News

2,000 restaurants move to cloud computing with Livebookings

22 March 2011

Livebookings transforms Europe’s largest reservations and marketing product to give restaurateurs even greater visibility and control

The restaurant industry is backing online technology as the future, as Livebookings today announces that 2,000 restaurants have moved to its cloud computing system, enabling restaurant managers to access their bookings and marketing services through the Internet in one central place.

Following a successful UK launch to over 2,000 restaurants, Livebookings’ market-leading online reservations and marketing platform will be rolled out to 8,000 restaurateurs worldwide. Removing the need for expensive hardware, the system dramatically cuts costs for restaurants and offers secure data management.

Clients can for the first time, view the status of their bookings, customer feedback and marketing all on one single screen. Essential tools like the reservation book, marketing calendar, bookings analytics, social networking applications and Livebookings Barometer are all set to a single, real-time dashboard, which makes it easier for restaurant managers to take more bookings, manage reporting and promote their business more effectively.

The consolidation of all this functionality – and its ease-of-use - will save valuable time, significantly increase restaurants’ visibility and control of their customer data and thus enable them to focus their resources on optimising capacity, profitability and customer satisfaction. Further, unlike competitor products, Livebookings’ web-based nature means restaurants can access their reservations from any computer with internet access and it reduces the amount of hardware installed in the restaurant.

Increasingly ability to capture customer feedback quickly and measure performance is essential for the restaurant sector. The Barometer component, currently being added to the new version of Livebookings, enables restaurateurs to find out what diners think about their restaurant – and to benchmark themselves against the competition. In addition to this, Livebookings’ reporting tool allows them to look at current booking levels in real-time; fill quiet times; analyse the success of offers and determine which customers are the most valuable to target for repeat reservations.

By enhancing its existing platform, Livebookings is now set to increase the pace at which it develops and integrates new products, such as powerful daily deals services, responding to strong consumer demand and growth in the industry. Online bookings increased by 40% in 2010 compared to 2009, and, with a growing appetite from consumers to book over the internet, Livebookings, which delivered 7 million diners in 2010, is looking to help restaurants capitalise on this shift in bookings habits with the release of the new Livebookings.

Colin Tenwick, CEO at Livebookings said: “Better use of customer data is key to the success of tomorrow’s restaurant. We’re delighted to be rolling out the new Livebookings platform which gives restaurants unparalleled control and visibility over their reservations and online marketing. The restaurant sector must continue to innovate and we believe by streamlining operations and replicating the success of other industries that have moved to the cloud, restaurants will make the most of managing valuable customer data as well as matching consumer demand for an online presence.”

Douglas Smillie, Managing Director of Locale Restaurant Group said: “The new Livebookings platform is great! No bespoke hardware with expensive support and training costs is needed – just a laptop with access to the internet. I can now view and manage my reservations from wherever I like – be it in the restaurant, or at home in front of the TV! The platform provides much easier access to the key information and tools we need to manage marketing and reservations for our restaurant and the marketing calendar and other new features have helped us attract more guests and improve our marketing success.”

The service will be launched initially to UK restaurants, with other markets such as Germany, Sweden and US following later this year. To showcase the new platform to existing and potential customers, Livebookings has released a video demonstrating each of the enhanced services, which can be viewed on the home page on the Livebookings website.