Product methodology

How restaurant reservation alerts work.

Learn how Seats matches restaurant reservation alerts by venue, date, party size, and time window; which booking paths can be monitored; and what happens after an alert.

Coverage is checked again when each watch is submitted because restaurant providers can change. Check the restaurant's booking page first: if a suitable table is already available, you can book it directly.

The four-step flow

A useful alert starts with a precise request.

1

Name the exact restaurant

Choose a known venue or paste its booking link. Seats keeps similarly named restaurants and different city locations separate.

2

Set the match

Add the party size, date or date range, and an acceptable time window. Your date, time, and notification choices determine the credit cost shown before you confirm.

3

Seats checks the booking path

Confirmed SevenRooms and OpenTable mappings can be monitored directly. Other providers are reviewed before Seats claims that a watch is supported.

4

You receive the booking path

When matching availability is found, the alert points back to the original restaurant booking flow. Seats does not hold the table, so you still need to complete the reservation there.

What Seats matches

The details that make an opening relevant.

Exact restaurant and city

Party size

Date or date range

Earliest and latest acceptable time

What Seats does not promise

An alert is a lead, not a reservation.

Seats cannot guarantee that every cancellation is visible or that a table remains available after an alert arrives.

Seats is independent from the restaurants and booking providers it monitors. It does not hold inventory, skip a venue's rules, or complete the final booking for you.

If your restaurant uses a different booking provider, share its current booking link with Support to check whether it can be monitored before relying on a watch.

Credits and specificity

See the credit cost before you confirm.

The base credit cost depends on how specific your dates and times are. Selecting an exact time or paid notification option can add credits. Review the final total shown in the watch form before confirming.

Basic Watch

General dates and time slots

20 credits

Standard Watch

Specific dates OR specific times

30 credits

Premium Watch

Specific dates AND specific times

45 credits

See current credit packages

Explore coverage

Start with a city guide or the verified directory.

London

Plan around Mayfair, Soho, Marylebone, and wider London.

New York

Focus a Manhattan search by neighborhood, date, and time window.

Paris

Build a Paris watch around the arrondissement and booking path.

Restaurant directory

See which venue pages have a verified direct-monitoring mapping and which require review.

Make the most of a restaurant alert.