# A digital reservation book instead of a paper one > A digital reservation book for restaurants: bookings from the web, phone and AI assistants on one iPad, a table plan and a record of who showed up. Free. Page: https://booklio.ai/en/articles/digital-reservation-book Updated 2026-11-01 A digital reservation book is a booking overview on an iPad where bookings from the website, the phone and AI assistants all land in one place and no table can be given away twice. Booklio.ai has one for free: the admin goes on the iPad home screen like an app, a new booking rings, and you enter a phone booking in about 30 seconds. ## What a paper book can’t do - **It can’t see your website.** Bookings from the website form or by email have to be copied into the book, and when nobody does it, the table gets sold twice. - **It doesn’t watch your tables.** Whoever writes a booking down has to work out in their head whether the group fits and when the table frees up. - **It can’t message the guest.** No confirmation, no reminder, no offer of another time. - **It doesn’t remember.** Who didn’t show for the third time, where guests come from and which days are strongest can’t be read from paper. ## The reservation book in Booklio - **An app on the iPad home screen.** No App Store install, with notifications even on the lock screen. A new booking rings, and pending work is visible from every page. How to add the admin to an iPad, iPhone or Android phone home screen is covered in [A reservation app for your restaurant](https://booklio.ai/en/articles/restaurant-reservation-app). - **The day’s overview.** Cards with pending requests on the left, the day’s list on the right, with tables and message status. - **The table plan.** A timeline and a floor plan with a time slider: who sits where, what’s free and when a table frees up. The colour of the bar shows whether the booking came from the website, from staff or from an AI assistant. - **Phone bookings.** Entered in about 30 seconds; the system pre-selects a table and watches for clashes. - **Editing a booking.** Change the time, party size or table in the detail and the guest gets a message about the change. - **Arrived and no-show.** After three no-shows the contact is flagged on the no-show list. - **The guest database.** All your guests in one list, with GDPR erasure on request in one tap. - **Night mode and the helper.** From 7 pm to 7 am the admin darkens itself. The Help button takes you, by voice or by a typed question, to the setting you’re looking for. Rules that affect revenue (online capacity, how long a booking holds a table, auto-confirmation) can only be changed by management with the manager code. Every feature of the reservation book is on the [Features](https://booklio.ai/en/features#admin) page. ## Guest data and GDPR A paper book lies on the bar where anyone can read it. In Booklio every venue has its own database in the EU, staff sign in with a password, and the name and contact details on a booking are erased 3 months after the booking date, while the stats stay. Your venue is responsible for guest data as the controller, and Booklio processes it as a processor under the [data processing agreement](https://booklio.ai/en/data-processing). More in [GDPR and guest data in restaurant bookings](https://booklio.ai/en/articles/gdpr-guest-data-reservations). ## How to get started 1. Sign up on the [Get Booklio for free](https://booklio.ai/en/contact) page and confirm your email. 2. In the guide, set your opening hours, spaces and tables. If you don’t want to draw a floor plan yet, place your tables on a grid. 3. Add the admin to your iPad home screen. Enter the bookings you have in your paper book through New booking. The reservation book is part of the core and costs CZK 0. You pay only for text messages to guests (CZK 3 excl. VAT); emails are free. ## Časté otázky ### What is a digital reservation book? A booking overview on a computer or iPad that replaces the paper book. Bookings from the website, the phone and AI assistants are all in one place, and the system makes sure no table is given away twice. ### What does the Booklio reservation book run on? On an iPad behind the bar or at the front desk. The admin goes on the iPad home screen like an app, without installing anything from an app store, and notifications about new bookings arrive even on the lock screen. ### How much does the Booklio reservation book cost? Nothing; it’s part of the core for CZK 0 a month. You pay only for text messages to guests (CZK 3) and drafts by Claude (CZK 3), excl. VAT. ## Mohlo by vás zajímat - [Features](https://booklio.ai/en/features) - [A reservation app for your restaurant](https://booklio.ai/en/articles/restaurant-reservation-app) - [Restaurant no-shows: how to cut down on guests who don’t turn up](https://booklio.ai/en/articles/restaurant-no-shows) - [Reservation system for pubs and beer halls](https://booklio.ai/en/booking-system-for-pubs) ## Rezervační systém zdarma, na vašem webu do 15 minut. Vyplníte pár údajů a potvrdíte e-mail. Booklio se založí samo, v adminu nastavíte stoly a otevírací dobu a kód vložíte na svůj web. [Get Booklio free](https://booklio.ai/en/contact)