--- title: Online table reservations: portal, phone, own page | NFCeez url: https://nfceez.de/en/blog/online-table-reservations/ language: en description: Online table reservations for restaurants: commission portals, phone and booking on your own page compared, with a worked example and contract questions. --- # Online table reservations: commission portal, phone or your own page? Three routes compared honestly, a calculation for your own place, and how to set it up in a day. As of November 2026. [Reservations](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/topic/reservations/) 6 min read Updated 2 November 2026 NFCeez editorial team The short answer For online table reservations, a restaurant chooses between three routes. A commission portal can bring new guests but charges per guest or booking. The phone is personal but ties up staff during service. Booking on your own page involves no per-guest commission but rarely brings new guests by itself. The phone and your own page combine well. Contents - What are the three options, and how do they differ? - What does a reservation portal really cost? - What should you ask before signing with a portal? - When is the phone still the best option? - How does booking on your own page work? - How do guests get to your reservation link? - Which route suits your place? - What does a booking request on your own page look like day to day? - How do you set up reservations in one day? 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. Worked example with made-up numbers 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](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/what-is-a-regular-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. Checklist for the offer - 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](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/loyalty-programme-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. Measure it in one week - 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](https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/17104441?hl=en) 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](https://support.google.com/business/answer/6218037?hl=en) (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](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7475773?hl=en): 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](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/google-business-profile-for-restaurants/). 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](https://business.apple.com/) 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](https://nfceez.de/en/features/table-reservations/), 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](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/how-to-reduce-restaurant-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 this Requests 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 ](https://nfceez.de/en/features/table-reservations/) Sources - [Google Business Profile Help: Set up bookings through a provider](https://support.google.com/business/answer/7475773) - [Google Business Profile Help: Manage your local business links](https://support.google.com/business/answer/6218037) - [Google Business Profile Help: Performance and insights](https://support.google.com/business/answer/9918094) - [Google Search Help: Use AI Mode to check local availability and pricing](https://support.google.com/websearch/answer/17104441) - [Apple Business](https://business.apple.com/) ## Questions about online reservations. Yes. Booking on your own page involves no per-guest commission, though a tool may have its own cost. Check the offer for any fee per booking. You can add your own link under Booking in your Business Profile, or connect a provider through Reserve with Google. Providers may charge, so ask first. Not necessarily. With few reservations, a phone and a simple request form are often enough. Count your calls for a week before buying anything. With a request you confirm each table yourself and the guest waits briefly. With instant booking, rules and the calendar decide and the guest gets a yes straight away. Better not. Large groups, parties and guests who prefer to talk still need someone on the phone. Online takes only part of the calls away. Your contract decides, so ask. Get it in writing whether you can export the data and whether you may contact those guests yourself. ## Keep reading. [All articles](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/) [ ### How do you reduce restaurant no-shows, and can you charge a fee? What works before the booking, what German law allows, and where there's still no clear answer. With texts to copy. - ](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/how-to-reduce-restaurant-no-shows/) [ ### How do you set up a Google Business Profile for a restaurant or café? The full step-by-step list, using the menu names from Google's own help pages. As of November 2026. - ](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/google-business-profile-for-restaurants/) [ ### What is a regular worth, and how do you work it out without a till system? You can estimate it with tally marks, daily takings and supplier invoices. The important part is counting only what a regular really adds. - ](https://nfceez.de/en/blog/what-is-a-regular-worth/)