Once you have Lightspeed Reservations up and running, you can create and manage your reservations via the POS. Restaurant staff can create, view, and seat reservations via the POS. Management and administrators can access reservations through the Back Office where they have more functionality, such as managing the online reservations website.

When managing reservations on the POS you can see all upcoming reservations and take several actions:

• Add a new reservation.
• View details for or update any upcoming reservations.
• View all past, present, and future reservations.
• View all reservations for a specific date.

Accessing Manage reservations on the POS

Navigate to [Menu screen assigned during setup] > Manage reservations to access the reservations management screen.

In case of confusion, to find where the Manage reservations button is located:

1. Login to the Back Office with your Lightspeed credentials.
2. Navigate to Lightspeed Reservations > Settings > Manage Reservations
3. Note the Menu and Linked configuration where the Manage reservations button was added.
4. Click Add button to add a Manage reservations button, if needed.

In the example below, a dedicated main screen named Reservations was created during set up to handle all reservation actions.

Updating the reservation status

Staff can maintain a live picture of reservations by updating their status in the POS. Lightspeed Reservations can track when the guest arrives, is seated, pays, and leaves. Staff can use the Shortcut button on each reservation to efficiently move the guests through each status as their visit progresses.

Reservations generally move through the following statuses:

1. Scheduled: This is an upcoming reservation.
2. Seated: The guests have arrived and are seated at their table.
3. Paid: The guests have paid and have not yet left.
4. Departed: The guests have left.

Additionally, cancelled reservations are listed with the status Cancelled.

Adding a reservation

To add a new reservation, tap +. This opens the New reservation window.

1. Fill in the Reservation details:
   • Number of guests
   • [Optional] Expected duration
   • Date
   • Time
   • [Optional] Floor plan
   • [Optional] Table
2. Fill in the Guest details:
   • First name
   • Last name
   • [Optional] Phone
   • [Optional] Language
   • [Optional] Email
3. Click Show additional details to add the following information:
   • [Optional] Tags
   • [Optional] Dietary restrictions
   • [Optional] Allergens
   • [Optional] Reservation notes
4. Click Save to confirm the reservation.

Seating reservations

Before guests arrive, reservations can be assigned a table to help plan seating in advance. Otherwise, your guests can be assigned a table when they arrive. Once seated, their reservation can be updated to maintain a live picture of what’s happening in the restaurant.

To assign your guests a table when or before they arrive:

1. Tap their reservation or tap the Assign table shortcut.
2. Tap Assign table (this step is skipped if the shortcut was used in the previous step).
3. Select a floor plan.
4. Select a table.
5. Tap Apply.

To seat your guests when they arrive:

1. Tap their reservation or tap the Seat shortcut.
2. Tap Seat (this step is skipped if the shortcut was used in the previous step).
3. Tap Go to order to begin taking their order.

Viewing reservations

Lightspeed Reservations allows users to get a picture of what is happening in and planned for your restaurant, in the past, present, and future.

Viewing details of reservations

Tap any reservation to see its summary. In the summary pop-up, you can view:

• The booking guest’s name, 
• Number of guests
• Assigned table
• Scheduled date and time
• Reservation status

To view or modify the reservation’s full details, tap Edit.

Viewing today’s reservations

By default, the Manage reservations page is to list all upcoming and ready-to-seat reservations for the present day. To view the day’s previous reservations, tap All reservations.

View all reservations for a specific date

Using the calendar function, users can view all reservations for any given day.

1. Tap Today.
2. Navigate to the desired day in the calendar pop-up window and select it.
3. Tap Done.

To return to the Today view, tap Reset in the calendar pop-up.

Pausing reservations

When your restaurant can no longer accept reservations, your staff can use the POS to pause accepting new online reservations. This allows staff without Back Office access to temporarily stop and resume taking new reservations as needed.

Reservations can still be made manually via the POS and the Back Office when online reservations are paused.

To pause taking new reservations:

1. Navigate to the Manage reservations screen and then click pause (⏸).
   
2. Click Pause reservations. To cancel the pause, click Close. 
   
   Reservations are paused until 23:59 of the same day and automatically re-open at midnight. The time when reservations automatically resume cannot be edited, but paused reservations can be re-enabled manually at any time.
   

When reservations are paused, a banner appears at the top of the Manage reservations page informing the user that no new reservations can be made until the pause has elapsed. This applies to taking reservations on the POS as well as the Lightspeed Reservations online reservation site. 

To resume taking reservations, click Play (▶). A message appears at the bottom of the screen confirming that online reservations are live again.

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