you export your full guest list at any time?
- May you contact these guests yourself, and with what consent?
- What are the term and notice period, and what happens to the data afterwards?
- Are there fees for better placement on the portal?
On guest data, see our article on loyalty programmes and GDPR, which covers the EU rules.
When is the phone still the best option?
The phone still makes sense for large groups, parties and guests who prefer to talk. A place that drops it shuts those guests out. Its cost is just harder to see: it rings during lunch, and someone leaves a table or nobody picks up.
- Keep a tally sheet by the phone: calls, missed calls, minutes.
- Scale it to a month. Example with made-up numbers: 150 calls a month × 3 minutes = 7.5 hours. At 16 euros an hour, that's 120 euros a month.
- Count how often a call caused a problem at peak time.
If you stay with the phone, always note the same things: name, day, time, party size, phone number and special requests. Read it back at the end. That catches a lot of mishearing.
One more point that's still developing: Google says AI Mode can look for tables and call businesses that have little information online. It's English only for now, but clear details online help here too.
How does booking on your own page work?
With booking on your own page, the guest picks a day, time and party size, and the request comes straight to you. There are two forms, and the choice matters more than it looks:
| Request, you confirm | Instant booking | |
|---|---|---|
| Control | You check each table | Rules and the calendar decide |
| Guest | Waits briefly for an answer | Knows at once |
| Risk | Slow answer, guest looks elsewhere | Wrong rules, full house with no room for walk-ins |
| Fits when | Few tables, changing layout | Many similar tables, high volume |
Whichever form you choose, four things matter for a small team: guests book with no app, only times within your opening hours can be booked, new requests reach your phone straight away, and there's no commission per guest. The alert matters most with requests, because a request that waits until evening feels like a no to the guest.
How do guests get to your reservation link?
Guests get to your reservations when the link sits where they already look for you. The most important place is your Google profile. The steps (as of November 2026):
- Open your profile at business.google.com.
- Select Booking. In Maps, select Edit profile first.
- Select Add link and enter your reservation address.
- Select Save.
Two points from Google's help: there's no performance data for custom links, so measure that yourself. And a provider through Reserve with Google might charge for bookings made through Google, so ask first. The rest of your profile is covered in our Google Business Profile guide.
Other good places are your Instagram profile, your website and an NFC sticker or QR code at the table for the next visit. For Apple Maps, Apple Business has actions that let customers book too.
Which route suits your place?
It depends mainly on whether you lack guests or lack time for handling reservations. As a rough guide, not a rule:
| Your situation | Sensible start |
|---|---|
| Small café, few reservations | Phone plus a simple request on your page |
| Restaurant, full evenings, phone is a pain | Own page plus phone, no portal needed |
| New place, hardly known | Own page, a portal as a time-limited test with clear sums |
| Empty midweek, full at weekends | A portal for quiet times at most, if the contract allows, plus your own ideas for quiet days |
| Bar without fixed seats | Groups only, by request or phone |
If you use several routes, keep one calendar. Separate lists are how two groups end up at one table.
What does a booking request on your own page look like day to day?
With NFCeez, guests reserve right on your Smart Page, as a request you confirm. Once, in the app, you set your tables, the first and last reservation time, and which occasions guests can choose, such as a birthday or a business meal. Every reservation ends by the time you close, and nobody can book on a day you're closed. Guests pick the day, time, party size and occasion and get a six-digit booking number by email. The request shows up on your phone right away, even on the lock screen. One tap to confirm or decline, and the guest hears back. You put the link in your Google profile as described above, and at the table the NFC sticker opens the same page.
The limits: it doesn't bring a portal's audience, so guests need to know or find you already. NFCeez takes no payments, so a deposit or a no-show fee can't run through it. For large groups, the phone is still the better route.
How do you set up reservations in one day?
- Set the rules: first and last reservation time, largest party online, when it's phone only.
- Hold back tables: decide how many seats stay free for walk-ins.
- Agree who's responsible: who answers new requests on each shift, and how quickly?
- Spread the link: Google profile, Instagram, your own page, the receipt.
- Plan for empty tables: think now about what happens when guests don't show. Our article on no-shows sets out the options.
Your first step today: put a tally sheet by the phone and count for a week. With that one number, the decision gets much easier.
How NFCeez does thisRequests that reach you on your phone.Guests choose the day, time, party size and occasion on your page. The request appears on your phone straight away, and one tap confirms it.See how it works
