Why Hostbook
Hostbook is built around the work that happens after a guest chooses a time: planning the room, running the shift, recognizing the guest, and understanding the result.
What changes
Keep the room moving
Remember every guest
Fill the book direct
Marketplace reach can be useful. It shouldn’t dictate how the host stand works, where guest knowledge lives, or how restaurants pay for their own regulars.
| Compare | Typical marketplace-first platform | Hostbook |
|---|---|---|
| How you pay | A monthly plan plus, on some platforms, a fee for every guest the diner network sends | No per-cover fees, a free plan to start, and no contracts |
| Who owns the guest | Guests also live in the platform's own diner app and network | No marketplace or diner network. Export your guests and reservations anytime |
| What guests can book | Inventory rules maintained by hand | Only what the room can seat: table fit, combinations, turn times, pacing, and cutoffs |
| Running service | The floorplan is one screen among many | The floorplan is the working view: drag to seat, conflicts, sections, and undo |
| When it gets messy | Exceptions often mean workarounds or a support ticket | PIN-stamped actions, manager approvals, undo and restore, and an offline booking queue |
Describes marketplace-first reservation platforms in general; details vary by platform and plan.
A practical switch
Migration tools stage guests and reservations, suggest column mappings, surface invalid rows, and let you resolve duplicates before launch — on your own schedule.
Import, review, verify, then open the dashboard with your essential context intact.
Explore migration