Switching guide
Switch from OpenTable, Resy, Tock or Yelp without losing a booking
The whole move takes about a week, most of it waiting. You set up in an afternoon, run both systems briefly, then close the old one once its last booking has been served.
1. Set up (one afternoon)
- Floor plan. Name your tables, set covers for each, mark walk-in-only tables like the bar, and add the combinations you push together.
- Hours, turn times and pacing. Your real first and last seatings, how long parties stay by size, and how many covers the kitchen can take every 15 minutes.
- Booking rules. Online party limit, notice, cancellation cutoff, and your policy in your own words.
- Messages. Confirmations and reminders by email are on from the start. Turn on texting if you want it.
- Your team. Invite managers and hosts.
2. Bring your guests and future bookings
Export two CSV files from your current system: your guest list and your upcoming reservations. Import them in Settings. Freeheld recognizes the column names these exports and ordinary spreadsheets use, shows you a preview to confirm, skips duplicates, and never messages your guests during an import. Bookings that arrive without a table show up in a "needs a table" lane so nothing is missed.
3. Make a test booking
Book a table from your own phone on your new booking page, then cancel it from the confirmation email. You have just seen exactly what your guests will see.
4. Point your links at your new booking page (three days before)
- Your website. Paste the Freeheld button where your old one was.
- Google Business Profile. Set your reservation link to your Freeheld booking page. This is the one that matters most: it is where most diners find you.
- Instagram. Put the link in your bio.
Then import a fresh export of future reservations to catch anything booked in the meantime. Duplicates are skipped by confirmation number.
5. Cutover day (pick a quiet weekday, never a Friday)
- In the morning, close online availability in the old system. Do not cancel the account yet.
- One last export and import.
- A 15-minute run-through with the host team: the book, one-tap Arrived, Seat and Done, walk-ins, and the waitlist.
- Run service on Freeheld. If anything still arrives in the old system, honor it and enter it by hand.
6. After
- One week later: confirm nothing new is arriving in the old system. Keep the old account until its last booking has been served.
- One month later: cancel the old subscription and keep the confirmation. Open Reports to see where your covers came from, your no-show rate, and the fees you did not pay.
Common questions
Will my guests notice?
They will see your name and colors on a new booking page, and they get a confirmation and reminder like before. Guests with existing bookings keep them: their reservations come across in the import, so the table is still held for them.
What about my guest notes and visit history?
Guest exports carry names, contact details, tags and notes, and visit counts come along where the old system includes them. Past reservations can be imported as visit history if you want it.
Does my POS need to change?
No. If you use Toast, Square or Clover you can connect it read-only for spend per guest. Without it, everything else works the same.
Can I get help with the move?
Most restaurants do it themselves from the in-app checklist. Hands-on help is available separately if you want someone on the call with you. Email info@freeheld.io.
Start the move today.
Set up during the 30-day free trial. Pay $1,000 once when you are ready.
Start your free trial