Decision: when a guest calls to cancel or change a reservation, can Foodie handle it directly, or should the call go to a human? The answer depends on whether money is involved.
The two paths
Path A — Foodie handles it
Foodie pulls up the reservation, confirms with the guest, makes the change in your booking system.
Confirmation text goes out automatically.
The Inbox shows a "Reservation Modification" or "Reservation Cancellation" card so your team has the audit trail.
Path B — Foodie transfers
Foodie tells the guest she'll connect them with a team member.
During open hours: warm transfer to your front desk.
After hours: "Incomplete Modification" or "Incomplete Cancellation" card lands in the Inbox; your team follows up next morning.
When Foodie auto-takes Path B
Foodie will always hand off, even when the rest of your config says "automated," if any of these are true:
The reservation has a credit-card hold attached.
The reservation has a deposit.
The reservation is for an experience (prix-fixe menu, special event seating, tasting menu).
The reservation is same-day (your call — some venues prefer same-day to be human-touched).
This is by design. Cancelling a $200 deposit at 9pm on a Friday is the kind of thing that needs a human conversation, not an AI.
How to think about the trade-off
You're optimizing for… | Lean toward… |
Lower staff workload | Path A (more automation) |
Customer-service touch | Path B (more transfers) |
Avoiding refund/dispute headaches | Path B for anything with money attached (default) |
24/7 self-serve for guests | Path A |
What guests can do
Foodie can:
Cancel a reservation outright.
Modify the date or time within your booking window.
Modify the party size (within your auto-book limit — going from 4 to 9 still hands off as a group).
Add notes — special requests, allergies, preferences.
Foodie can't:
Refund a deposit or release a card hold.
Move a reservation to a venue you're not configured for.
Override booking-window limits without your team's involvement.
What you'll see in the Inbox
Green card — modification or cancellation completed by Foodie.
Yellow / amber card — incomplete; needs your team's follow-up.
"View in Guest Center" — one-click into OpenTable to see the underlying booking.
How to change it later
The per-scenario rules (cards, deposits, experiences) live in your reservation system, not in Tablevoice. Change them there, and Foodie automatically respects the new rules.
Common questions
Can Foodie modify a reservation made on Resy / SevenRooms / OpenTable directly?
Yes for OpenTable and Resy. SevenRooms is in beta. Tock is read-only — Foodie can confirm details but not modify.
What about no-shows?
Foodie doesn't trigger no-show penalties — those flow from your reservation system, not us. But Foodie does push a Late Arrival notification when a guest calls to say they're running late, so your host stand can hold the table.
What if a guest asks Foodie to cancel and then asks again 2 hours later, drunk and confused?
Foodie will tell them the reservation is already cancelled and offer to re-book. We have not yet built a sobriety check.
Wizard decision_key: cancel-and-modify