> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.riservahq.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Running service with the Host view
**Host** is the screen your team keeps open during service to check guests in,
seat them and run the walk-in waitlist. It always opens on today, shows one
property at a time, and holds three tabs:
| Tab | Who's in it |
| - | - |
| **Arriving** | Confirmed reservations that haven't checked in yet |
| **On property** | Parties who have checked in or been seated |
| **Waitlist** | Walk-ins waiting for a table |
## Which property it opens on
Host opens on the location with the **most reservations today**. It used to
pick the first one alphabetically, which opened an empty room while the busy one
sat one click away.
Once someone at a host stand picks a location from the switcher, **that device
remembers it**. A tablet at the tasting bar stays pinned to the tasting bar.
With more than one location you also get an **All locations** view. It
aggregates arrivals, on-property parties and the waitlist across the property,
and names the location on every row.
"Today" is worked out in each location's own timezone. A Napa stand and a Loire
stand can legitimately disagree about the date, and Riserva lets them.
## Moving through the day
The Host header has back and forward arrows, and a date chip you can click to
jump to any date. On any other day, a **Today** button takes you back.
The **Waitlist** tab is always live, whatever date you're viewing, because
walk-ins are a now thing. The Waitlist tab says so when you're looking at
another day.
**Search** across the top matches guest name, confirmation code, phone and
email for reservations. For waitlist parties it matches name or phone.
## Checking guests in
**Every row has one button: the party's next step.** On **Arriving** it is
**Check in**. On **On property** it is **Seat** for a checked-in party and
**Complete** for a seated one.
To check a party in:
1. Find the party under **Arriving**.
2. Press **Check in** to check the whole party in.
The party moves to **On property**. Any balance still waiting on a saved card
is charged at the check-in, whatever the experience's policy. You get the
result right here. A charge Shopify is still confirming shows as **Charging**
on the reservation.
For a party of two or more, **Check in** has an arrow beside it. The arrow
opens **Partial check-in…**, for when only part of the party is here (see
[When only part of the party came](#when-only-part-of-the-party-came)).
Everything else lives in the **party panel**. Click anywhere else on a row and
the row is highlighted, with a dark bar on its left edge. The panel opens to the
right of the list, or under it on a narrow screen.
### What an arriving row shows
Each arriving row shows:
* The time, the guest and the party size.
* A **Member** badge where it applies.
* A note icon carrying the guest's special requests.
* The experience, venue and location beneath.
On today's list for one location, a **Now** line runs across Arriving at the
current time. Anyone above the Now line is past their time.
Some rows carry an extra badge:
* A green **Credit \$40** badge: the guest holds a bill credit.
* **Overbooked**: the reservation was booked over capacity.
* A red **Booked after its time**: the guest paid after the visit had already
ended. Check the party in if they are here. Then decide about the reservation
on its page: move it, or cancel it with a refund.
Rows that involve money carry a badge:
* Red **Payment due**, **Partially paid** or **Charge failed** when money is
owed.
* Blue **Card on file**, **Charge scheduled** or **Charging** when a saved card
will pay.
Where there is something to read, the row also has a line of its own:
* A **charge-later** reservation reads *Charges \$120.00 from Sun, Sep 20, 2026,
2:00 PM · collected within the hour · Visa •••• 4242*. It hasn't paid yet,
but it will, and there's nothing for you to do.
* Once that moment has passed, the line says *at the next collection run —
queued*. Collection runs hourly, so the charge is waiting for the next run.
* A reservation whose saved card **was declined** reads *Payment due \$120.00 —
\*. Click the row to see the amount owed and **Collect** in the
party panel. To take it on a card at the counter, use the Reservations tile
in Shopify POS.
If the party is well ahead of their reservation, **Check in** asks first. For
example, they're booked for tomorrow and standing here today, or they're hours
before their time. The **Early arrival** window says when they are booked for.
The window's main button names the slot it would move them to, for example
**Move to 11:00 AM and check in**. Choosing it:
* Puts the reservation on that slot: the one under way, or the next one today.
* Releases the seat they were holding later.
* Records the visit today, and checks them in.
Choosing **Check in without moving** keeps the original date on the books.
If the slot is full, you're told so and can press **Seat them anyway**. That's
your call, and the timeline says you made it.
The guest gets no "your reservation moved" email for this; they're standing in
front of you.
One case never asks: a party early for the first time of the day. The only slot
a move could land on is the one they already hold, so they are simply checked
in where they are.
How early is "early" is yours to set: **Settings → Reservations → Early
arrivals**. The default is 60 minutes ahead of the reservation's time.
A no-show leaves the List. If the guest turns up after all, open the
reservation and press **Undo no-show** (its main button). That puts them back
under **Arriving**.
You can also have Riserva mark parties that never arrive as no-shows by itself.
Choose a set time after their reservation, or the end of the day, under
**Settings → Reservations → No-shows**. It's off unless you turn it on.
### Ending visits
**You do not have to press Complete.** Riserva marks the visit done by itself
once the party's reservation has ended and a short grace period has passed.
The grace period is 15 minutes unless you change it.
When a visit ends by itself:
* The party leaves **On property**.
* Its table shows as free on the Map.
* The reservation's history says the visit ended automatically.
If the party is lingering, press **Still here** in the party panel. The end
moves out by 30 minutes, as many times as you like. Press **Complete** to end a
visit early.
Once a party is running over, hovering its **Running over** badge says when the
visit ends by itself ("Ends by itself at 2:45 PM"). Before that, the row keeps
quiet about it.
Under **Settings → Reservations → Ending visits** you can:
* Change the grace period.
* Have visits end at the end of the day instead.
* Have visits never end by themselves.
**Seat** is the lifecycle step: the party has sat down. It's separate from
assigning them a specific table. That happens on the reservation's own page,
or by dragging the party on the Timeline or the Map.
A tasting bar can go straight from checked in to completed without ever
seating.
## The party panel
The party panel opens wherever you pick a party: a row on the List, a bar on
the Timeline, or a party on the Map. It is laid out the same way every time, so
the buttons are always where your hand expects them.
From the top, the party panel shows:
1. **Who**: the guest's name (with **Member** when it applies), the reservation
code, and **Close**.
2. **Badges**: the status, then any payment badge, **Overbooked**, and
**Running over**. Hover **Running over** for when the visit ends by itself.
3. **What to do**: the next step as a dark button and at most one button
beside it. A **⋯** button holds the rest (see the table below).
4. **Sections**, each shown only when it has something to say (see below).
5. **Open reservation**: the reservation's full page.
The status badge is **Confirmed**, **Checked in**, **Partial check-in**,
**Seated** and so on. Each has a small progress circle: empty before arrival,
full once the party is here, half while only part of the party is here. Once an
arriving party is more than 10 minutes past its time, a yellow **Late** shows
instead of the status.
### Party panel buttons
The **⋯** button lists the rest from the most likely to the rarest, with
anything red last.
| The party is… | Dark button | Beside it | Under ⋯ |
| - | - | - | - |
| Confirmed / Pending payment | **Check in** (with **Partial check-in…** on its arrow) | — | **Adjust party size**, **No-show** |
| Checked in | **Seat** | **Complete** — or **Still here** while running over | **Complete** (while Still here is beside Seat), **Edit guests here** (parties of two or more), **Undo check-in** |
| Seated | **Complete** | **Still here**, only while running over | **Edit guests here** (parties of two or more), **Unseat** |
A completed visit has no buttons. There is nothing left to do from Host.
**No-show** asks you to confirm before it marks the party.
### Party panel sections
* **Reservation**: Time, Party, Experience, Where, and Notes (the guest's
special requests).
* **Guests**: only while part of the party is here. It reads "2 of 4 here",
with **All here** and **Edit**.
* **Table**: only for a party on a floor-map venue. It shows the table and how
it was chosen, with the buttons to change it (see
[Tables](#tables-suggested-assigned-locked)).
* **Payment**: the amount owed ("\$120.00 due") with **Collect**, which opens
the reservation's Payment card. It also shows the charge-later sentence and
any bill credit ("Bill credit \$40.00 — applied at the register").
Walk the party one step back from the party panel's **⋯**:
* **Undo check-in** (for a checked-in party) puts it back under **Arriving** as
it was before.
* **Unseat** (for a seated party) puts it back to checked in.
* A seated party goes back one step at a time: **Unseat**, then **Undo
check-in**.
The reservation's history records the undo with your name.
Riserva refuses to undo a check-in that already charged the guest's saved card,
or that marked the reservation's order fulfilled, and says so. Edit or cancel
the reservation from its page instead.
## Adjust a party's size at the door
Four booked, six arrived? Change the party size from the party panel:
1. Click the party's row.
2. In the party panel, open **⋯ → Adjust party size**.
3. Change the number.
4. Save.
Riserva re-checks the change against real availability. If the new size
doesn't fit, it tells you why in plain language. Then it adds *"You can seat
them anyway — host's call."* and offers a **Seat anyway** button. The host's
judgement wins, and the override is recorded.
Riserva names the limit that stopped the change:
* "The slot is sold out at the new size."
* "No table can seat a party this size at that time."
* "The pacing limit is reached for that window."
* "The new size is outside this experience's party bounds."
* "A private event books the whole venue at that time."
* "Someone is checking out for that time right now (frees up within \~12 minutes)."
* "The reservation's slot is no longer on the schedule."
Each is followed by *"You can seat them anyway — host's call."* and the **Seat
anyway** button.
Shrinking a paid party here **refunds what your cancellation policy allows**
for the guests removed. That's the same answer the reservation page and the
register give.
Whatever the policy keeps is noted on the reservation's history. Refunding more
than that is a deliberate decision you make from the reservation page, not
something a host taps during a rush.
## When only part of the party came
Use **Partial check-in…** when four booked and two are here, with two "on the
way". Or when one guest stayed home sick and nobody wants a refund.
1. Press the arrow beside **Check in**.
2. Choose **Partial check-in…**.
3. In the window that asks "How many of the party are here?", set the slider.
It runs from 1 to the whole party, starting one below it.
4. Press **Check in**.
A party that is early still gets the early-arrival question next.
The row then reads "2 of 4 here" instead of "party of 4". The status badge
reads **Partial check-in** in yellow, with a half-filled circle.
### When the others arrive
1. Click the party's row.
2. Press **All here** in the party panel's **Guests** section.
The row goes back to "party of 4", and the badge to **Checked in**.
To set a different number, press **Edit** in the **Guests** section. You can
also use **⋯ → Edit guests here**, which works even after everyone arrived.
The "Guests here" window has the same slider and **Save**.
Forgot to use Partial check-in at the door? Check the party in as usual, then
use **Edit guests here** afterwards.
A seated party keeps the word **Seated**, with the half-filled circle while not
everyone came.
No. The guests-here number is a count beside the reservation, not a change to
it. The party size, what was paid and any refund stay exactly as they are.
* Reports count the guests who came.
* The "arrived" figures on the Timeline and Map count the number you recorded.
* The reservation's history records each change, for example "2 of 4 guests
here".
* **Undo check-in** clears the count.
If the party really is smaller and the money should follow, use **Adjust party
size** (before check-in), or **Edit reservation** on the reservation's page.
## The walk-in waitlist
The **Waitlist** tab holds walk-ins waiting for a table. Each row shows what you
promised against reality, for example "quoted 15m · waiting 22m". That's the
number that keeps a host honest.
### Add a party to the waitlist
Press **Add to waitlist**. It takes a name, party size, phone, email, a
**quoted wait** in minutes, and notes. In the All-locations view it also asks
which property.
### Notify, seat or remove a waiting party
* **Notify** marks the party **Notified**. When an email is on file, it also
sends the *Waitlist — table ready* email. The button disables afterwards, and
a double-press can't email them twice.
* **Seat** turns the party into a real reservation (steps below).
* **Remove** takes a party off the list when they leave.
Waitlist notifications are **email only**; Riserva doesn't send text messages.
If a walk-in has no email address, tell them out loud.
To seat a waiting party:
1. Press **Seat**.
2. Pick the **experience**. It defaults to whatever they were waiting for.
3. Pick a **venue** and **time** from the live open slots for their party size.
4. Press **Seat party.**
Seating creates a walk-in reservation through exactly the same capacity engine
as an online reservation. It checks the party in and seats it in one motion.
Hosts can seat inside the online cutoff and into members-only experiences.
You're told which limit stopped it:
* "That time just sold out."
* "No table can seat this party at that time."
* "That time has reached its pacing limit."
Parties can also join the waitlist from your storefront. Turn on **Settings →
Reservations → Let guests join today's waitlist online**. Then a guest who finds
today fully booked in the booking widget can leave a name and email.
Those entries arrive on this same list with a "Joined online" note. Treat them
like any walk-in, and keep an eye on the list during service. An online joiner
who never hears back had a worse experience than one who saw no waitlist at
all.
* Arriving → "No arrivals left today."
* On property → "No parties on property."
* Waitlist → "No one waiting."
## What's not on the Host view
* **Picking a specific table from the list**: that's on the reservation's page.
On the Timeline and the Map you can also drag a party to another table.
* **Cancelling**: also on the reservation's page.
* **Moving a party to another room, time or day**: that's a change to the
reservation itself. Use **Edit reservation** on its page.
## Timeline and Map
**Timeline** and **Map** are two more ways to look at the same day, next to
**List** in the Host header. You can work parties from both (below).
Cancelling and changing a reservation's time or experience stay on its page.
Host remembers the view you last used on each device.
### Read the Timeline
The **Timeline** lays the day out left to right, one section per venue.
* A venue that uses a **floor map** gets a row per table. Each party is a bar on
its table, from its start to its end. The faint stripes after it are the turn
time.
* Parties that have no table yet sit in an **Unassigned** row at the top, so
nobody is missed.
* An experience with **manual capacity** (most tastings and tours) gets one row.
It has a block for each start time, reading guests booked against the limit
("8 / 12"). The block fills as it sells and turns green when it is full.
* A **whole venue** reservation gets one row for the room.
* Hatched time is time nothing is scheduled. The red line is now.
- White is arriving.
- Yellow is late: more than 10 minutes past the time and not checked in.
- Blue is checked in, green is seated, grey is done.
- A dashed outline is a suggested table.
- A dashed bar marked **In checkout** is a guest paying online right now.
- A red dot means payment is due.
### Read the Map
The **Map** shows each drawn room as it stands right now. You see who is seated
where, which table is waiting on a late party, and when each free table's next
party is due. Drag to move around and pinch to zoom.
Tastings, tours and private events that do not use tables appear as tiles
beside the map. Each tile shows the start time under way and the next one.
Parties with no table yet sit as chips in an **Unassigned** strip above the
room.
### Running over
**Running over** looks the same on the Timeline and the Map: an **amber edge**
on the party's bar or table. A checked-in or seated party gets it once it is
past its reservation's end, or past the extra time **Still here** gave it. The colour
underneath keeps saying its status (blue checked in, green seated).
Press **Still here** and the edge goes away, on the List too, until the new end
passes. Press **Complete** if they've left.
### Open a party or a table
Tap a party on the Timeline or the Map, and the same
[party panel](#the-party-panel) as the List opens beside the view.
Tap a table (on the Map, or a table's name on the Timeline), or a tasting or
tour block. The panel first lists who is booked there:
* The table's or the start time's name.
* A line under it: seats, or guests booked against the limit and how many
arrived.
* Each party with its status and time.
Tap a party in that list to open its panel. **‹** with the table's or block's
name at the top takes you back to the list. A table or block with exactly one
party opens straight to that party.
For a party that only partly arrived, the "arrived" figures count the number
you recorded. That goes for the venue headings' "N guests · M arrived" and the
figures on blocks and tiles.
### Tables: suggested, assigned, locked
On a floor-map venue, every reservation has a table from the moment it is made.
That's true online, by phone or at the register.
| State | Looks like | What it means |
| - | - | - |
| **Suggested** | Dashed outline | Riserva picked the table. It may move it to make room for another party, so pencilling a table in never costs you a sale. Guests are not told a table. |
| **Assigned** | Solid | You chose it, or pressed **Keep** on a suggestion. Riserva works around it. |
| **Locked** | Padlock | Assigned, and nobody changes it without unlocking it first. Use it when you have promised a guest a particular table. |
Two things Riserva never does:
* It never moves a table you assigned.
* It never moves a party that is seated. A checked-in party is moved only if it
has grown too big for its table.
From check-in on, that party's table counts as taken even if nobody pressed
**Keep**. Giving it to someone else asks you to confirm with **Assign anyway**,
and the dashed outline becomes solid.
### Move a party by dragging it
* On the Timeline, drag a party's bar to another table's row.
* On the Map, press and hold the table the party is on, then drag it to another
table.
Only tables in the same room light up. Moving a party to a different room is a
change to the reservation itself, done from its page.
A table too small for the party asks first. A table someone else already holds
says who has it. Either way, **Assign anyway** goes ahead and **Cancel** leaves
things as they were.
A locked table, a finished visit and a guest still in checkout cannot be
dragged. Nothing can be dragged while the Map is showing another time.
### Work the party from the Timeline or the Map
The party panel on the Timeline and the Map has the same buttons as on the
List. Those are **Check in** (and **Partial check-in…**), **Seat**,
**Complete**, **Still here**, and the rest under **⋯**. That includes the early-arrival
question and the confirm before a **No-show**.
### Change a party's table from the party panel
The party panel's **Table** section names the party's table and how it was
chosen: "T2 · Riserva's pick", "T2 · Assigned" or "T2 · Locked". Or it says "No
table yet". Its buttons:
* **Keep** turns Riserva's pick into your choice. It's offered while the party
is still to arrive.
* **Change** (or **Choose**, when there is no table) opens the reservation,
where you pick from the list.
* The padlock button locks the table. Pressing it again unlocks it.
* On a table you assigned, **Let Riserva choose** hands the choice back to
Riserva. The table becomes a suggestion again.
If you take a table Riserva had pencilled for someone else, that party is moved
to another table at once.
If a party cannot be given a table because the time is over-full, it appears in
an **Unassigned** row at the top of its venue. **More actions → Suggest
tables** asks Riserva to look again, for example after you free a table.
What guests can book online counts:
* Assigned and locked tables.
* The table of any party already checked in or seated, even one Riserva only
suggested.
A suggested table for a party still to arrive does not block a sale; Riserva
moves it instead.
Riserva also checks the whole day before taking an online reservation. It
doesn't offer a time when no arrangement of the tables could seat that party
alongside everyone already booked.
### Look ahead on the Map
Across the top of each room on the Map is the same hour scale as the Timeline,
with a red marker on the current time. Drag the marker, or click the scale, to
see the Map at another time of the day: who is booked on each table then.
It is one moment for the whole Map: every room and every tile moves together.
**Back to now** returns to the present.
You always know you are not looking at the present:
* The marker turns amber.
* The line under it says "Showing 7:30 PM — not now".
* The room gets a dashed outline.
At another time, every table with a party reads **Booked at this time**. Late,
checked in, seated and running over describe the present only.
The tasting and tour tiles beside the map follow the ruler too. They read **At
this time** and **Next** instead of Now and Next, fill in the same grey, and
drop the "arrived" count.
## Print the day sheet or the Timeline
Both print options are under **More actions** in the Host header, next to the
location picker:
* **Print day sheet**: the paper the stand actually uses. It opens print-ready
in a new tab.
* **Export day**: the same service day as a CSV, for sharing or annotating.
* **Print timeline**: the Timeline for the day you are looking at, for staff
who roam the floor without a screen.
The day sheet and the day export cover the location and day you're viewing. On
All locations, each row names its location (a Location column in the export).
Cancellations are left off, because a day sheet lists who is coming.
The day sheet starts with a masthead with the day's counts: reservations,
covers and large parties. Then it lists every arrival in time order, with:
* Guest, phone, party, experience and venue.
* Tables and status.
* **Payment state**. An unpaid table is worth knowing before they sit.
* Notes: requests, intake answers, add-ons and staff notes.
The printed Timeline puts each room on its own pages, a few hours per page so
names stay readable. Each party is a numbered bar, with a key underneath giving
time, table and status. It prints well in black and white.
The day sheet stays the list form.
## Related
**What things mean on this screen:** [What things mean: Host](/reference/host)
* [A reservation's page](/daily-operations/reservation-page)
* [The reservations list](/daily-operations/reservations-list)
* [Tables and the floor map](/getting-started/tables-and-floor-map)
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