Reservations and supplier orders handled across every site.

The problem

Each site handled its own bookings and its own ordering. Reservation requests came by phone, email and social media and were answered when someone had a moment. Supplier orders were placed at the end of service from a stock count in the manager's head, and the group office saw a different picture from every site.

The group wanted bookings answered promptly, orders placed from evidence rather than memory, and the same numbers for every site.

What we built

An operations assistant connected to the group's booking system, stock counts and supplier accounts.

• It handles reservation requests, confirmations and changes under the booking rules each site set: table sizes, timings, deposits and exceptions. Anything outside the rules goes to the manager.
• Each afternoon it drafts the next supplier order from current stock, the week's bookings and par levels, and sends it to the site manager to approve, amend or reject.
• Nothing is sent to a supplier until a manager approves it, and every order is checked against the site's spend limit.

The group office sees bookings, orders and stock for every site in one place, drawn from the same systems.

Controls

• Manager approval on every order. No order leaves without a named manager approving it.
• Spend limits per site. Set by the group, enforced by the system, with anything above the limit escalated to head office.
• Booking rules set by the site. The assistant applies them. It does not make exceptions; managers do.
• Guest data stays in the group's booking system. It is never copied out or used to train anything.
• Handover to staff. Anything the assistant cannot handle goes to a person with the conversation attached.
• Audit trail. Every booking, order and change is logged.

Outcome

Managers review and approve rather than type. Reservation requests get a prompt reply during service, and the exceptions that need a person arrive with the context ready. Ordering follows the week ahead rather than the night before, and the group office sees the same picture for every site without asking for it.

The group runs the system. We monitor it and report monthly.