Gustaio Experiences

Gustaio Experiences is a premium ticketed dining and reservation module. Create customizable events, themed dinners, tasting menus, and special occasions — complete with online booking, dynamic capacity management, and no-show protection.

What Are Experiences?

Experiences let you offer special dining events that guests can discover and book online. Unlike regular orders, Experiences are reservation-based with set dates, times, and capacities.

Examples of Experiences:

Wine tasting evenings
Themed multi-course dinners (e.g., "Italian Truffle Night")
Mother's Day brunch
Seasonal menus (Christmas, New Year's Eve)
Private dining events
Chef's table experiences

Creating an Experience

Where to do it: Gustaio Studio → Experiences → Create New

Basic Information

Title: Name of your experience (multilingual)
Description: Detailed description of what guests can expect
Duration: How long the experience lasts (used for capacity planning)
Cancellation Policy: How many hours before the event guests can cancel for free

Pricing

Experiences support tiered pricing with flexible configurations:

Price Tiers: Define different guest categories (e.g., Adult, Child, VIP) with individual prices
Pricing Mode: Choose between inclusive pricing (everything in one price) or separate menu pricing
No-Show Fees: Set per-tier fees charged when guests don't show up

Payment Collection

Charge: Collect payment upfront at booking
Authorize: Verify the payment method without charging (charge later or for no-shows)
None: No payment required at booking (for phone/walk-in reservations)

Experience Menus

Experiences can be linked to different menu types:

Set Menus

Pre-defined multi-course menus where guests see exactly what they'll eat. Create them in the Menu Builder with courses and dishes.

À La Carte

Let guests choose from your regular menu items during the experience.

Add-ons & Upsells

Offer optional extras during checkout:

Experience Add-ons: Special items like welcome drinks, flower arrangements, or photo packages
Wine Pairings: Recommended wines from your wine collection
Guest Preferences: Special requests like window seating, high chairs, or occasion decorations

Availability & Capacity

Slot Rules

Slot Rules define when your Experience can be booked and how many guests you can accommodate.

Daily Rules: Apply every day (e.g., "Dinner service 18:00–22:00")
Weekly Rules: Apply on specific days (e.g., "Brunch only on Sundays")
Date-Based Rules: Apply to specific dates (e.g., "New Year's Eve special")

Priority: Date-based rules override weekly rules, which override daily rules.

Capacity Management

Shared Capacity: All experiences share the restaurant's total seating capacity. When one experience fills up, it reduces availability for others.
Isolated Capacity: The experience has its own dedicated capacity (e.g., a private room). Other bookings don't affect it.

Booking Intervals

Set how frequently time slots are offered:

Interval-based: Slots every 15, 30, or 60 minutes (e.g., 18:00, 18:30, 19:00)
Fixed start: A single start time for the experience (e.g., "Dinner at 20:00 sharp")

Live Dashboard

Where to find it: Gustaio Studio → Experiences → Live Dashboard

The Live Dashboard is your real-time operations view during service:

Today's Reservations: See all bookings for the current day
Status Filtering: Filter by confirmed, checked-in, completed, cancelled, or no-show
Check-In: Mark guests as arrived when they show up
Table Assignment: Assign tables to reservations with overlap awareness
Walk-In Management: Quickly add walk-in guests

Reservation Sources

Online: Guests booked through your website
Phone: Reservations taken over the phone (manual entry)
Walk-In: Guests who arrive without a reservation

Guest Communication

Gustaio automatically handles guest notifications throughout the booking lifecycle:

Booking Confirmation: Sent immediately after a successful booking with QR code
Pre-Visit Reminder: Sent 5 hours before the experience
Thank-You & Review Request: Sent 15 hours after check-in
Cancellation Confirmation: When a guest cancels
No-Show Receipt: When marked as no-show (with fee details if applicable)

Provider Alerts

Restaurant staff receive instant notifications when:

A new booking is made
A guest leaves feedback
A cancellation occurs

Experience Analytics

Where to find it: Gustaio Studio → Analytics → Experience Analytics

Track the performance of your experiences:

Revenue per Guest: Average spend per person
No-Show Rate: Percentage of guests who didn't show up
Lead Time: Average booking advance time
Reservation Funnel: Confirmed → Checked-in → Completed → Expired/No-show
Revenue Breakdown: Base price, wines, add-ons, à la carte
Booking Sources: Online vs. phone vs. walk-in distribution

Best Practices

Pricing Strategy

Set no-show fees to reduce cancellations (recommended: 30–50% of the menu price per person)
Use tiered pricing for different guest types (adults, children, VIP)
Consider inclusive pricing for a premium feel

Capacity Planning

Use shared capacity for standard dining experiences
Use isolated capacity for private rooms or exclusive events
Set appropriate durations to allow proper table turnover

Guest Experience

Fill in detailed multilingual descriptions
Add high-quality images to your experiences
Offer relevant add-ons and wine pairings for upselling
Enable guest preferences for personalized service