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Back to Business: Winning Guests as Summer Ends and Student Season Begins
We understand that managing finances is a critical part of your business, and our finance module is designed to make it as seamless as possible. Below, you’ll find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions from our customers. Whether you’re looking for guidance on correcting a float, refunding a guest or completing daily sign off, we’ve got you covered.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for, our support team is always on hand to help, get in touch today!
Managing Finances in Aztec
How do I correct a float?
- Log on to Aztec
- Select ‘Finance’
- Select ‘Cash Management’
- Select ‘Floats’
- Select the Insert / Money Belt / ATM Cassette you wish to refloat and select ‘Set Float’
- Select the safe the adjusted float has come from and select ‘Next’
- Adjust the figures to reflect the correct float and select ‘Finish’
*If you have floated the wrong insert or money belt, you will need to complete this process for both the insert you floated, and the correct one, to make sure they are both correct. If in any doubt, manually re-count both to confirm what money is in them and check this against the floated amount.
How do I correct a misc income or expense after a daily sign off?
- Log in to Aztec
- Select ‘Finance’
- Select ‘Cash Management’
- Select ‘Misc Income / Expense’
*You will need to create a new entry for either a misc income or misc expense dependant on where the error has been identified.
- In the Reference box, state ‘corr, [original entry description], [original date of entry]’
- Enter the full amount previously entered incorrectly as a negative figure. This action will cancel out the original incorrect entry.
- Start a new entry using the correct amount as stated on the receipt
- A safe count will be required to balance any safe variance which was caused by the input error earlier in the week.
How do I edit or delete a cash management entry before daily sign off?
- Log onto Aztec
- Select ‘Finance’
- Select ‘Admin’
- Select ‘History’
*All entries made that day will be displayed, under the relevant heading.
- Expand the heading to show the entry you wish to edit or delete
- Select the entry you wish to edit or delete
- The entry will be highlighted in blue, and the View, Edit and Delete buttons will appear at the bottom of the screen. Select as appropriate.
*If you select ‘Edit’, you will be taken through all relevant screens for that entry. Work through the screens, making the required changes, until finished.
*If you select ‘Delete’, you will be asked to confirm. Once confirmed, the entry will be removed from the system.
How do I preform a safe transfer
- Log in to Aztec
- Select ‘Finance’
- Select ‘Cash Management’
- Select ‘Safe Transfer’
- Select ‘Transfer Money’ at the bottom of the screen
- Select the safe from which the money is being taken from, and select ‘Next’
- Select the safe into which the money is being transferred to and select ‘Next’
- Enter the value, by denomination, of the money being transferred in the relevant boxes
- Select ‘Finish’
How do I refund a guest after daily sign off?
- Log on to the till
- Select ‘Manager Functions’
- Select ‘Refund’
- Use the menu to select the product you wish to refund
- It will appear on the order in red text with a negative price.
- Repeat steps 2 – 4 for each item you wish to refund.
- Select ‘Pay’
- Select the payment method you wish to use to refund the guest
How do I refund a guest on the same day?
- Log on to the till
- Select ‘Options’
- Select ‘Closed Tabs/Tables’
* The right hand-side of the screen will show a list of tabs/tables that have been cashed off. The purple buttons in the centre of the screen can be used to filter this list to enable you to find the correct tab/table.
Select the tab/table requiring the refund from the list on the right-hand side, this will then be highlighted in yellow
*The tab/table details will be displayed on the left
- Select ‘Reopen Account’
- You will then be taken to the clears/voids/faults screen.
- Depending on the scenario, follow one of the below options:
A – If You Are Refunding the Entire Bill
B – If You Are Refunding Selected Items from the Bill
A – If You Are Refunding the Entire Bill
- Select ‘Void’
- Select the payment method line as displayed on the right-hand side of the screen
- If the guest has paid using a card, you will be asked to confirm the refund – this is irreversible. Select ‘Yes’ to confirm.
- Select ‘OK’
- The cash drawer will open.
*If the guest originally paid by cash, you can now remove this from the cash drawer and return to them. If they paid by card, their card payment will now have automatically been refunded, and a customer and merchant copy refund slip will be printed.
The tab/table will now still be open with the items, and will need to be closed in one of the following ways:
- Paying off the account to guest recovery (Pay > Discounts & Promos > Guest Recovery)
- Voiding / Faulting off the items
- Leaving open if payment is required from another guest
B – If You Are Refunding Selected Items from the Bill
- Select ‘Void’ if item(s) have not been prepared, Select ‘Fault’ if item(s) have been prepared, i.e. Wastage
- Select the item(s) that are being refunded from the list on the right-hand side
- These items will now be displayed on the left-hand side of the screen
- Select ‘OK’
- You will now be returned to the main order screen. The total amount for the items voided/faulted will be displayed as a negative account balance.
- Select ‘Pay’
- Select the payment method you wish to use to refund the guest
*If the guest requires a card refund, they will need to reinsert their card and follow the instructions on the EFT.
The tab/table will then be closed.
How do I reverse a walkout payment after daily sign off?
- Log on to the till
- Select ‘Manager Functions’
- Select ‘Refund’
- Use the menu to select the products from the original tab/table
- Repeat steps 2 – 4 until all products have been selected
- Check to ensure that the negative account balance shown, matches the total balance of the original tab/table
- Select ‘Manager Functions’
- Select ‘Walkout’
- Confirm the amount by selecting ‘Enter’
- This account will now be closed, and the amount credited to the Walkout line of your P&L.
- You now need to charge the guest for the tab/table.
- Ring through the items from the original tab/table in the usual way
- Pay off the account using the appropriate payment method
I cannot complete my daily sign off, what can I do?
Try the below options:
A – All Closed Sessions Declared
- Select ‘Finance’
- Select ‘Declarations’
- Check the ‘Awaiting Declaration’ column and ensure that no sessions are awaiting declaration.
- Complete any outstanding declarations and return to daily sign off
B – All Safes Counted
- Select ‘Finance’
- Select ‘Admin’
- Select ‘History’
- Ensure ‘Today’ is highlighted on the left-hand side
- Expand the ‘Repository Counts’ section by selecting the ‘+’
- Check that all safes have been counted at least once that day
- Complete any outstanding counts and return to daily sign off
C – No Open Sessions
- Select ‘Finance’
- Select ‘Cash Management’
- Select ‘Declarations
- Check the ‘Trading’ column and ensure that no sessions are still trading
- End any sessions that are still trading:
- If the floor till(s) are still trading, you will need to perform a session change on these
- If a bar till is still trading, you will need to perform a session change and this will need to be declared
- If a money belt is still trading, the team member will need to end their money belt session and this will need to be declared
- If the roaming EFT or iServes are still trading, you will need to select ‘Session Change all Mobile Devices’
- End any open sessions, complete any new declarations required as a result, and return to daily sign off.
Daily operations: Start of day
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The Impact of the Climate Crisis on Your Hospitality Business: Why Carbon Accounting & Climate Action Matters Today
Guest blog by Net Zero Now
The climate crisis is no longer a distant threat but is already having a very real impact on the hospitality industry. That impact is both direct, resulting in increased costs as supply chains are put under increasing pressure and the cost of energy increases, and indirect, driving new attitudes and expectations of customers, employees, and investors.
But with these challenges come opportunities – to improve your bottom line, to establish yourself as a leader in an increasingly eco-conscious market and to increase the value of your business.
Understanding the Impact of Climate Change on Hospitality
The hospitality industry is uniquely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, and shifts in global ecosystems directly affect the supply chains that businesses rely on, resulting in higher costs and lower / less reliable availability.. Energy prices are also likely to soar as demand for cooling increases and fossil fuel resources become scarcer.
Indirectly, the climate crisis is changing the attitudes of the people who make your business thrive – your customers, your employees and your investors.
- Consumers are increasingly seeking out businesses that align with their values, particularly when it comes to sustainability – 69% of consumers worldwide have changed the products and services they use due to concern about climate change and 64% of British consumers willing to pay up to 10% more for sustainable foods and drinks (YouGov, 2024).
- Employees, especially younger generations, prefer to work for companies that take meaningful action on climate issues – 60% of Britons agree that climate change is the biggest threat to civilisation, with this sentiment being particularly strong among Gen Z (70%) and Millennials (63%) (YouGov, 2024).
- Investors are placing greater emphasis on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) criteria, meaning businesses that credibly address their environmental impact will have access to more funding and will receive a premium valuation of their business (IMD, 2023).
Businesses also face increased regulatory pressure. In the UK, larger businesses (£36m+ t’over) are already required to report Scope 1 and 2 emissions under the Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) regulations. These requirements are expected to expand in the near future, reducing the threshold to include more businesses and increasing the reporting requirements to include Scope 3 emissions (the emissions from your supply chain, including all the food and drink you buy throughout the year). This is particularly relevant to the hospitality sector which contributes up to 15% of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions (Net Zero Now, 2024, and where Scope 3 emissions account for c.70-95% of emissions, the vast majority of which comes from the food served (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Emissions Sources from different types of hospitality business
Source: Net Zero Now Customer analysis; Cool Food 2022
The Challenge and Opportunity of Tackling Scope 3 Emissions
As Figure 1 also shows, as an industry, we have a long way to go to meet the 2030 targets for carbon emissions per meal. Getting anywhere near these targets will take more than removing plastic straws and adding a few LED lightbulbs, hospitality businesses need to understand their full carbon footprint, including Scope 3 emissions, and find ways to minimise their climate impact.
I know what you’re thinking – “it’s too expensive”, “it’s too complicated”, “we’re too busy” – and until recently, you might have been right. But…
- It’s cost effective: Quite apart from being the right thing to do for your planet, taking positive climate action is the right thing to do for your business. Access to the Net Zero Now Carbon Accounting and Climate Action platform is available from c.£100 per site per year, while the resulting reduction in energy and water use, food waste, staff attrition, etc can save the average site thousands (UK Hospitality estimate the average pub / restaurant could save up to 20% on energy bills through energy efficiency measures alone)
- It’s straightforward: The global guidelines on “carbon accounting” are undeniably complex, but thanks to Coca Cola, Pernod Ricard, Heineken UK, The Sustainable Restaurant Association and many others, business are now able to follow the Net Zero Hospitality Protocol – an industry standard methodology for measuring and reporting emissions that ensures consistency of measurement across the sector as well as clarity on what and how to measure your emissions
- It’s quick & easy: As a Zonal customer, this is where you have a huge advantage. Zonal’s new partnership with Net Zero Now allows you to measure the largest part of your carbon footprint – the food and drink you have bought throughout the year, without lifting a finger. By integrating Zonal technology with Net Zero Now’s carbon accounting platform, we can provide you with accurate, detailed and regular analysis of your carbon emissions through the Net Zero Now platform. Where the data is available, we can even provide this on a site by site basis with no additional work from you.
and , as if all of the above wasn’t enough
- It’s good for your business: The Net Zero Hospitality Protocol includes criteria for Certifying your business, first as “On The Road to Net Zero” and ultimately as a “Net Zero” business, giving you a clear and credible way to communicate to your customers, employees, investors and other stakeholders and access the commercial benefits of taking positive climate action.
Ready to turn the climate challenge into a business opportunity? Discover how Net Zero Now’s integration with Zonal can help you accurately measure, manage, and reduce your carbon footprint. Start your journey towards sustainability today—contact the Zonal team and see how we can support your business in leading the way to a net zero future.
Sources:
- British attitudes towards sustainability in 2024: Key insights from YouGov data
- Climate change: change to consumer behavior 2019 | Statista
- Sustainable carbon credits strategy for the hospitality industry | Deloitte UK
- From data to decarbonisation: A roadmap for hotels to reach net zero | SMS
- Urgent action needed for a Net Zero hospitality sector, says new report
- Top 5 Ways for Hospitality Businesses to Reduce Energy Usage – Unyfi
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Zonal is thrilled to announce a strategic partnership with Net Zero Now, a leader in carbon accounting solutions. This integration aims to streamline carbon accounting, reduce wastage, and enhance operational efficiency for restaurants, pubs, and bars.
Empowering the hospitality industry in climate action
Net Zero Now has been at the forefront of helping hospitality businesses manage their carbon footprints, with over 3,000 sites currently using its platform to achieve sustainability goals. Developed in collaboration with Coca-Cola Euro Pacific Partners, the Net Zero Hospitality protocol, endorsed by The Sustainable Restaurant Association and Pernod-Ricard, uniquely provides comprehensive guidance for sustainability across the sector. The partnership with Zonal, which serves over 17,000 hospitality businesses, represents a transformative step in enhancing operational efficiency and environmental responsibility within the industry.
Key benefits of the integration:
- Boost Efficiency: Real-time stock management for accurate inventory tracking.
- Automate Procurement: Simplified ordering processes to reduce manual tasks.
- Reduce Wastage: Smart purchasing practices to minimise excess inventory.
- Ensure Financial Accuracy: Precise financial reporting and control.
- Enhance Sustainability: Seamless carbon accounting integration with Net Zero Now.
Transformative impact
Zonal’s technology offers end-to-end, real-time visibility over stock management, automates procurement, and reduces wastage. Integrated with Net Zero Now, it enables precise carbon accounting, helping businesses minimise their environmental impact. This collaboration streamlines operations and empowers hospitality businesses to achieve their sustainability targets seamlessly.
“We are thrilled to partner with Zonal,” said Neil Ross Russell, Managing Director of Net Zero Now. “This integration not only streamlines carbon accounting but also empowers hospitality businesses to achieve their sustainability targets seamlessly.”
Tim Chapman, Zonal’s Chief Commercial Officer, added “We value working with partners like Net Zero Now who share our commitment to empowering businesses, allowing our customers to become more cost-effective and resilient in the face of a changing climate. Their solutions will be instrumental in helping our customers not only achieve their environmental goals, but to also make informed decisions that reduce waste, streamline operations, and ultimately create a more sustainable hospitality industry for the future.”
- Net Zero Now: Over 3,000 sites use the platform with CO2 under management, exceeding 1 million tonnes.
- Zonal: Serving over 17,000 hospitality businesses, providing innovative solutions to optimise operations.
For more information on how this integration can benefit your business, visit Net Zero Now’s website. Schedule a demo today and take the first step towards a more sustainable future.
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Introducing Roseacre Pub Company
Collection of 9 pubs across the midlands
Premium pubs and restaurants serving high quality food and drink
Founded in 2014
Celebrating 10th anniversary in 2024
“When we were looking for a new till provider, we were looking for a POS provider that had everything under one umbrella. We were looking for slick POS tills that could support with high volume, integrated card machines, a cash management system, e-commerce improvement and CRM data collection systems”Ash Gartshore, Owner, Roseacre Pub Company
The business challenge
With an aim of delivering an excellent food and drink offering, accompanied by friendly, caring service across their collection of 9 pubs, the Roseacre Pub Company team sought out a technology partner that could help them achieve this consistently across each of their pubs, and deliver the best value to their customers.
The business was also experiencing a period of growth, with more pubs coming into the fold and plans for additional sites across the next few years, meaning choosing a provider that could support them as they scaled, easily incorporating new sites into the estate was vital.
The Roseacre team were also looking for a provider that could offer multiple connected systems under one umbrella to help them better join up operations, streamline cash management, consolidate reporting and better understand their customers across their entire estate to reduce admin and drive revenue.
“Zonal is so easy to use on a day-to-day basis, and the back office platform is really intuitive to use. It actually allows sites to be more independent, and there’s other members of the head office team now who can support day-to-day. It’s really empowered them to progress their careers.”Andy Griffin, Head of Systems, Roseacre Pub Company
The solution
With these criteria in mind, the team at Roseacre Pub Company did their research and chose Zonal as their technology provider, working together to complete a phased implementation across their 9 pubs, managed carefully by our dedicated onboarding team.
Since making the switch day-to-day operations have been simplified across Roseacre’s estate of pubs – especially in relation to cashing up. Detailed, real-time reporting is available across the business to help resolve any queries that may arise, giving the team the tools to dig into the detail easily and make more effective decisions, quicker.
Utilising the data collected in their EPoS, the Roseacre team are also able to refine elements of their offering to drive additional revenue; analysing individual performance of products and ingredients, as well as products that are commonly purchased alongside these dishes, allowing them to tweak their menus and recommend upsells throughout the ordering journey.
Having intuitive, easy-to-use technology in place has allowed different sites within the business to operate more independently, as well as enabled more members of their head office team to progress their careers and upskill by supporting in more areas of the day-to-day operations of their pubs.
- Industry-leading EPoS for pubs, complete with a powerful stock management solution as standard
- Zonal’s online guest ordering solution Order & Pay, fully integrated with our EPoS, enabling customers to order and pay for food and drink from the comfort of their own table
“It’s important to me that Roseacre always grows, but growth doesn’t always mean more sites. It means growth in technology, growth in engagement and growth in our people. There will be more sites in 2024 and 2025, and I look forward to working closely with Zonal to support that growth.”Ash Gartshore, Owner, Roseacre Pub Company
Results
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Introducing Shorefield Holidays
Family-run business
Established 1958
Award-winning holiday park operator
Collection of 9 parks across Dorset & Hampshire
“While we were looking for a new technology solution, we were looking for something that would be more integrated across the board, a cost saving for us as a business, and be able to take us to the next step.”Ryan Swatridge, Group Entertainments Manager, Shorefield Holidays
The business challenge
With a drive to deliver unforgettable experiences for their guests, owners and residents; as well as to join up their technology across their parks to deliver better integration and facilitate cost savings, Shorefield Holidays began the search for a technology partner that could help take them to the next level.
They needed a technology partner that would help them grow and expand, as well as deliver live, day-to-day insight over areas such as stock levels to enable more effective decision-making, something they were lacking at the time. The Shorefield team also wanted to be able to better understand their guests, including spending patterns, so technology that provided easy-to-digest and detailed reporting on how guests were engaging with the business was vital.
The system needed to be hospitality-dedicated, and ultimately make life easier for their guests and staff.
“Technology is a huge part of our business, from the iServes to the app, the loyalty, we massively embraced what Zonal brought to us. We’re just looking at different ways we can bring technology to what we do, we even have robots in our restaurant that will serve you your dinner.”Ryan Swatridge, Group Entertainments Manager, Shorefield Holidays
The solution
With a set of requirements and criteria in mind, the Shorefield team began researching different technology suppliers, as well as what their competitors were doing, and as a result chose to work with Zonal to implement a suite of connected hospitality technology across their parks to meet their business’s objectives.
With Zonal’s industry-leading EPoS at the core of their restaurants, the Shorefield team have since benefitted from real-time, accurate stock monitoring via Zonal’s built-in stock management module, enabling them to reduce costs on external stock counts. Zonal’s handheld EPoS ordering solution for staff, iServe, was also implemented, enabling staff to take orders at the tableside and automatically sending these through for fulfilment helping to improve guest experiences through speedier service and eliminating any room for errors, whilst providing significant time savings for staff by removing the need for orders to be re-keyed.
Alongside Zonal’s EPoS, the Shorefield team also chose to implement our purchase-to-pay inventory management solution, Acquire. With an end-to-end purchasing platform in place, fully integrated with their EPoS, the team have transformed their inventory management, enabling them to manage all of their suppliers and purchasing in one central platform, as well as reducing staff overhead by eliminating the need for their team to spend hours logging delivery notes and invoices.
“The difference is night and day; the money it’s saving us in not running multiple different platforms, and time it’s saving the team, and the fact that it’s just modernised us as a business.”Chris Weymouth, Assistant Complex Manager – Oakdene Forest Park, Shorefield Holidays
To further enhance their guest experience, Shorefield implemented Zonal’s Order & Pay app across their estate of holiday parks. Zonal worked with both the Shorefield operations and marketing teams to develop their app into exactly what they wanted it to be, including delivery to location functionality to enable guests to place orders for delivery to their accommodation – providing guests with convenience and flexibility.
All the functionality is backed up by Zonal’s robust suite of reporting. With Zonal’s integrated tech in place, the Shorefield team are able to drill down into more detail than ever, including a granular view of GP margins for every recipe item, helping them to expose any inefficiencies or fluctuations, and react accordingly.
- Industry-leading EPoS for holiday parks, complete with a robust stock management solution and real-time data capture
- Handheld ordering devices for staff to speed up service times and reduce room for error
- A fully-integrated purchase-to-pay solution, enabling the Shorefield team to centralise purchasing and supplier management, reducing costs and saving staff time
- A branded, feature-rich customer app, fully-integrated with their EPoS, to give guests more control over their dining experience during their stay, complete with deliver to location functionality to enable delivery straight to their cabins
- Robust, detailed reporting across their entire technology ecosystem, providing the necessary insight to help the Shorefield team to make more effective decisions
“You can see on the sales and profitability reports the GP margins for every recipe item, which means you can really expose any small problems you’re having with the fluctuation of figures. It gives you the ability to push that GP as much as you can.”Chris Weymouth, Assistant Complex Manager – Oakdene Forest Park, Shorefield Holidays
Results
Featured solutions
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Fixing people's hospitality bugbears
What are consumers' top frustrations in hospitality, and how can hospitality operators address them? Find out in this exclusive consumer research report in partnership with CGA by NIQ
Our previous GO Technology research revealed that hospitality still plays an important role in people’s social lives despite cost pressures, but with 49% of consumers saying they’d become less loyal to a brand after a few bad experiences, it’s incredibly important for hospitality businesses to deliver frictionless experiences that meet guests’ expectations, without any frustration during the journey.
This exclusive research of 5,000 hospitality consumers reveals the biggest frustrations guests encounter when engaging with venues, both in-venue and pre-visit, how these frustrations differ between demographics, and what actions they are likely to take following a frustrating experience.
What's in the report?
- Top 5 biggest bugbears
- Frustrations by stage in the customer journey
- How do these frustrations differ between demographics?
- Where and when consumers vent their frustrations about their hospitality experiences
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What makes people loyal to hospitality and how venues can maintain their loyalty
Discover the top reasons consumers choose to go out, the role hospitality plays in local communities, and what hospitality businesses can do to build and maintain customer loyalty in this blog – based on the findings from our recent ‘GO Technology: The value of hospitality’ research!
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Explore our virtual venues through the eyes of your customers
Visit our virtual pub, restaurant and hotel to discover how Zonal’s ecosystem of hospitality technology works behind the scenes to provide you with the intelligence and insights you need to improve customer experiences, boost loyalty, and drive revenue.
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Hospitality Tech Assessment: Improving the guest experience & driving loyalty
Answer a few short questions to identify how well your tech helps you to deliver incredible guest experiences that keep your customers coming back time and time again. At the end you’ll get personalised guidance which explains how you can leverage your customer data to offer personalised customer experiences.
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Making the business case to Finance for hospitality technology
Learn more about how specialist hospitality technology can benefit wider stakeholders in your business, such as finance
As an operator working day-in, day-out with your front- and back-of-house teams, you may already be acutely aware of the tangible benefits your technology can offer to your business. However, it can be difficult to “sell” those benefits across for stakeholders within the business that may not be direct users of the technology on a daily basis.
In this guide, we explore how hospitality technology can also meet the needs of your finance team, how the operational improvements it brings can have a positive impact on the wider business, as well as how it can help to deliver more accurate, data-driven insights that facilitate better decision-making to drive the business forward.
Download this guide to discover:
- The benefits of hospitality technology to your wider business
- What key areas will your Finance team consider when implementing new hospitality tech?
- How specialist hospitality technology can meet your head of Finance’s priorities
- How to address any concerns they may have around integration and implementation
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Guide: Transform your hotel's back-of-house operations with hospitality tech
Discover how a suite of connected hospitality technology can help build an efficient back-of-house operation in your hotel
With cutting costs and maximising margins front-of-mind for many hoteliers, ensuring you have the right technology in place to collect, capture and report on operational data from your bar & restaurant is integral to making better, more informed decisions.
Discover how specialist hospitality technology can transform your hotel’s back-of-house F&B operations, from automated and streamlined processes that result in frictionless experiences for guests, to real-time, reliable data collected at every touchpoint within the restaurant that increases reporting accuracy for stock management and business performance to help you cut costs and boost profits.
Download this guide to discover:
- The benefits of specialist hospitality technology in hotels
- How centralised product management improves control
- How stock & ordering technology can help you manage costs and reduce waste
- The role of accurate data in improving back-of-house operations
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Hospitality Tech Assessment: Improving the guest experience & driving loyalty
Answer a few short questions to identify how well your tech helps you to deliver incredible guest experiences that keep your customers coming back time and time again. At the end you’ll get personalised guidance which explains how you can leverage your customer data to offer personalised customer experiences.
Subscribe to get the latest news, product announcements and industry updates
As crucial technology in the first stage in the customer journey, we understand the importance of keeping your booking system up- to- date to ensure every cover is maximised, guest experience is seamless and business booms!
It’s easy to forget a task when it only needs to be completed once a year, but this can lead to important updates being overlooked, and will ultimately result in you not getting the most out of your booking system.
We’ve listed five areas within your booking system that we believe should be regularly checked and maintained to help you maximise capacity:
1. Make sure your email templates are polished and optimised
Your correspondence with guests matters, and with changes frequently being made by different users, it’s worth taking the time to regularly make sure your email templates are not only visually appealing, but also accurately reflect your brand. After making any changes, such as key date closures, adding special instructions or opening up additional seating for the summer, we’d recommend creating a test booking as if you were a guest making a reservation. This helps you to make sure guests are receiving the right information.
2. Monitor turn times
Monitoring and updating turn times is crucial for smooth operations. With accurate data, you can maintain optimal table turnovers and minimise wait times for customers, helping you manage your bookings effectively, improve guest experiences, and maximise revenue from every cover.
Zonal’s Table Management solution allows users to export turn times based on several factors, to build an accurate picture of current performance. You can then adjust booking durations accordingly, for example if your dwell time is set to be extremely high, reducing it down to a more realistic value can open up additional availability and increase yield.
3. Stay on top of opening/holiday hours and table layouts
Updating layouts or creating new ones for key dates in your booking system is essential for optimising seating arrangements. Tailoring layouts to accommodate increased demand during special occasions or holidays helps maximise capacity, reduce wait times and enhance overall dining experience for customers.
4. Consider additional booking channels…
Don’t overlook the various additional channels available to drive online bookings. An online offering reduces in house costs and having an easy journey can deliver a great journey for the end user.
Reserve with Google, Facebook and Instagram from Mozrest enables you to convert Google searches, Facebook and Instagram followers into bookings, by adding a simple ‘book now’ button to your business listing, allowing you tap in to more potential bookings and provide a more streamlined experience for guests.
In addition to online booking channels, there is also the ability to implement automated telephony systems. So that when a customer does wish to pick up the phone – the system can do it all for you. It’s not for everyone, but definitely worth looking into.
These come with an additional cost, however you’ll be picking up missed bookings that may otherwise have gone elsewhere and of course the time your team don’t have to spend on the phone completing what could have been achieved online is of great benefit.
5. Stay up-to-date with what’s new!
Zonal Bookings is constantly evolving with new features and functionality. Stay ahead by keeping track of these updates through our Product Portal. Planning is key when implementing changes, review your timelines – you probably don’t want to implement changes to ways of working at peak times or when support levels are low. To obtain good adoption, get buy in through testing. To see satisfaction, follow up and make the required tweaks and changes.
We’re here to help you make the most of your booking system. If you have any questions or need assistance with implementing new features, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team.
If you have any further questions on any of the above functionality, or any of your other Zonal solutions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
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How can hospitality businesses combat no-shows in 2023?
In this webinar, industry experts from Zonal, Mitchells & Butlers, and Bums on Seats, explore the current bookings landscape, the impact of consumer loyalty on no-shows, the importance of real-time booking availability, and share their advice on processes and procedures operators can start implementing today to start tackling no-shows in their business.
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With Easter and the first bank holidays of the year just around the corner, it’s crucial to plan ahead to avoid any disruptions caused by limited supplier hours. To help you navigate this period smoothly, we’ve outlined five easy steps for Acquire users to create exception rules for delivery schedules, and set up reminders:
1. Log into Acquire Head Office and navigate to Admin Functions from the toolbar at the top of your screen, then select Delivery Schedules.
2. Once in Delivery Schedules, click on the Exceptions tab. From there, select the supplier you wish to add an exception for, followed by the green Create Exception button.
3. Give your Exception a descriptive name, we recommend including the supplier’s name and the exception day within the name of your Exception.
4. Next, you’ll need to enter date information for your Exception. Click the Green plus icon twice to add two date fields. In the top field, enter the date that you want the Exception to apply to, this is the only information you need to fill out on this date field. Make sure that you leave the “Delivers” box unticked. In the bottom date field, enter the new delivery date allocated for this period, ensuring the “Delivers” box is ticked, this will allow you to add an additional day outside of your normal schedule. Specify how many days in advance orders need to be placed and the cut-off time. If your Supplier will only allow one order to be placed per site prior to cut off time you will also need to select Limit Ordering, if the Supplier will allow multiple orders prior to cut off time, you will not need to select this.
5. Finally, click the green Assign Schedules button to open the Assign Delivery Schedules to an Exception page. Choose the delivery schedule for the exception by ticking the box and pressing ok. Your exception is now added to the chosen schedule.
You can view the changes to the schedule by selecting Preview Schedules. This will then display the delivery schedule calendar indicating the actual delivery date for the Exception.
By following these steps, you can configure delivery exceptions to ensure smooth operations during Easter and beyond. We hope these guidelines prove helpful in managing your Acquire solution effectively.
If you have any questions or need further assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact our team. We’re here to help you make the most of your Acquire system and ensure a seamless experience for your business.
If you have any further questions on any of the above functionality, or any of your other Zonal solutions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
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