Experience setup

Create your first CoverCount Experience

Set up your first bookable CoverCount Experience with a clear guest promise, duration, schedule, table assignments, visibility, and launch checks.

Updated 2026-06-22

An Experience is a bookable reservation offering. It tells CoverCount what the guest is booking, which tables can host it, how long the reservation should last, what rules apply, and whether guests can find it from the public booking page.

Start with one clear Experience before building a long menu. A restaurant might start with Dinner. A winery might start with Wine Tasting. A tasting room might start with Guided Tasting.

Before You Start

Decide these basics:

  • The guest-facing name, such as Dinner, Wine Tasting, or Chef's Counter
  • The short description guests should see before booking
  • The ordinary reservation length
  • The largest party size guests can book without contacting the venue
  • Whether the Experience should be public, hidden while you draft it, or private-link only
  • Which tables, rooms, patios, bars, counters, or tasting areas can host it

If you are not sure whether something deserves its own Experience, see When to create a separate Experience.

Name The Experience Clearly

Use the words guests already understand. Good names are short and specific:

  • Dinner
  • Lunch
  • Brunch
  • Standard Tasting
  • Reserve Tasting
  • Vineyard Tour
  • Chef's Counter
  • Large Party Tasting

Avoid internal names like Service 1, Main Room, or Table Booking. Staff may understand those names, but guests need to know what they are choosing.

Write The Guest Description

The description should answer the question "What am I booking?"

Good descriptions are usually one or two sentences:

Join us for a seated dinner reservation in the dining room. For parties larger than 8, please contact the
restaurant so we can help plan the right setup.

For a tasting:

Enjoy a guided tasting of current-release wines at a seated table. Most visits last about 75 minutes.

Include the operational details that prevent confusion: location, approximate duration, age limits, large-party rules, member-only expectations, or whether food is included.

Set Duration And Party-Size Rules

The default duration controls how long CoverCount holds inventory for each reservation. If every party uses the same time, set a simple default such as 60, 75, 90, or 120 minutes.

If larger parties need more time, add party-size duration rules. For example:

Party size Duration
1-2 guests 60 minutes
3-4 guests 75 minutes
5-6 guests 90 minutes
7-10 guests 120 minutes

Duration affects availability. A time slot must have enough room for the full reservation length.

For more detail, see Choose duration and party-size rules for Experiences.

Set The Public Party-Size Limit

The public party-size limit controls the largest group guests can book themselves. Larger parties can still be handled by staff.

Common starting points:

  • Restaurant dining: 6 or 8
  • Tasting room tables: 6 or 8
  • Large-party tasting Experience: 10, 12, or the maximum you want to handle online
  • Chef's counter or bar seating: the number of seats that can realistically be sold together

Use a lower limit when the team needs to confirm staffing, deposits, table combinations, or special setup.

Choose Visibility

New Experiences should usually start as Hidden while you configure them.

Use:

  • Hidden while drafting. Guests cannot book it.
  • Public when it should appear on the public booking page.
  • Unlisted when it should be bookable by direct link but not shown on the public booking page.

For a deeper explanation, see Use public, hidden, and private-link Experiences.

For guest-facing copy and photos, see Make your Experience clear to guests.

Assign Tables Or Areas

An Experience needs eligible tables or areas before guests can book real times. Assign the tables that can host the Experience.

Examples:

  • Dinner might use dining-room tables and patio tables.
  • Bar Reservations might use only bar seats or high-tops.
  • Wine Tasting might use tasting-room tables.
  • Vineyard Tour might use a limited group area or no ordinary dining tables, depending on how the team operates it.

A table can support more than one Experience. For example, a winery table could host both Wine Tasting and Private Tasting if the timing and service model allow it.

For a focused setup guide, see Assign tables and hours to a CoverCount Experience.

Add Schedule And Turn Times

Add the days and times when the Experience can be booked. The first available reservation time and last available reservation time should reflect when guests can start, not when service fully ends.

If different party sizes need different turn times, configure those rules before you test availability.

For more detail on days, first and last reservation times, and slot intervals, see Assign tables and hours to a CoverCount Experience.

Add Optional Rules

Depending on the Experience, you may also want:

  • Pre-visit questions, such as allergies, occasion, seating preference, or club membership
  • Deposits or card holds for high-demand services, large parties, or tasting menus
  • Photos so guests understand what they are booking
  • Minimum booking notice so same-day bookings do not surprise the team
  • Pacing if too many guests can otherwise book the same exact start time

For question setup, see Use pre-visit questions on Experiences.

For payment setup, see Use deposits and card holds on Experiences.

Test Before Publishing

Before you make the Experience public:

  • Open the booking link in a private browser window.
  • Test on a phone.
  • Confirm the correct Experience appears.
  • Confirm dates, times, duration, and party-size limits behave correctly.
  • Confirm payment or card-hold steps appear only when expected.
  • Confirm questions appear in the right place.
  • Confirm the reservation appears correctly for staff.

For a focused checklist, see Test an Experience before publishing.

What To Create Next

After your first Experience works, add only the Experiences that guests and staff can clearly distinguish.

Restaurants often add lunch, dinner, brunch, bar seating, tasting menu, or chef's counter. Wineries often add standard tasting, reserve tasting, vineyard tour, barrel tasting, wine club member tasting, or private tasting.

If the guest promise, table inventory, duration, price, questions, or visibility is different, a separate Experience usually makes sense. If only the hours differ, a schedule rule may be enough.