The Christmas tree is barely down and already we’re thinking about Christmas. With the roll-out of the vaccination this year it still seems like this will be our nearest family get-together and celebration since all this new normal began.
At the same time, the ‘new normal’ will always be with us, people will be wary for a long time, and there will still be some level of social distancing for a time to come. At least I’m in no hurry to squash into packed venues with a whole bunch of strangers.
Actually, this post was more prompted by a family wedding planned for last Spring, then maybe September, definitely this summer, now more likely next year. As we cannot see travel and far-flung relatives visiting the UK for a while to come. But I shan’t put my research to waste and so I’m sharing it here.
Advance Phone Reservations
Before now I can’t say we were too organised when it comes to events, leaving phone bookings last minute, if even, and just hoping for luck. Actually, most of the time we’d just turn up at the venue, ask for an unrealistically sized table, then watch as the waiters shuffle tables together, and scramble to find chairs.
So planning is obviously more important than ever for events, especially for Christmas parties, as venues can no more see how many customers they can just squeeze in on the night. Therefore it is important to make phone reservations long in advance or risk losing out.
Online Bookings
With an ongoing emphasis on social distancing, the capacity of venues and numbers they can cater to will be much less than before. These numbers will also be legally enforced for the foreseeable future with potentially permanent limitations.
This is why online bookings are more important than before, where they give a kind of paper trail confirming the reservation was made, along with exact details of the booking, to look back to. This can be through various ways, with many venues taking reservations through email, or Facebook and other forms of social media.
Otherwise phone reservations leave a lot of dissonance, where there’s no guarantee the reservation was correctly recorded, and there’s no proof of fault it wasn’t. And, if a mistake is made with legally binding restrictions, they cannot just squeeze you in the corner.
Venue Booking Apps
These days reservations can easily be made using online reservation apps, Square Meal being the obvious example, which not only guarantees easily managed bookings, but the wider platform allow you to search and filter through a wide range of bars, restaurants, and other venues, making decision making a whole lot easier.
Another rather important aspect in venues and events in this new normal is obviously cleanliness, so the Square Meal app again has introduced a filter for the hygiene ratings on listings to ensure a better level of safety during these unpredictable times in eating out.
These apps are perfect as well for larger areas and for those looking to find new eating options, where you just add in the desired destination, what food you might fancy, and out pops a list instantaneously. Then guaranteed reservations are made in little more than a couple of clicks.