Configuring a New Dining Engine

By the end of this training article, you will be able to:

• Create the dining engine core on the cloud
• Add logos and edit colours
• Configure services 
• Manage templates and confirmations

Please note that if you are not already using the HART dining engine you will need to contact us to arrange pricing and the initial set-up of the dining component. 

Creating the Core Engine

Configure the restaurant facility in HART using this training guide. Make a note of the ID of the new facility you have created. 

Once this is done, log into cloud reservations and navigate to Facilities > F&B > Restaurants. 

The below screen will appear. Press Add New Record to start the creation of a new engine. 

At this stage fill in the Name field and the PMS ID only. The PMS ID is the one you made a note of from HART. 

Press Save Changes.

Add Logos and Edit Colours

Navigate to Hotel > Pictures > New Restaurant Logo.  Upload a PNG Image which is around 200 px wide by pressing the Select File button and choosing the file from your computer. Press upload. 

Next, navigate back to Facilities > F&B > Restaurants. Make sure you have selected the correct restaurant in the top part of the screen, and then select the Colours tab in the bottom part of the screen. Here you are going to configure the colours for your booking engine in keeping with your brand. You can input the hex code in each cell, or use the colour wheel to choose your colours.

Below is a reference of what each colour cell refers to. 

Now that your logo and colours are in place, you can view your engine on the web. If you already have a dining engine you are using then just change the restaurant ID at the end. 

If this is your first dining engine, please contact HART Support to get your URL.

Configuring your services

Services

Still staying in this area of cloud reservations, click on the Services tab.

Add a new record and fill in the detail for each service:

• Service: The name of the service which will be visible to the customer.
• Description: A brief marketing description of the service visible after the service is selected.
• Menu Url: if you wish the guest to be able to view the menu when a service is selected, add the url here.
• Lead Min: The minimum lead time with which this service can be booked. ie, 1 would mean you can book for tomorrow at the earliest. Leave blank if not needed.
• Lead Max: How far in the future a service can be booked. Leave blank if not needed.
• Member Lead: Only used if you use our members portal.
• Min Ppl: The minimum amount of people who can book this service.
• Max Ppl: The maximum amount of people who can book this service.
• PMS Service: select which PMS service this is linked to from the drop-down list.
  
• PMS Group: Only required for the Order at Table App. Can be left blank on here.

Make sure you press save after each line. 

Service Options

Service options do not need to be filled in for all services. It is a function used for services such as Afternoon Tea, which may have options the guest could choose from, such as Sparkling Afternoon Tea or Chocolate Afternoon Tea. 

It will drop a note into the booking in HART so the chef will know which Afternoon tea to prepare.

Add a new record to create each service option.

• Service: Which service the option applies to.
• Option Name: The name for the option which will be visible to the guest, and which will drop into HART.
• Valid From & To: If this option is always available, then leave this blank. If it is a seasonal option, put in the dates i will be available.
• Active: Untick to make this service no longer available.

Save your changes.

Schedules: 

This is where you are going to set up the availability schedule of each service, similar to how you do in HART.

• Service: Which service the schedule applies to. 
• Days: Select from which day of the week this time schedule applies to from the drop-down list.
• From & To: the time schedule for this service on this specific day.

Save your changes.

Blocks

Assigning blocks for the dining engine can happen in two ways. 

• In PMS: Any blocks you assign in the PMS will automatically show on the cloud. So if you need to close out a specific day completely due to works, or an exclusive use, then you do it in HART.
• In Cloud Reservations: Adding blocks in cloud reservations allows you to close out online but still take bookings in-house, and also close out residents or non-residents.

Add a new record.

• Block From & To: The date range within which this block applies.
• Service: Which service the block applies to.
• Days: Which days of the week the block applies to.
• Block Type: you have 3 options here:
  • Everyone: Stops all bookings for the dates selected.
  • Resident: Guests booking dinner as part of the room booking engine will not be able to book, and any links in confirmations that direct residents to book dinner will close out as well.
  • Non-Resident: Allows residents to still book dinner online as part of their stay, but will close for all non-residents.

Save your changes.

Deposits

You must always have a deposit policy assigned to your engine, even if the policy is to take no card details on a booking. 

This section of the configuration allows you to set different policies based on time, days, the number of people booking, and by service.

In the example below, the following are true.

• Lunch does not require any card details to make a booking.
• Sunday - Friday, Dinner requires a card guarantee to make a booking.
• On a Saturday evening, a £10 per person deposit is required to make a booking.
• Afternoon tea only requires a payment if more than 6 people are booking together.

Add a new entry to start your deposit policy.

• Policy: Choose between;
  • No Deposit: Card details are not requested.
  • Card Guarantee: A card will be requested and tokenised in HART ready to be charged in the event the guest is a no show.
  • Payment: A payment is required to secure the booking.
• From & To: The time range the policy applies to.
• Days: The days of the week the policy applies to.
• People: Leave blank if the number of people does not trigger a policy change.
• Service: Select the service the policy applies to.
• Amount: Insert an amount only if you have selected Payment as the policy.

Save your changes. 

Policies & Amounts

This tab can be used as a master override for all services deposit policies. For example, maybe in December, you wish to take a card guarantee for all services on all days. You will put an expectation in here to override what you have put in the Deposits tab. 

Cancel Policies

Currently under development. Cancellations can be actioned on the dining engine, please read our guide here.

Payments

When setting up your engine for the first time, you need to press the Refresh button to pull through your payment gateway details. If nothing comes through when you press refresh, please contact HART Support.

Booking Text

This field can be used to show some additional booking text applicable to all reservations on the engine. It will show of the first page. 

Outlets - not required for the dining engine

Contact

Here you can fill in the email confirmations come from, who gets a CC, what the phone number is for when fully booked messages come up, and what the return URL is. 

This will override any information you may have in the central configuration for the emails.

Check Out Fields

You are able to configure some additions check out fields for the guest to fill which will drop into HART. Add a new record and then select from the Field drop-down list which one you would like to activate.

WBE

The only two fields you will need here are:

• Alias: The name which will appear on the tab in any browser for the restaurant
• Waitlist: If you wish to activate the waitlist option, simply put the number of people you will allow on the waitlist in here. If you are fully booked, instead of showing an X for the day, a W will appear and the guest will be able to add themselves to the waitlist.

You do not need to use the tabs OrderAtTable or On Site Payments for the dining engine. 

Templates and Confirmations

There are a number of templates which can be used as part of the dining engine. 

These can all be found under Facilities > F&B > Texts

The confirmations/templates can be selected using the drop-down below. Please note, that the service drop-down only applies for the confirmations. Keep it at all services for all other texts.

• Restaurant: Select the restaurant you are configuring the template for
• Service: For Confirmations only, select the service
• Text: Select from the drop-down which text you would like to edit.

Function by Function, these are the templates you need to fill in. 

• Booking Confirmations: These are email templates and must have content for the dining engine to work.
  
  • Restaurant Confirmation (Non-Residents): The email confirmation sent to the guest if they are a non resident booking
  • Restaurant Confirmation (Resident): The email confirmation sent to the guest if they are a non-resident booking
• Deposit Texts: These are sections of text used on the checkout page of the dining engine, and need to be filled in for each deposit policy which is used. 
  • Restaurant T&C: The default T&C's which will show if your deposit policy is set to No Payment.
  • Restaurant CC Capture: The text which will show if you have the deposit policy set to Card Guarantee.
  • Restaurant Deposits: The text which will show if you have the deposit policy set to Payment.
• Cancellation Texts:
  • Restaurant Cancellation Prompt: The first email the guest will get with a link to view their bookings.
    
  • Restaurant Cancellation: The email the guest once they have successfully cancelled the booking.

Checklist

Your engine should now be ready to use. Run through the checklist below to just confirm you have done all the things you need to have done.

• Logo uploaded
• Colours completed
• Services added along with service times and descriptions
• Deposit policy added
• Confirmations and deposit policy templates completed