What Tabledoo sends, and when
What this covers
Every message Tabledoo can send your guests, what makes each one go out, and which channels it
can use. This is the reference page — the articles after it cover each area in detail. Reading
Property Settings → Notifications (/settings/notifications) needs the
manage-settings permission (Owner or Manager).
Guest messages are transactional: they are about a booking the guest made, and they go out automatically. Tabledoo does not send marketing email and has no newsletter.
The full list
| Message | What triggers it | SMS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Confirmation | A booking reaches confirmed status — either created that way or confirmed later | Yes, on by default | Yes, off by default |
| Reminder | A set number of hours before the booking | Yes, on by default | Yes, off by default |
| Update | The date, time, pax or table changes | Yes, on by default | Yes, off by default |
| Cancellation | The booking is cancelled, with an optional reason | Yes, on by default | Yes, off by default |
| Table ready | Staff press Notify on a waitlist entry | Yes, on by default | Yes, off by default |
| Review request | A set number of hours after a booking is marked completed | Yes, off by default, and needs the Guest Feedback Emails feature | No — email only |
| Event booking confirmation | A guest is booked onto an event | Yes — uses the confirmation toggle | No — email only |
| Event booking cancellation | An event booking is cancelled | Yes — uses the cancellation toggle | No — email only |
Three things this table is telling you
Email is on, SMS is off, until you say otherwise
Every email type except the review request is on for a new restaurant. Every SMS type is off, because SMS costs credits and nobody should start spending without deciding to. Turning SMS on is a deliberate act — see SMS: what's different and How SMS credits work.
Each type has its own switch per channel
Email confirmations and SMS confirmations are two independent settings. You can send confirmations by both, by one, or by neither, and the same for reminders, updates and cancellations. Nothing is bundled.
Event messages share the reservation switches
This one catches people out. There is no separate "event confirmation" toggle — event booking confirmations ride on the confirmation setting, and event cancellations on the cancellation setting. So turning off reservation confirmation emails also silences event booking confirmations.
What decides whether a guest actually gets it
Every message passes the same checks. If any fails, nothing is sent and nothing is queued for later:
- The message type is switched on for that channel.
- The guest has the contact detail that channel needs — an email address, or a mobile number.
- For SMS: the guest is not opted out, and you have enough credits.
- For review requests: your plan includes the feature and you have saved a review link.
If a guest did not get something, work down Why a message wasn't delivered — it follows exactly this order.
Messages go out in the background
Sending happens after your click, not during it. This matters in practice:
- Saving a booking is never held up. A slow mail server or a busy SMS provider cannot make the host stand wait, which is the whole point at a busy pass.
- A failed send retries by itself, up to three attempts, so a momentary hiccup does not lose a message.
- There is a short delay. Usually seconds. If a guest is standing in front of you saying they have not had the email, give it a moment before assuming something is wrong.
What is never sent
- Marketing of any kind. No newsletters, no promotions, no re-engagement campaigns.
- Anything to a guest with no booking. Adding someone to your guest book does not message them.
- Notifications to your own staff by email or SMS. Staff alerts appear inside the app — the arrivals list, the Orders board, the header indicators — not in an inbox.
- A message for a status change that is not in the table above. Marking a guest arrived, seated or completed sends nothing (link The reservation lifecycle). Only confirmed and cancelled reach the guest.
What the guest sees
Emails carry your restaurant's name, email, phone and address, taken from Property Settings → Restaurant — so keeping those accurate matters more than it looks (link Restaurant profile). Messages are written in your restaurant's language, not the guest's.