Using AI to Draft Reservation and Booking Enquiry Replies

Most booking enquiries ask one of three things: is there a table, can you fit a group, and can we hire the room. The answers live in your head or your booking sheet. The tool only helps with the wording.

Start with your own facts

Before you open any tool, write down what you can actually offer. Opening days, the group size you can seat at one table, whether you take deposits, how long a table is held. Put it in a short note you can paste each time.

This matters because a language model writes what sounds right. Wikipedia calls the resulting false statements hallucinations.¹ In a booking reply, that might be a promised private room you don't have, or a time you don't open.

What to type in, and what to leave out

Ask for something like this: "Write a short, friendly reply. We can seat a group on a weeknight. Ask for the date and number of guests." Notice you haven't said who is asking.

That's deliberate. The OAIC is Australia's privacy regulator. It recommends that businesses keep guests' personal details, and sensitive ones in particular, out of open public chatbots.² A guest's name, phone number and email count as personal information. Paste the question in general terms, then add the name yourself when you send.

Skip dietary or health detail altogether. If a guest mentions an allergy, deal with that in your own words and through your kitchen's normal process. It's not something to hand to a chatbot, and this site doesn't give allergen advice.

Privacy rules differ by country. This advice is Australian, so find your own country's privacy authority and read what it says.

Three kinds of reply

Table enquiries are the simplest. Confirm the date, time and number, say how long you hold the table, and ask for a phone number only if you really need one.

Group enquiries need a little more. Say what you need to know: group size, date, and whether people will want to order from the set menu or the full one. Keep the questions to a short list so the guest can answer in one go.

Function enquiries are the ones where tone counts most. Someone planning a birthday or a work lunch wants to feel looked after. The tool can give you a warm opening and a clean layout. But prices, minimum spends and room capacity must come from you, typed in by hand and checked after.

What the draft sounds like

Expect polite and slightly stiff. Lines such as "We would be delighted to host your event" tend to appear. If you'd never say it across the counter, change it.

A quick test: read it aloud in your usual voice. If you stumble, rewrite that sentence. Short sentences usually win. So does the guest's first name, placed where you'd naturally use it.

You can also give the tool two or three of your own past replies, with the guest details removed, and ask it to match the tone. Remove the names first.

Check before you send

Go through the draft with the booking sheet next to it.

• The date and day of the week match.
• The time and group size are what the guest asked for.
• Nothing is offered that you haven't agreed, such as a free drink or a set price.
• Deposit and cancellation wording is yours, not the tool's guess.
• The sign-off names a real person.

When not to use it

A one-line reply, such as "Yes, see you at seven", is faster to type than to prompt. The OAIC makes a general point: AI products shouldn't be used just because they're available.² If the reply is shorter than the instructions you'd give the tool, just write it.

Complaints and tricky cases, like a double booking you caused, deserve your own words. The tool can sort a rough note into a tidy layout, but an apology has to sound like you meant it.