When the promotion lives on its own
Plenty of promotions work like this: a social post that says ‘mention this post and the first drink's on us’. The guest books by phone, arrives, forgets to say it or mentions it when paying. The waiter isn't sure whether the offer was on that night. Someone decides on the spot. And at the end of the month, nobody knows how many tables it brought in
Nobody in particular is at fault. The promotion and the booking simply travel separately, and the only bridge between them is the memory of two people on a busy night
The promotion starts in the reservation book
In Omakasia a promotion isn't a stand-alone ad: it's created inside the reservation book. The screen itself describes it as a sign that shows on the calendar and on the times of your booking page
Your guest sees it while booking. Days with a promotion carry a star under the date. When they pick one, a note sits above the times, ‘Some times include a promotion’, and every time that includes it has its own star
A booking made from one of those times, from a post's link or from the QR carries the promotion with it. It doesn't depend on the guest mentioning it on arrival. It's tied to that booking
The terms are settled up front
Because the promotion lives in the booking, its terms apply when the booking is made, not at the door. If you set a daily table cap, once it's used up the promotion stops showing for that day. That way nobody is offered something that has already run out
Same with who gets it. With Only whoever books with it, only bookings made with the promotion carry it. With Any booking at those times, every table booked in that slot does. And walk-ins without a booking never get a promotion: the rule has no exceptions, so there's nothing to argue about
Example · Bistró Nora, a made-up venue in Valencia, offers a house vermouth to anyone who books with its promotion on Wednesdays from 13:00 to 14:00. Laura Martí books for 13:30 from a post's link: her booking carries the promotion. Jordi Vidal books for 15:00, outside the slot: his doesn't. Anna Roca walks in without a booking: hers doesn't either
The till already knows
If you use the Omakasia POS, the last step stops depending on anyone too. When you create the promotion, you tick the option for the POS to apply it automatically when charging, and that table's bill comes out with the offer applied. If you don't tick it, the summary tells you plainly, ‘POS: You apply it’, and your team applies it by hand
A gift works differently, because it isn't applied to the menu: it's given to whoever books with the promotion. And a promo code, the word a guest types when booking, is also just a sign: it tags the booking but doesn't reduce the receipt. For the POS to apply a discount you need a promotion with that option switched on
Every promotion is also logged on the guest's profile. Next time Laura books, you'll know she first came in on a Wednesday promotion
And at the end of the month, you can count it
Because the promotion travels with the booking, there's one more benefit: it can be counted. Under What it brought in you see how many bookings and guests each promotion brought, and which post they came through. No surveys, no asking on the floor, no spreadsheets
Promotions live in Marketing, included with Omakasia Bookings at €20 a month. See it on the Marketing page
Venues and people in the examples are made up
See Marketing