Hivive Booking Feature Merchant Guide
This guide explains how bookings and online reservations work in Hivive, how to set them up, and what merchants and staff should expect in the dashboard and POS.
Quick Summary
Hivive bookings let staff manage table reservations and let customers request a booking from a public reservation page.
There are two booking flows:
| Flow | Who creates it | Controlled by online reservation settings? |
|---|---|---|
| Staff booking | Staff in dashboard or POS | No |
| Online booking | Customer on the public reservation page | Yes |
Online reservation settings affect only customer-facing online bookings. They do not restrict staff-created bookings.
Availability
The booking feature depends on your merchant account and feature settings. If you do not see booking or online reservation options, contact Hivive support.
The main merchant areas are:
- Bookings: View, create, edit, confirm, cancel, and manage bookings.
- Tables: Set up dine-in tables and table capacity.
- Settings > Online reservations: Control the customer-facing reservation page.
The public customer reservation page is available at:
/{shopUrl}/reservations
Recommended Setup
- Go to Tables and make sure all dine-in tables are created.
- Add Capacity to each table if you want Hivive to check whether a table can fit the customer's party size.
- Go to Settings > Online reservations.
- Set the reservation duration, such as 60, 75, or 90 minutes.
- Choose whether online reservations are enabled.
- Choose whether online bookings need staff confirmation.
- Choose whether customers must enter party size.
- Set the start time interval, such as every 15, 30, or 60 minutes.
- Optionally set the max party size for online bookings.
- Place a test booking from the public reservation page.
Staff Bookings
Staff can create bookings from Hivive even if online reservations are disabled.
Staff bookings are useful for:
- Phone bookings.
- Walk-in future bookings.
- Bookings made through social media or messaging.
- Internal table holds.
- Private events or blocked periods.
Staff-created bookings can include:
- Date and time.
- Table.
- Party size.
- Customer name.
- Phone.
- Email.
- Notes.
- Internal notes.
- Booking status.
Staff bookings follow table conflict rules, but they are not limited by the online reservation settings such as max party size or online start time interval.
Online Reservations
Online reservations are customer-facing bookings from the public reservation page.
The online reservation page appears only when:
- The reservation feature is enabled for the merchant.
- Online reservation is turned on in Settings > Online reservations.
- A reservation duration is saved.
Customers choose an available date and time slot, enter their contact details, and submit the booking. Depending on your settings, the booking is either confirmed immediately or waits for staff confirmation.
Online Reservation Settings
Use Settings > Online reservations to manage customer-facing rules.
These settings do not affect staff bookings.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Online reservation | Turns the public reservation page on or off for customers. |
| Reservation duration | Defines how long each online booking lasts. For example, 90 minutes. |
| Collect party size | Controls whether customers enter how many guests are coming. |
| Max party size | Optional limit for online bookings when party size is collected. |
| Start time interval | Controls which start times customers can choose. |
| Online booking needs confirmation | Controls whether new online bookings are confirmed immediately or wait for staff approval. |
Online Reservation Toggle
When Online reservation is on, customers can submit bookings from the public page.
When it is off:
- Customers cannot submit online bookings.
- Staff can still create bookings manually.
- Existing bookings remain visible.
Reservation Duration
Reservation duration is required before online reservations can be enabled.
Example:
Duration: 90 minutes
Customer chooses: 6:00 PM
Booking ends: 7:30 PM
Customers choose the start time. Hivive calculates the end time from the saved duration.
Start Time Interval
Start time interval controls the slot spacing shown to customers.
Examples:
| Interval | Example customer slots |
|---|---|
| 15 minutes | 6:00, 6:15, 6:30, 6:45 |
| 30 minutes | 6:00, 6:30, 7:00, 7:30 |
| 60 minutes | 6:00, 7:00, 8:00 |
Slots are aligned to your opening hours. If your store opens at 5:15 PM and the interval is 30 minutes, slots can show as:
5:15, 5:45, 6:15, 6:45
This helps you avoid awkward customer-selected times such as 6:07 PM while still using your actual opening hours.
Collect Party Size
When Collect party size is on:
- Customers must enter party size.
- Hivive checks table capacity before showing a slot as available.
- Tables with no capacity are excluded from capacity-aware online availability.
- Max party size can be used.
When Collect party size is off:
- Customers do not see the party size field.
- Online bookings are created without a party size.
- Max party size is ignored.
- Hivive checks whether any dine-in table is available, without checking table capacity.
- Tables can be used even if their capacity is blank.
Use this option if your store prefers to handle party size manually after receiving the booking, or if table capacity setup is not ready yet.
Max Party Size
Max party size is an optional customer-facing limit.
Example:
Max party size: 8
Customers cannot submit an online booking for more than 8 guests.
Max party size only applies when Collect party size is on. Staff can still create larger bookings manually.
Online Booking Needs Confirmation
When Online booking needs confirmation is off:
- A new online booking is created as Confirmed.
- The booking blocks that table/time from other online bookings.
- The customer receives the booking confirmation email.
When Online booking needs confirmation is on:
- A new online booking is created as Awaiting confirmation.
- It appears in dashboard and POS for staff to review.
- It does not block other online availability yet.
- The customer receives an awaiting-confirmation email.
- Staff must change the booking status to Confirmed to approve it.
When staff confirms an awaiting booking, Hivive checks table availability again. If the original table is still available, Hivive keeps it. If another suitable table is available, Hivive can assign that instead. If no table is available, confirmation is rejected so staff can choose another time or contact the customer.
Table Capacity
Table capacity is set from the table management area.
Capacity means the largest party size that should be seated at that table.
Examples:
| Table | Capacity |
|---|---|
| Table 1 | 2 |
| Table 2 | 4 |
| Table 3 | 6 |
When online party size collection is on, Hivive uses capacity to find the smallest suitable table.
Example:
Party size: 2
Available tables: capacity 2, capacity 4
Assigned table: capacity 2
This keeps larger tables free for larger parties.
If a table has no capacity:
- It is excluded from capacity-aware online availability.
- It can still be used by staff.
- It can be used for online bookings if Collect party size is off.
Availability Rules
Hivive shows online time slots as available only when the slot passes all customer-facing rules.
A slot must:
- Fit completely inside opening hours.
- Match the reservation duration.
- Follow the start time interval.
- Be in the future.
- Pass the max party size rule, if party size is collected.
- Have at least one available dine-in table.
- Not overlap a blocking booking or booking block.
When party size is collected, the available table must have enough capacity for that party.
When party size is not collected, any available dine-in table can be used.
What Blocks Online Availability
These block online availability:
- Confirmed bookings.
- Attended bookings.
- No-show bookings.
- Booking blocks.
These do not block online availability:
- Canceled bookings.
- Awaiting-confirmation bookings.
Awaiting bookings still appear for staff, but they intentionally do not reserve the table until confirmed.
Booking Blocks
Booking blocks are used to block a time range from online availability.
Use booking blocks for:
- Private events.
- Kitchen closures.
- Maintenance.
- Fully booked periods you want to control manually.
- Temporary holds.
Booking blocks do not send customer booking emails because they are not customer bookings.
Booking Statuses
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Awaiting confirmation | Customer submitted an online booking that needs staff approval. It does not block online availability yet. |
| Confirmed | Booking is accepted and blocks availability. |
| Attended | Customer arrived. |
| No-show | Customer did not arrive. |
| Canceled | Booking is canceled and does not block availability. |
Confirming An Awaiting Booking
Use this flow when online booking confirmation is enabled.
- Open the booking in dashboard or POS.
- Review the customer details, time, table, notes, and party size if present.
- Change the status from Awaiting confirmation to Confirmed.
- Hivive checks whether a table is still available.
- If a table is available, the booking becomes confirmed.
- If no table is available, choose another time, assign a different table if possible, or contact the customer.
After confirmation, the customer receives the standard booking confirmation email.
Email Notifications
Hivive sends booking emails based on the booking event and status.
Customer Emails
| Event | Customer email |
|---|---|
| Online booking created and confirmation is not required | Booking confirmed email. |
| Online booking created and confirmation is required | Awaiting confirmation email. |
| Staff confirms an awaiting booking | Booking confirmed email. |
| Booking details are updated | Booking updated email. |
| Booking is canceled | Booking canceled email. |
Customer emails require a customer email address on the booking.
Merchant Emails
When a new online or staff booking is created, Hivive sends a new booking notification to merchant users for that merchant account.
Merchant notifications are sent for:
- New confirmed bookings.
- New awaiting-confirmation bookings.
Merchant notifications are sent to users linked to the merchant. Keep staff user emails up to date so the right people receive booking alerts.
Customer Experience
On the reservation page, customers can:
- Pick a date.
- Pick from available time slots.
- Enter name and phone.
- Enter email optionally.
- Enter notes optionally.
- Enter party size only if your setting requires it.
Unavailable slots are shown but disabled, so customers can see that the time exists but cannot select it.
After submission:
- If confirmation is not required, the customer sees a confirmed message.
- If confirmation is required, the customer sees an awaiting-confirmation message.
Common Configuration Examples
Capacity-Aware Online Reservations
Use this setup if you want online availability to depend on table size.
Recommended settings:
- Online reservation: On.
- Collect party size: On.
- Add capacity to all dine-in tables.
- Max party size: Optional.
- Online booking needs confirmation: Your choice.
This setup is best when you want Hivive to automatically gray out times that cannot fit the customer's party.
Manual Party Size Handling
Use this setup if you do not want customers to enter party size.
Recommended settings:
- Online reservation: On.
- Collect party size: Off.
- Max party size: Not used.
- Online booking needs confirmation: On if staff should review every request.
This setup is best when staff prefer to call or message the customer after the booking, or when table capacity data is not fully set up.
Approval-First Reservations
Use this setup if you want staff to approve every online booking.
Recommended settings:
- Online reservation: On.
- Online booking needs confirmation: On.
- Merchant user emails: Keep updated.
Customers receive an awaiting-confirmation email first. After staff confirm, customers receive the booking confirmation email.
Fully Automatic Online Reservations
Use this setup if you want customers to receive instant confirmation.
Recommended settings:
- Online reservation: On.
- Online booking needs confirmation: Off.
- Collect party size: On if capacity is set up.
Bookings are confirmed immediately and block availability as soon as they are created.
Operational Tips
- Keep table capacity accurate if you use capacity-aware online reservations.
- Use booking blocks for planned closures or private events.
- Review awaiting-confirmation bookings regularly.
- Keep merchant user email addresses current so booking alerts reach staff.
- Use staff bookings for exceptions that online settings should not allow.
- Cancel bookings instead of deleting records when you want a cancellation email and a visible audit trail.
Current Limits
The current booking feature is designed for table reservations.
Current limits:
- Online bookings reserve one table only.
- Hivive does not combine multiple tables for one online booking.
- Online booking deposits or prepayments are not part of this flow.
- Online settings control customer bookings only, not staff bookings.
- Customer cancellation or self-service rescheduling is not covered in this guide.
Support Checklist
If online reservations are not behaving as expected, check:
- Is the reservation feature enabled for the merchant?
- Is Online reservation turned on?
- Is reservation duration saved?
- Are opening hours configured?
- Is the selected date inside opening hours?
- Is the selected time in the future?
- If collecting party size, do dine-in tables have capacity?
- If max party size is set, is the customer's party size within the limit?
- Is there already a confirmed booking or block at that time?
- Is the booking awaiting confirmation, confirmed, canceled, or blocked?
If the issue is still unclear, contact Hivive support with the booking date, time, party size if collected, and the table involved.