Do I Still Need a Reservations System?

The last thing you want during a slow economy is an empty tasting room.

With the idea of restrictions fading in the rear view mirror, a few tasting room managers are starting to wonder why they need a reservation system.

Sure, CellarPass is a guest management system that offers the ability to manage your experiences and special events, but we are the only booking engine designed for the wine industry- and our focus is wine consumers.

Simply put, you constantly need new wine consumers, we HAVE wine consumers that are seeking to discover new places to visit.

And there's a strong chance you've never met them. So instead of solely focusing on the reservation aspect, which ideally is just a data capture system, turn your focus on Lead Gen.

Our SEO outranks TOCK, OpenTable and the other reservation systems out period. And other booking engines like Commerce7 and OrderPort do NOT market your experiences. So you are essentially on your own for lead gen. And our data proves over and over that just one reservation per month can easily over the costs of our services when we make an excellent introduction to an HNI customer.

In fact, we've had several cases where the first weekend after sign up, our guest referrals have generated $3000 buyers- and valuable club members. The profit made from those introductions more than pays for our services for the entire year.

Accepting reservations in your wine tasting room can provide several benefits, both for your business and your customers:

1. Better management of customer flow
   By accepting reservations, you can better manage the flow of customers in your wine tasting room, ensuring that you have enough staff and resources to handle the volume of visitors. This can prevent overcrowding and long wait times, which can result in a more enjoyable experience for your customers.
   
   
2. Increased revenue
   Accepting reservations can help you to better plan for the number of visitors you'll have on a given day, which can allow you to staff accordingly and provide a higher level of service. This can lead to increased customer satisfaction and potentially increased revenue through repeat business and positive reviews.
   
   
3. Improved customer experience
   Reservations can help to provide a more personalized experience for your customers, as you can better prepare for their visit and tailor your service to their needs. This can help to create a positive impression of your business and increase the likelihood of return visits and word-of-mouth recommendations.
   
   
4. Efficiency
   Reservations help you to allocate your resources properly, such as enough staff and supplies, as you already have an idea of the expected number of customers. This helps to run your business more efficiently, making it more productive and cost-effective.
   
   
5. Lead gen marketing
   One of the most valuable assets you have is your wine club. And as the economy slows, people start cutting unnecessary costs, making their wine club membership and easy target. You need to be constantly replacing those that have cancelled with new members just to keep your numbers; you need many new club members to grow your club. CellarPass is only booking engine designed for the wine industry, so their website's visitors are a high percentage of wine drinkers- the type of people your tasting room needs! By using CellarPass as your booking engine (and posting ticketed events) you are significantly increasing your lead gen opportunity over booking engines like OrderPort or Commerce7 since they provide ZERO marketing. In fact, CellarPass' SEO scores far-better than Tock or OpenTable. Meaning people searching terms like "Napa Valley Reservations" or "Winery Reservations", CellarPass is not only #1, but in many regions lands #2 and #3 spots in Google searches.

Overall, accepting reservations can provide numerous benefits to both your business and your customers, including better management of customer flow, lead gen, increased revenue, improved customer experience, and greater efficiency; allowing you to do MORE with less.

By working with a company that is focused on working in the wine industry, CellarPass speaks your language. We in fact were the pioneers of guest management and we know the tips & tricks to make sure your tasting room is successful.