{"id":35824,"date":"2026-07-27T18:30:48","date_gmt":"2026-07-27T08:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nowbookit.com\/ce-que-les-proprietaires-de-restaurants-ont-appris-sur-les-reservations-a-la-semaine-de-lalimentation-et-de-lhotellerie-2026\/"},"modified":"2026-07-27T19:20:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-27T09:20:28","slug":"ce-que-les-proprietaires-de-restaurants-ont-appris-sur-les-reservations-a-la-semaine-de-lalimentation-et-de-lhotellerie-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nowbookit.com\/fr-ca\/hotellerie\/ce-que-les-proprietaires-de-restaurants-ont-appris-sur-les-reservations-a-la-semaine-de-lalimentation-et-de-lhotellerie-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Ce que les propri\u00e9taires de restaurants ont appris sur les r\u00e9servations \u00e0 la Semaine de l’alimentation et de l’h\u00f4tellerie 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Food & Hospitality Week<\/a> wrapped up in Sydney just over two weeks, and if you weren\u2019t there at RESTECH, here\u2019s what you need to know.<\/span><\/p>

Adam Gifford, RESTECH lead at National Media, said technology has become one of the most important investment categories across hospitality and foodservice.<\/p>

\u201cOperators are facing rising costs, labour challenges and increasing customer expectations. Technology is playing a critical role in helping businesses improve productivity, deliver better guest experiences and make smarter decisions.”<\/em><\/p>

What this tells us is that smart reservation management isn\u2019t a back-office function anymore \u2014 it\u2019s where revenue is won or lost, and the gap between operators who understand that and those who don\u2019t is widening fast.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Now Book\u00a0It was on the floor in the RESTECH section,\u00a0connecting with\u00a0venues from Sydney, Canberra, Queensland, and Victoria. Restaurant owners and managers made the trip from across the country \u2014 including regional operators leaving their towns for the first time in years \u2014 to get across the full hospitality tech landscape under one roof.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The standout moment was a 45-minute panel on the Tech Stage:\u00a0<\/span>Smart Bookings: AI in Reservation Management<\/span><\/i>. Now Book It\u2019s Chief Revenue Officer Paddy McCrory joined Karl Schlothauer (VP, YCK Laneways), Sian\u00a0Potsig\u00a0(Operations Director, Edition Hospitality), and Sarah Franklyn (Head of Partnerships, Impact Data) for a session that skipped the marketing language and got into the decisions operators actually need to make.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Here are the five things that stood out \u2014 and what each one means for your venue.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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1. Your reservation system should be doing the thinking, not just the filing<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For years, a booking system did one thing:\u00a0held a table. The phone rang, someone\u00a0wrote a name\u00a0in a book, a section got reserved. That era is over.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

AI-powered reservation platforms<\/a> are now doing something fundamentally different \u2014 they\u2019re anticipating. Phone agents, SMS integrations, and in-app messaging handle enquiries, confirm bookings, and manage last-minute changes without pulling your team off the floor. The real shift, though, is operational.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

As Sian Potsig put it during the session, the opportunity is\u00a0in flipping\u00a0the floor plan\u00a0<\/span>before<\/span><\/i>\u00a0service \u2014 using AI-gathered booking data to inform allergy management, seating configurations, and staffing before the first cover arrives.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0not possible when your reservation system is just a booking form.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The question for your platform:<\/b> <\/span>\u201cIs this giving me intelligence I can act on before service, or is it just taking names?\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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2. Cutting no-shows is table stakes \u2014 what happens after is crucial<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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No-shows and last-minute cancellations drain venue revenue.\u00a0That\u2019s\u00a0well established. AI-assisted reservation systems are getting better at reducing them through automated reminders, smarter confirmation flows, and pre-payment prompts that add the right friction at the right moment.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

But the conversation pushed further: what happens to the information gathered through AI-assisted bookings once the no-show rate drops? Some platforms are excellent at reducing cancellations. Fewer can tell you that the guest at table six has visited four times, always orders from the set menu, and noted a nut allergy last visit.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The best platforms \u2014 and the operators getting the most from them \u2014 connect those dots before the guest sits down. Now Book It\u2019s built-in CRM<\/a> that comes with booking tags and guest notes put that context directly in the hands of your floor staff, so personalisation isn\u2019t a happy accident. It\u2019s a system.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The question for your platform: <\/span><\/b>\u201cWhat do I actually know about my returning guests before they walk in?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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3. Data export and data ownership are not the same thing <\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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When the panel turned to data ownership, the conversation moved from \u201cAI is exciting\u201d to \u201cAI is consequential.\u201d Most venue operators assume that because they can download a spreadsheet of their guest list, they own that data.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>

But here are the questions every operator should be asking:<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>