The aleno restaurant reservation system for hotels and restaurantsWho does your guest actually belong to?
To you, of course. They come for your cuisine, your venue and your team. They remember the table by the window, the wine recommendation and the fact that someone knew their name. You have spent years building this kind of hospitality.
And yet the relationship with them often begins somewhere else: on someone else’s site, under someone else’s name, with a fee for every guest and with knowledge about them that afterwards is not fully in your hands.
This page shows how the aleno reservation system brings the reservation back to where it belongs. To you.
The aleno reservation system at a glance
| What it is | The aleno reservation system is built for hotel restaurants and restaurants in Switzerland, Germany and Austria: in the business’s own brand, without commission, with guest profiles, AI table management and PMS integration. It is the core of aleno Hospitality Intelligence. It combines online table reservations, table planning, guest profiles (restaurant CRM), guest communication, no-show protection and pre-sale in one reservation software. |
| Who it’s for | Hotel restaurants, restaurants and restaurant groups with their own high standards for hospitality and brand. From a single outlet to a group with many locations. |
| Pricing | Individual fixed monthly price. No commission of any kind, no fee per guest and no fee on cancellations. Individual, because you only pay for what your business really needs. Setup and data migration are included. Third-party costs such as SMS or payment providers only apply if you use them. |
| Contract | Flexible terms, no lock-in contracts. There is no free trial: you buy software that runs productively from day one. Beforehand, we show it to you in a demo. |
| Guest data | Belongs to the business. aleno processes it only on the business’s behalf, and does not use it for its own purposes or to train a platform AI. Export at any time, access via an open API. |
| Core features | Booking widget in your design, Reserve with Google, table plan, AI table management with three levels of autonomy, guest profiles with tags, email and SMS, credit card guarantee and no-show fee, deposit and pre-sale, vouchers, events, group enquiries, double seating, reports, app for tablet and smartphone. |
| Integrations | 41 partners in the aleno Marketplace, including hotel software (Apaleo, ASA, Mews, Oracle OPERA, protel, Shiji Daylight), POS systems (Lightspeed, Hypersoft, helloTESS!, Oracle Simphony), payments (Stripe, Datatrans, Wallee, TWINT), Google and Mailchimp. Plus an open GraphQL API. |
| Countries and languages | Businesses mainly in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Widget and guest communication in several languages, in the language your guest chooses. |
| Data protection | GDPR and Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP), servers in Europe, card data only with PCI-compliant payment providers, widget accessible to WCAG 2.2 AA. |
| Onboarding and support | Personal onboarding with setup session and training, data migration from your previous system included. Personal support by phone, Google Meet and email, in German and English. |
| Customers | More than 2,300 restaurants and hotels, more than 30 million reservations per year. |
| Company | aleno AG, founded in Zurich in 2015. |
Businesses that take reservations with aleno
- SteirereckRestaurant · Vienna
- TantrisRestaurant · Munich
- Hangar-7Restaurant · Salzburg
- Hubert WallnerRestaurant · Wörthersee
- Badrutt’s PalaceHotel · St. Moritz
- Suvretta HouseHotel · St. Moritz
- Hotel SacherHotel · Vienna
- Baur au LacHotel · Zurich
- Widder HotelHotel · Zurich
- Park Hotel VitznauHotel · Vitznau
- L’OsteriaRestaurant group
- Weisse Arena GruppeGroup · Laax
More than 2,300 restaurants and hotels work with aleno, mainly in Switzerland, Germany and Austria. More than 30 million reservations a year run through the system.
Integrations
For your restaurant
- GoogleBooking
- LightspeedPOS
- HypersoftPOS
- helloTESS!POS
- Oracle SimphonyPOS
- StripePayments
- DatatransPayments
- TWINTPayments
- MailchimpMarketing
- re:spondelligentReviews
- Assistent.aiPhone
- e-gumaVouchers
For your hotel
- ApaleoPMS
- ASAPMS
- MewsPMS
- Oracle OPERAPMS
- protelPMS
- Shiji DaylightPMS
A selection of the 41 partners in the aleno Marketplace. You will find them all in chapter 13.
What you really care about
A reservation is not an entry in a list. It is the first moment of your hospitality.
Long before your guest opens the door, they have already experienced you. They searched for you, found you, chose a table, received a confirmation and perhaps a reminder the day before. Each of these moments tells them something about your venue: how attentive it is, how it sounds and how well it knows them.
After the visit, it continues. A thank-you, a request for a review, an invitation to the next occasion. And eventually the question that everything before it builds towards: will they come back?
Your guest’s journey begins and ends with you. What matters is whose name stands at every point in between.
What stands in the way today
There is often someone between you and your guest. Sometimes a platform, sometimes the phone, sometimes an off-the-shelf system.
Almost every business has settled into a routine. Online, guests book via a platform because it promises reach. On the phone, the team takes whatever comes in and writes it into the book or into standard software. It works. The fact that it costs something barely shows, simply because it has been this way for years.
Look more closely and all three routes have something in common: at a crucial point, your guest does not experience you. And what you learn about them only partly reaches you.
What it costs you
The price rarely appears on a single invoice. It is spread across three places.
A fee for guests you would have had anyway
Many platforms charge per reserved guest or take a commission, depending on the model even on cancellations. That applies to a new guest just as much as to the regular who would have found you directly.
Result: The better your business runs, the more you pay.The first impression bears someone else’s name
The guest books on a platform’s website or app, in its design and next to other restaurants. Confirmation and reminder also arrive in the platform’s name. What they enter when booking sits there first.
Result: Your brand only begins at the door, and your guest knowledge stays patchy.Taking reservations ties up people your guests need
Answering the phone, copying into the book, moving tables around in your head, sending reminders by hand, chasing no-shows by phone. Every one of these minutes is missing where your team is actually needed.
Result: Your best host is on the phone instead of at the table.A reservation that does not belong to you is a guest you are only borrowing.
Your brand, from the very first booking
The aleno reservation system is one you don’t see. Your guest books with you, hears from you and is reminded by you, from the first search to the invitation to come back.
Everything your guest notices of aleno carries your name: the booking window on your website, the confirmation in their inbox, the text message the day before, the link they use to change their reservation themselves. No third-party advertising, no other restaurants alongside you, no visible third-party provider.
And because aleno earns its money from the software and not from your guests, there is no commission. Not on reservations and not on cancellations. You pay an individual fixed monthly price, whether a hundred guests book in a month or ten thousand.
The same system, three venues
Choose a style above. The widget and the confirmation adapt, just as they adapt to your brand. aleno appears nowhere.
- Design. Logo, colours, fonts and images, just like on your website.
- Language. Texts, notes and tone of voice, in every language of your widget.
- Content. The fields you ask for and the terms your guest confirms.
- Sender. Emails from your own domain, designed with your templates. Text messages in your tone.
- For high standards. Your own CSS and your own code in the widget.
Book a table
We look forward to welcoming you by the lake.
Available times
Area
Examples for illustration. The venues are made up, the possibilities are not.
“The white-label system aleno strengthens our own brand, and without a strong brand it is not possible to establish a hotel in the top class for the long term.”
“It matters to us to have a white-label solution. With aleno we stay individual and can customise a great deal in the tool.”
How aleno makes it possible
Wherever your guest finds you, the reservation lands in one place: in the aleno reservation system, at a table, in a guest profile.
Your booking window runs on your website, in your Google profile, on Instagram and Facebook and behind your own links and QR codes. If you wish, guests can book you directly in Google Search and on Google Maps. Add to that phone calls and walk-ins, bookings from the PMS for hotels and destination portals in holiday regions. Everything lands in the same system, with the same availability.
Behind it work three building blocks you will meet again and again on this page: the reservation overview, where every booking comes together live, the table plan, where it gets its place, and the guest profile, which remembers the guest.
A booking journey that thinks ahead
- Only times that really work. The widget shows what can be booked based on capacity, dining duration and deadlines. If the preferred time is full, it suggests alternatives, including in other shifts, instead of sending the guest away with a refusal.
- The favourite area. Guests choose the terrace, lounge or bar and see when there is space there.
- In their language. The widget and all messages speak the language the guest chooses. If they wish, it remembers their details for the next booking.
- Everything you need to know. Occasion, allergies, high chair or your own questions, per shift or event. Menu choice too, if you wish.
- Sell more, even before the visit. Guests add drinks, flowers, decoration or the wine pairing directly in the widget and pay for them in advance. In the same way you sell events in advance, from brunch to the New Year’s Eve dinner.
- Special evenings stand out. Events and public holidays are highlighted in the widget’s calendar, with their own note.
- Self-service changes, around the clock. Guests change or cancel via a link, up to the deadline you set. Every change checks availability instantly.
- For all guests. The widget is accessible to WCAG 2.2 Level AA and therefore ready for the European Accessibility Act.
“I used to have to employ a full-time member of staff just for phone reservations. With aleno, that’s a thing of the past.”Alexander Stauder, Zum Weißen Rauchfangkehrer, Vienna (translated from German)
Your widget sells real seats
Fully booked is not the same as full. The difference lies in who gets which table, and when that is decided.
Most booking widgets calculate with capacity: the shift has 80 seats, 72 are taken, so 8 are free. Whether those 8 seats are at one table or spread across three, the widget does not know. So it accepts reservations that don’t work out on the night, or turns guests away even though a little rearranging would have made room.
Systems that assign tables automatically usually work with rules set up by hand for each business: which table for which party size, which tables can be combined, which areas fill first. When something changes, a new table plan, the terrace opens, dining times get shorter, someone has to painstakingly update the rules piece by piece.
aleno’s AI table management thinks in tables. It learns how your team assigns tables, and with every new reservation, every change and every cancellation it replans the whole evening. Once it is switched live, the widget checks every online request against real tables and combinations, with your business’s dining durations.
aleno learns from your team instead of needing rules.
Your team seats tables the way it always does. aleno recognises the patterns behind it: which tables suit which party size, which can be combined, which areas fill first. Often one or two assignments are enough. You only set up what cannot be learned from everyday service.
Large tables stay for large groups.
The table for six does not go to the couple who calls first if a family may still come later. aleno rearranges the reservations with every new booking so that more guests find a seat in the end, and only moves what has not been placed by hand.
aleno plays table Tetris in real time.
Every new reservation, every change and every cancellation changes the evening. aleno constantly looks for gaps and places the reservations so that scattered free seats become bookable tables again. That way the evening fills up bit by bit, and occupancy rises without your team having to replan.
Arrivals are staggered.
Instead of ten tables at 19:00, guests arrive one after another. The kitchen works in rhythm, the service team has time for a recommendation, and the evening feels busy, but not rushed.
Regulars sit at their table.
If the guest profile says the Keller family always sits at table 12, aleno seats them there as soon as it is free. VIPs by the window, families in the quiet corner, in the order of priority you set.
You decide how much aleno takes over
“Show me what you can do.”
For every reservation, aleno shows the right table and up to two alternatives. Your team checks and seats it themselves.
Right for you if your team wants to own every placement itself.“Go ahead, I’ll look it over.”
aleno places every reservation at a table and replans when things change. Visible only to your team, which can step in at any time.
Right for you if you want to hand over the work but keep the final check.“I trust you. Take over.”
The assignment applies to all reservations, including online. The widget checks every request against real tables and sells seats instead of capacity.
Right for you if you want the full potential: more seats sold.At every level: aleno never moves what your team has placed by hand, and the reason for every assignment can be viewed. For special cases such as walk-in tables, the terrace in good weather or large groups only at early times, there are settings for the whole business, a single shift or a single day.
In an A/B test with 20 L’Osteria restaurants, AI table management brought 15% more guests.
The evening as it really goes
No evening sticks to the plan. You can tell good software by how it handles everything that comes up in between.
Groups send enquiries, the sun comes out, a regular turns up at the door unannounced, a table is meant to be seated twice tonight. The aleno reservation system is built for exactly these moments: as a table plan that shows live what is happening in the room, and as an app your team carries with them on tablet and smartphone.
- 10:12A group of 14 enquires
The request comes in as provisional. The guest immediately gets a reply with menu suggestions, and you decide in your own time.
- 15:40The sun stays out
The terrace is opened for the evening. From now on, the widget also sells the seats outside.
- 17:30Briefing
Kitchen and service see on one list who is coming, when, and with which requests and allergies.
- 19:20A regular without a reservation
One click records them as a walk-in. The reservation overview shows the real evening again, and table planning takes them into account.
- 21:00The second seating
Thanks to limited dining times and clear communication, the same tables are sold a second time.
The room, live
Every reservation at its table, with its status from arrival to departure. Double bookings and tables that are too small are flagged instantly. For a banquet, buffet or extra tables, the plan can be rearranged for a single day.
Plus: rooms and areas such as the terrace, lounge or floors, flexible per shift.Large requests without the back and forth
Group requests land together in one place, with an automatic reply to the guest. Brunch, Christmas dinner or New Year’s Eve run as separate bookable events with their own terms, their own messages and their own booking link.
Plus: limits per shift, so groups don’t crowd out the evening.Spontaneous guests count too
One click records the guest, or if you wish they register themselves at the table via QR code. That way aleno reflects the real evening, not just the planned one.
Plus: walk-ins’ personal data is deleted automatically after your deadline.aleno in your pocket
aleno runs in the browser and can be installed as an app on tablet and smartphone, for iOS and Android. No fixed hardware, no installation on a particular computer.
Plus: notifications per person, in the app or by email.The week at a glance
The calendar shows all shifts and events with occupancy, closure periods and notes. The dashboard gathers what is still open, such as provisional requests or reservations without a table.
Plus: you accept requests above your allocation provisionally instead of turning guests away.One table, sold twice
Limited dining times, blocked peak times and a clear message to the guest at the time of booking: that is how you sell seats twice on busy evenings without it feeling hectic.
Plus: guests actively confirm the dining time in the widget.“With aleno, we sold our few tables several times a night right from the start and so maximised our revenue.”Valentin Diem, Soi Thai, Zurich (translated from German)
Truly knowing your guest
Being a regular isn’t about the number of visits. You become a regular when someone remembers.
With every reservation, aleno checks whether the guest has been before, using phone number, email and name. If they are new, a profile is created automatically. If they are known, their profile keeps growing: visits, tables, wishes, allergies, occasions, notes from service and, with a connected POS, what they ordered and spent.
Tags turn this knowledge into action. VIP, regular, birthday, hotel guest or whatever else your business needs. Your team assigns them by hand, or a rule does it, for example from the third visit or above a certain spend. And tags work everywhere: in table selection, in how your emails address the guest and in deciding who has to leave a credit card and who doesn’t.
- Favourite table
- Table 12, by the window
- Allergy
- Nuts (son, aged 8)
- Language
- German
- Last visit
- 4 guests, table 12, family dinner
- Spend
- €310 per visit on average
- Note
- Loves the Riesling from the Wachau. Please not right by the door.
- On the phone. With a connected phone system, a known caller appears with their profile as soon as the phone rings.
- At the table. Allergies, occasion and preferences are on the reservation, not in a notebook.
- Across the group. If you wish, several businesses share one guest database. A regular in one outlet is recognised in the next.
- In the hotel. With the PMS integration, room, stay and package are added.
- Clean on its own. Duplicate profiles are detected and merged. Retention periods and deletion follow your rules.
In your voice, at the right moment
There are often days or weeks between booking and visit. During that time, aleno keeps in touch, just as you would if you had the time.
Every message is yours: designed with your templates, sent from your domain, in the language the guest chose. Conditions make them personal. The regular reads a different sentence from the first-time visitor, the group gets different information from the couple, and whoever booked on the terrace gets the note about the weather.
- At bookingA confirmation that sells something
With a calendar entry, your terms and, if you like, a mention of the next event, the tasting menu or a voucher.
- Before the visitReminder with reconfirmation
By email or SMS. The guest confirms with one click or makes changes themselves. Cancellations come early enough to give the table to someone else.
- When things changeEvery change communicated instantly
New time, different party size, cancellation: the guest automatically gets the right message. Your team can hold back individual messages if needed.
- After the visitA thank you and a request for a review
With links to Google, Tripadvisor or Facebook. You can exclude guests with certain tags, for example after a complaint.
- LaterThe invitation to come back
To guests with newsletter consent, once, a few days after the visit: an offer, an event, a reason to return.
All replies in one place
When a guest replies to a confirmation, their message lands in the aleno guest inbox and is recorded on the reservation. Nobody has to search private mailboxes any more, and everyone on the team sees the same status.
Plus: access can be controlled per person via roles.You know what arrived
For every email, you can see whether it was sent or bounced. Wrong addresses are spotted before the guest turns up at the door that evening knowing nothing about it.
Plus: SMS only where it makes a difference, for example just for reminders.More from every reservation
An empty table costs you twice: the revenue and the guest who would have loved to sit there. aleno protects both and turns a reservation into more than a seat.
Commitment that doesn’t annoy guests
Reminders and reconfirmation reduce no-shows on their own. Where more is needed, guests leave their credit card as a guarantee: only on certain days, from a certain group size or only for international guests. You simply exclude regulars.
Good to know: the card is only verified and stored securely, no amount is blocked. You charge a no-show fee deliberately, never automatically.Paid before the evening begins
You sell tickets, menus or wine pairings directly with the reservation. If it isn’t paid, aleno automatically releases the seat again after your deadline.
Ideal for: events, New Year’s Eve and tasting menus.A gift that leads back to you
Guests buy vouchers in the widget or via a link on your website, on social media or in your newsletter. The voucher arrives automatically as a PDF, is redeemed with the reservation and offset against prepaid menus.
Plus: aleno carries remaining balances forward automatically.A commitment instead of an advance payment
For groups, banquets or menu pre-orders, the guest confirms their selection with a digital signature, with proof. Planning certainty without asking for money up front.
Legal: simple electronic signature under eIDAS.The confirmation as a shop window
In confirmations and reminders, you promote what suits the visit: the wine pairing with the menu, the next event, the voucher for Christmas. You measure how much each email brings in via campaign links.
Plus: events can be promoted with their own link and QR code.Payments that reach you
aleno Pay connects credit cards and other payment methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or TWINT with your widget. Depending on the option, the money goes directly to you via your own acquirer, or you get started easily with Stripe.
Plus: refunds in one click and a PDF receipt for the guest.“We used to lose revenue in the high four figures every month because of no-shows. With aleno, we have reduced the rate to zero.”Hubert Wallner, Gourmet Restaurant Hubert Wallner, Wörthersee (translated from German)
“Until we introduced aleno, we had a no-show rate of up to 20% at Restaurant Mural. Today it is close to zero.”Wolfgang Hingerl, CEO Restaurant Mural, Munich (translated from German)
Decisions based on your own numbers
Every reservation is also a data point. Together they show when your business is busy, where your guests come from and where revenue is being left on the table.
aleno Insights brings this together in ready-made reports: your strongest shifts and months, no-shows and cancellations by time and group size, the occupancy of your tables and the reservations for the coming weeks. With a connected POS, revenue is added, by item, by table and by guest group.
- Reports that arrive on their own. Daily or weekly by email to the right people, as PDF, Excel or CSV.
- Prepared for service. Before every shift, the kitchen and service list shows guest numbers, times, requests and allergies.
- A basis for campaigns. Guest lists by tags, visit frequency or newsletter status, and with Mailchimp, syncing straight into your newsletter.
- Decisions on no-shows. The report shows on which days and for which group sizes a credit card guarantee is really necessary.
- When you need more. The aleno team builds custom reports on request, and via the open API you pull the data into your own dashboards.
For hotel restaurants and groups
An outlet is rarely alone. aleno treats several restaurants, bars and breakfast rooms as one system, with one login and one pool of guest knowledge.
The restaurant that keeps the hotel in mind
Room bookings stay in your PMS. aleno handles the tables and takes the hotel guests for them from the PMS. Every shift follows its own rules: breakfast with shared tables, dinner with longer dwell times, the banquet with its own table plan. With the PMS integration, room, stay and package appear on every reservation, and PMS automation creates the reservations for half board and full board by itself. You can treat hotel guests in a targeted way, for example with dedicated texts, without a review email or with a booking link that already contains the room number.
Everything about PMS integration and PMS automationEvery location plans like your best one
Several businesses under one login, with a shared guest database. If the preferred restaurant is full, the widget suggests available times in your other outlets instead of letting the guest go. Reservations can be moved between restaurants, and a shared entry point leads guests to all your venues. AI table management brings the knowledge of your most experienced people to every location.
In practice: according to the case study on aleno.me, L’Osteria saves 7 hours of admin per week per outlet.“With the integration of aleno and our PMS, we are optimising our processes and internal communication. No more lists, and everyone always has up-to-date information.”Jonas Ritscher, Suvretta House, St. Moritz (translated from German)
Connected to what you already use
The reservation system is the core, not the whole world. Via the aleno Marketplace, you connect your reservation system with hotel software, POS, payments, marketing and other channels.
Hotel guests, known in the restaurant
Guests, stays and packages in the restaurant, reservations for in-house guests created automatically.
- Apaleo
- ASA
- Fidelio
- Mews
- Oracle OPERA
- protel
- Shiji Daylight
From taking a seat to paying
Reservation, table and status synced with the POS, revenue and ordered items in the guest profile.
- Lightspeed
- Hypersoft
- helloTESS!
- Oracle Simphony
Guarantee, pre-sale, vouchers
Payment service providers and acquirers for aleno Pay, on your own terms.
- Stripe
- Datatrans
- Wallee
- BS PAYONE
- Worldline
- SIX
- Nexi
- American Express
- First Data
- TWINT
Bookable where guests are searching
With live availability from aleno, from Google Search to the holiday region’s portal.
- Reserve with Google
- Discover.Swiss
- Engadin St. Moritz
- Davos Klosters
- Zermatt Tourismus
- Arosa Lenzerheide
- Basel.com
- Taste Match
- GET LOCAL
Bringing guests back
Newsletter lists from your guests, a well-kept Google profile and your reviews in view.
- Mailchimp
- Business Profile Manager
- re:spondelligent
- Google Tag Manager
Reachable, even when nobody picks up
Assistent.ai answers calls around the clock with AI and books directly in aleno. Call to Book shows known callers with their profile, for Mitel and Wildix.
- Assistent.ai
- Call to Book
One picture of the guest for the whole hotel
Guest and spend data from the restaurant in the hotel CRM and in analytics tools.
- Cendyn
- dailypoint
- Revinate
- Prognolite
- Sell&Pick
What doesn’t exist yet, you can build
The open GraphQL API is available to all customers: for your own website or app, a POS or PMS without a standard connection, or your own dashboards. aleno provides access and documentation, and your team or your technical partner handles the implementation.
- GraphQL API
Redeem existing vouchers
If you already use a voucher system, its vouchers can be redeemed directly in the widget or during pre-sale. The balance is reconciled automatically.
- e-guma
Secure, reliable and yours
Every evening, a reservation system carries your revenue and everything you know about your guests. It has to be dependable.
Your data stays yours
You are the controller, and aleno processes data only on your behalf. Export as CSV and access via the open API, at any time.
Not a marketplace: no other businesses are recommended to your guests.GDPR and Swiss FADP
Retention periods, deletion with anonymisation, consent in the widget and marketing emails only with opt-in. Hosted on servers in Europe.
Plus: template texts for your privacy policy.Card data never sits with you
Cards and payments run exclusively through certified, PCI-compliant payment providers. Your team sees no card numbers.
Plus: depending on the option, payouts go directly via your acquirer.A backup that runs independently
Should the main system ever be disrupted, the day’s reservations remain viewable via a separately operated backup and can be retrieved as a list.
Plus: browser-based, with no servers on your premises.A widget for every guest
Operable by keyboard, usable with screen readers and built to WCAG 2.2 Level AA. This prepares you for the European Accessibility Act.
Good to know: if you use your own colours, make sure there is enough contrast.Everyone sees what they need
Roles control who may edit settings, guest data and groups. Notifications arrive per person in the app or by email.
Plus: help with video tutorials and chat directly in aleno.Everything at a glance
Everything the aleno reservation system can do, with one sentence per feature. Filter by area or search for whatever interests you.
Booking widget
The booking journey for your website and every other channel, in your design.
Widget in your brand
Logo, colours, fonts, images and fields that match your brand.
Custom CSS and code
For brands with high standards, the widget can be customised down to the last detail.
Availability you can trust
Guests only see times that are genuinely bookable given capacity, dining time and deadlines.
Alternative times
If the preferred time is full, the widget suggests free times, including in other shifts.
Time slots, not guesswork
Guests choose the date and party size and see matching free times.
Choice of area
Choose the terrace, lounge or bar when booking, with the free times for each area.
Multilingual
Widget and messages in the language the guest chooses.
Additional questions
Occasion, allergies, high chair or your own questions, per shift or event.
Pre-orders when booking
Menu choice or wine pairing right in the widget, with or without payment.
Conditions confirmed
The guest actively confirms dining time, cancellation rules or dress code.
Consents
Terms and conditions, privacy and your own checkboxes right in the booking process.
Newsletter sign-up
Guests sign up for your newsletter when they make a reservation.
Remember details
On request, the widget remembers the guest’s details for the next booking.
Custom links and QR codes
Links that go straight to a shift, an event, a menu or a date.
Google profile, Instagram, Facebook
Link the widget wherever guests discover you.
Reserve with Google
Bookable directly in Google Search and on Google Maps, synced with aleno.
IntegrationDestination portals
Bookable in the portals of holiday regions such as Engadin St. Moritz, Davos Klosters or Zermatt.
PartnerSelf-service changes and cancellations
Guests adjust their own reservation via a link, up to your deadline.
Group requests
Large groups enquire online, the guest gets an instant reply and you confirm at your own pace.
Events
Brunch, Christmas dinner or New Year’s Eve as separate bookable events with their own link.
Highlight special days
Public holidays and special days are marked in the widget calendar, with a note.
Test mode
Try out new shifts and events internally before guests see them.
Accessible widget
Usable by keyboard and screen reader, to WCAG 2.2 Level AA.
Phone assistant around the clock
An AI from Assistent.ai answers calls and books directly in aleno.
PartnerAI table management
Assigns every reservation to the right table and replans the evening with every change.
Learns from your team
Adopts the patterns in your team’s assignments instead of needing weeks of rules.
Three levels of autonomy
Suggest, plan internally or live. Switch at any time.
Real seats online
Only what has a real table or combination can be booked online.
Table suggestions
Up to three suitable tables for every reservation your team enters.
Table combinations
Tables can be grouped into combinations with their own capacity.
Table priorities
Decide which tables and areas fill up first.
Favourite tables for regulars
Guests with certain tags get preferred tables as soon as they are free.
Keep tables free
Exclude walk-in tables, VIP tables or the terrace in the rain from automatic assignment.
Continuous replanning
Assigned reservations move when there is a better fit, up to a deadline before arrival.
Your team has the final say
aleno never moves anything your team places by hand.
Rules per shift and day
Lunch, dinner, breakfast and events are planned with their own rules.
Shared tables
Several reservations at one table, for example at breakfast or in the beer garden.
Replan a shift
Have all reservations in a shift redistributed at once.
Live table plan
Every reservation on its table, with its status from arrival to departure.
Room planner
Design rooms with tables and room elements by drag and drop.
Rooms and areas
Indoors, terrace, lounge or floors as separate areas, flexible per shift.
Conflicts at a glance
Double bookings and tables that are too small are flagged instantly.
Table plan for one day
Rearrange the plan for a single day, for example for a banquet or buffet.
Walk-ins in one click
Record spontaneous guests so aleno shows the real evening.
Walk-in via QR code
Guests without a reservation register themselves at the table.
Double seating
Sell seats twice on busy evenings, with a limited dining time.
Provisional reservations
Accept requests beyond your allocation and confirm them deliberately instead of turning them down.
Colour-coded status
From provisional through confirmed and seated to departed, in your own colours and labels.
Calendar
Week and day view with occupancy, shifts, events, closures and notes.
Dashboard
Open tasks such as provisional requests, collected in one place.
Kitchen and service list
Guest numbers, times, requests and allergies before every shift.
App for tablet and smartphone
aleno as an app on iOS and Android, with no fixed hardware.
Notifications
Important events in the app or by email, adjustable per person.
Caller ID
Known callers appear with their profile, for Mitel and Wildix.
IntegrationGuest profile and restaurant CRM
Contact details, language, allergies, preferences, occasions and the full visit history.
Automatic recognition
Known guests are recognised with every booking, new ones are created automatically.
Guest tags
VIP, regular, hotel guest or your own tags that steer table choice and communication.
Automatic tags
Rules assign tags based on visits or spend, for example regular from the third visit.
Guest notes
What your service team learns stays with the guest and appears on the next visit.
Spend in the profile
What a guest orders and spends, straight from the POS.
IntegrationMerge duplicates
Duplicate profiles are detected and merged into one.
Blacklist
Guests with a blacklist tag are only accepted provisionally online.
Exceptions for regulars
Exempt loyal guests from the credit card requirement.
Shared guest database
Several businesses in a group share one pool of guest knowledge.
Data export
Export guest and reservation data as CSV at any time.
Retention periods and deletion
Automatically delete or anonymise guest data according to your retention periods.
Confirmations
Sent automatically with every booking, change, cancellation or group request.
Reminder before the visit
With a lead time of your choice, by email or SMS.
Reconfirmation
Guests reconfirm their reservation in one click.
Calendar entry
The reservation lands in the guest’s calendar in one click.
Emails from your domain
The sender is your business, not a third party.
Templates in your tone
Texts, images and attachments such as menu suggestions, in several languages.
Personal messages
Placeholders and conditions for regulars, groups or individual shifts.
SMS
Confirmation and reminder by SMS, targeted where it makes a difference.
Review email
After the visit, with links to Google, Tripadvisor or Facebook.
Invitation after the visit
Sent once to guests who have consented, with a reason to come back.
Guest inbox
All guest replies in one place, attached to the reservation.
Delivery status
See for every email whether it was sent or bounced.
Overview for guests
Several reservations of one guest in one email, even across several restaurants.
Credit card guarantee
Guests leave their card as a guarantee, only where you want it.
Guarantee on your terms
By shift, weekday, party size, additional question or country code.
No amount blocked
The card is only verified and stored securely, no amount is reserved.
No-show fee
If a guest does not show up, you charge the agreed fee in full or in part.
Release seats automatically
Without a card or payment, aleno releases the seat again after your deadline.
Pre-sale and deposit
Sell events, menus, drinks, flowers or decorations with the reservation and have them paid in advance.
Voucher shop
Sell vouchers online, send them automatically and redeem them with the reservation.
Digital signature
Have menu choices and commitments confirmed bindingly, without prepayment.
Cross-selling in emails
Promote events, menus and vouchers in confirmations and reminders.
aleno Pay
Credit cards and other payment methods such as Apple Pay, Google Pay or TWINT.
Your own acquirer
Payments go directly to your business, on your terms.
IntegrationRefunds
Refund amounts for cancelled reservations in one click.
Payment receipt
Guests automatically receive a receipt as a PDF.
aleno Insights
Ready-made analyses of guests, reservations, shifts, tables and revenue.
Performance over twelve months
Your strongest shifts, months and times at a glance.
No-shows and cancellations
Analysed by timing, shift and party size.
Table occupancy
Which tables stay empty and which are always full.
Revenue analysis
By item, table and time, with a connected POS.
IntegrationReports by email
Automatically at set times, as PDF, Excel or CSV.
Campaign tracking
See for every link how many reservations it brings in.
Conversion tracking
Measure reservations as conversions in Google Analytics, Google Ads or Meta.
Guest lists for campaigns
Filter by tags, visits or newsletter status.
Newsletter integration
Automatically transfer guests who have consented to Mailchimp.
IntegrationReviews in view
See and reply to reviews with re:spondelligent.
PartnerCustom analyses
On request, the aleno team builds reports around your questions.
PMS integration
Room, stay and package on every reservation.
IntegrationPMS automation
Reservations for half board and full board are created automatically.
IntegrationHotel breakfast
Shared tables and separate rules for breakfast service.
Targeted messages for hotel guests
With their own texts or without a review email, depending on the guest.
Prefilled links
Name or room number already filled in the widget via the link.
Several outlets, one login
Restaurants, bars and breakfast under one account.
Shared entry point
One widget that guides guests to all restaurants in the group.
Suggestions from other outlets
If one restaurant is full, the widget shows free times in the others.
Move reservations
Between the restaurants of a group, in one click.
Hotel CRM
Guest data from the restaurant in Cendyn, dailypoint or Revinate.
PartnerWhite label
Guests see your brand, never aleno.
No commission
Neither on reservations nor on cancellations. An individual fixed monthly price.
Data ownership
You are the controller of your guest data. No use for third-party purposes or for training a platform AI.
No marketplace
Your guests are never recommended other businesses.
Open API
GraphQL interface for your own integrations and dashboards.
GDPR and Swiss FADP
Retention periods, anonymisation and consents, hosted in Europe.
PCI-compliant payments
Card data only with certified payment providers, never with you.
Independent backup
The day’s reservations stay accessible even during an outage.
In the browser, no installation
On computer, tablet and smartphone, with no server on site.
Roles and permissions
Control who may edit settings and guest data.
aleno Marketplace
41 partners for PMS, POS, payment, channels and marketing.
Personal onboarding
Setup session and training for your team.
Data migration
Guest data from your previous system, included.
A planned switch
Setup, training and go-live on a fixed date.
Flexible terms
No lock-in contracts. An individual fixed price for what your business needs.
Personal support
By phone, Google Meet and email, in German and English.
Integrations set up for you
The aleno team sets up many integrations for you.
Template texts
Templates for your privacy policy, no-show terms and notices in the widget.
Help in the app
Video guides, chat and a request form right in aleno.
Features marked “Integration” need a connected system; features marked “Partner” run through a partner in the aleno Marketplace.
What matters when choosing the right reservation system
At first glance, reservation systems look alike. The differences show up in the questions that only hurt after you’ve bought: who earns from your guests, who owns their data and whether the system fits your business.
These criteria help you decide, whichever system you choose in the end. The right-hand column shows how aleno meets them.
| Criterion | Why it matters | How aleno does it |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Fees per guest grow with your success and also apply to regulars who would have found you anyway. | Individual fixed monthly price. No commission, no fee per guest or cancellation. |
| Your brand | The reservation is the first contact with your business. It should look like you, not like a third party. | White label: widget in your design, emails from your domain, SMS in your tone. |
| Guest data | What you know about your guests is your most valuable asset. It doesn’t belong in someone else’s hands or in someone else’s AI. | The data belongs to you, is not used for anyone else’s purposes and can be exported at any time. |
| Guest knowledge | If you know your guests, you can welcome them personally and invite them back in a targeted way. | Guest profile with visit history, allergies, tags and notes, created and recognised automatically. |
| Table planning | Counting free seats isn’t enough. What counts is whether a suitable table is really free. | AI table management that learns from your team and checks online requests against real tables. |
| Hotel restaurant | Without a connection to the PMS, someone transfers hotel guests, half board and allergies by hand. | PMS integration and PMS automation, including Apaleo, ASA, Mews, Oracle OPERA, protel and Shiji Daylight. |
| Several outlets | Groups need one body of guest knowledge across all locations, otherwise a regular is a stranger at the next venue. | One login, a shared guest database, suggestions from other outlets in the widget. |
| No-shows | Every empty table costs revenue; rules that are too strict cost guests. | Reminder, reconfirmation, credit card guarantee and deposit, applied selectively by your rules. |
| Integrations | POS, payments, Google and marketing have to play along, otherwise you create new silos. | 41 partners in the aleno Marketplace and an open GraphQL API. |
| Data protection | Guest data is personal data. Where it is stored and who sees it is a legal question. | GDPR and Swiss FADP, servers in Europe, card data only with PCI-compliant payment providers. |
| Contract | Long commitments keep you in a system that no longer suits you. | Flexible terms, no lock-in contracts. |
| Onboarding and support | A system is only as good as its rollout and the help you get when it matters. | Personal onboarding, data migration included, support by phone, Google Meet and email. |
Before and after
Everything from the last chapters, side by side.
| Day to day | Without aleno | With aleno |
|---|---|---|
| For your guest | ||
| The booking | On a platform’s website or app, in its design and next to other restaurants | With you, in your design |
| Confirmation and reminder | In the platform’s name, or not at all | In your name, in their language |
| When something changes | Call while someone is there to answer | Change it themselves, around the clock |
| If the preferred time is full | A refusal | Alternatives, including at another outlet |
| As a regular | Gets their table if someone remembers | Is recognised, on the phone, in the widget, at the table |
| For your business | ||
| Cost per reservation | A fee per guest, depending on the model even for cancellations | None. One fixed monthly price |
| Guest data | Partly with the platform, partly in people’s heads | Entirely with you, exportable at any time |
| Online availability | Counts chairs | Checks real tables, with AI table management |
| No-shows | An empty table and a call that goes unanswered | Reminder, reconfirmation and guarantee by your rules |
| Additional revenue | Happens at the table or not at all | Starts with the booking: pre-sale, vouchers, cross-selling |
| Decisions | Based on gut feeling | Backed by reports on shifts, channels and no-shows |
| For your team | ||
| The phone | Ties up one person for hours | Guests book online, callers are recognised |
| Table planning | Table Tetris in your head, with every request | aleno suggests or plans on its own |
| Knowledge about the guest | In the heads of individual people | In the profile, visible to everyone |
| Guest messages | Scattered across inboxes | In one inbox, attached to the reservation |
Reservations you share with others become a relationship that belongs to you.
What this means in numbers
Work it out for your business. All assumptions are out in the open, and you can adjust every one of them.
Commission
No-shows
- Guests per month (2.5 per reservation)1,500
- Platform fees per month€3,750
- No-show guests per month today45
- No-show guests per month at 0.3%5
“The cost savings we have seen since using aleno alone give us a return on investment of 5.2.”Giovanni Melis, Restaurant zur Taube, Zug (translated from German)
Is it right for your business?
aleno isn’t an equally good fit for every business. We’d rather say so before than after.
What matters for your business
The connection to the hotel matters most
A reservation system that runs as a silo next to the PMS leaves your team transferring hotel guests, half board and allergies by hand. aleno is connected to the PMS, creates reservations for half board and full board itself and plans breakfast, restaurant and bar with their own rules in one system.
Plus: room, stay and package on every reservation.Your brand and your guest knowledge matter
If your kitchen, service and atmosphere win people over, you don’t want bookings in a third party’s design or guests you don’t know. aleno takes bookings in your look, recognises regulars, seats them at their table and secures full evenings with guarantees and pre-sale.
Plus: tasting menus, events and vouchers directly with the reservation.Guest knowledge across all locations matters
Several businesses need one system, not several silos. aleno connects all outlets under one login, shares the guest database, suggests free times at other venues in the widget and, with AI table management, brings the knowledge of your best people to every location.
Plus: reports per business and an open API for your own dashboards.What stays with you in the end matters
Every booking through a platform costs a fee and gives away part of your guest knowledge. With aleno, guests book directly with you, through your website, Google and social media, at a fixed price and with all the data in your hands.
Plus: data migration when you switch, with no interruption to your operations.Businesses where hospitality begins with the reservation
Restaurants and hotel restaurants with their own brand and their own standards. Businesses with lots of online bookings or more demand than seats at the weekend. Several rooms, areas or outlets. Hotels with breakfast, half board and a restaurant. Groups with several locations. And anyone who pays a platform per guest today.
Businesses looking for something else
If you have almost only walk-in trade and hardly take reservations, you don’t need a reservation system this deep. And if you mainly want reach on a marketplace where guests choose between many restaurants, aleno is the wrong choice: aleno is deliberately not a marketplace.
Four questions that reveal what you need
- How many of your guests book through a platform today? And how much do you pay for that each month?
- Whose name is on the confirmation your guest receives? This is where you see where your brand begins.
- What do you know about a guest who is coming for the third time? And who on the team knows it?
- How many seats stay empty on a full evening? Because someone doesn’t turn up, or because the seat is allocated badly.
What it takes
Getting to know you and your quote
In a demo, we look at your business and your processes. Afterwards you receive an individual quote: a fixed monthly price for exactly what your business needs. With flexible terms.
Setup with the aleno team
In the setup session, we create table plans, shifts, templates and your widget in your design together. If you wish, we migrate guest data from your previous system.
Live on your go-live date
Your team is trained, existing reservations are transferred, and your widget goes live on a fixed date. Day-to-day operations carry on undisturbed.
Frequently asked questions
What is the aleno reservation system?
The aleno reservation system is built for hotel restaurants and restaurants in Switzerland, Germany and Austria: in the business’s own brand, without commission, with guest profiles, AI table management and PMS integration. It is the core of aleno Hospitality Intelligence. It includes the booking widget for your website, Google and social media, the reservation overview and table plan, guest profiles with CRM, automated communication by email and SMS, no-show protection, deposits and pre-sale, reports and AI table management. It is fully white label and charges no commission on reservations.
How much does aleno cost, and do you charge a fee per guest?
No, aleno charges neither commission nor a fee per guest, not on reservations and not on cancellations. You get an individual fixed monthly price, regardless of how many guests book. It is individual because you should only pay for what your business really needs. Setup and data migration are included, and the term is flexible. Third-party costs may apply for SMS and payment providers, depending on whether and how you use them.
Is aleno just a reservation system?
No. aleno has a reservation system, and it is the core of aleno Hospitality Intelligence. Further features build on it, such as PMS integration and PMS automation for hotels, AI table management, reports, aleno Pay for payments and more than 40 integrations in the aleno Marketplace.
What does white label mean with aleno?
Your guests never see aleno, only your business. The widget carries your logo, your colours and your fonts, emails come from your own domain and use your templates, and SMS and notices are written in your tone. If you want more, you can customise the widget with your own CSS and code. There is no third-party advertising and no recommendations for other restaurants.
Who owns the guest data?
You do. You are the controller of your guest data; aleno only processes it on your behalf and does not use it for its own purposes. You can export guest and reservation data as CSV at any time or pull it into your own systems via the open API.
How do I switch from my current reservation system to aleno?
Following a set plan: in a setup session, the aleno team sets up table plans, shifts, templates and the widget together with you. If you wish, guest data from your previous system is imported, your team is trained, existing reservations are transferred, and the new widget goes live on a fixed date. Day-to-day operations carry on undisturbed throughout.
How can I get more direct bookings?
By putting your booking window everywhere guests find you: on your website, in your Google Business Profile, on Instagram and Facebook, through your own links and QR codes, and via Reserve with Google directly in Google Search and on Maps. All bookings arrive in the aleno reservation system without commission, and campaign links show you which channel brings how many reservations.
What is AI table management, and do I have to use it?
AI table management assigns every reservation to the right table and replans the evening with every change. It learns from the way your team allocates tables. You decide how much it takes over: it can only make suggestions, plan internally or work live, so that the widget also checks against real tables. It never moves manual decisions made by your team.
How does aleno help reduce no-shows?
With several layers that you combine: automatic reminders by email or SMS with reconfirmation, changes and cancellations by the guest themselves, a credit card guarantee for specific shifts, days, party sizes or country codes, and prepayment for events and menus. The card is only verified and stored securely, not charged. You charge a no-show fee deliberately, in full or in part.
What should a hotel restaurant look for in a reservation system?
Above all, the connection to the PMS. A reservation system that runs as a silo next to the hotel software leaves the team transferring hotel guests, half board and allergies by hand. Also important are separate rules for breakfast, restaurant and bar, and shared guest knowledge across all outlets. aleno is connected to Apaleo, ASA, Mews, Oracle OPERA, protel and Shiji Daylight, among others, and creates reservations for half board and full board automatically.
What should a restaurant group look for in a reservation system?
Shared guest knowledge across all locations, central management, and making sure guests aren’t lost when one venue is full. With aleno, all businesses run under one login with a shared guest database, the widget suggests free times at the other restaurants, and reservations can be moved between venues.
What pricing models do reservation systems use?
Essentially two: platforms often charge a fee per booked guest or a commission, sometimes on top of a monthly fee. Other systems work with a fixed monthly price. With fees per guest, costs rise with every booking, including for regulars. aleno works with an individual fixed monthly price, without commission and without a fee per guest.
Is it worth having my own reservation system if I already get guests through a booking platform?
For most businesses, yes, because most guests find a restaurant through Google, its own website, social media or recommendations anyway. With your own system, they book directly with you, with no fee per guest, in your brand and with all the data staying with you. With aleno, you can also be booked directly in Google Search and on Google Maps via Reserve with Google.
What is the difference between AI table management and automatic table assignment?
Automatic table assignment works by fixed rules that someone has to set up and maintain. aleno’s AI table management learns from the way your team allocates tables, replans the whole evening with every change, fills gaps automatically and lets you choose whether it only makes suggestions, plans internally or works live. It never moves manual decisions made by your team.
Will my guest data or notes be used to train AI?
No. With aleno, the guest data and your team’s internal notes belong to you. aleno only processes them on your behalf and uses them neither for its own purposes nor to train a platform AI. That isn’t the case with every provider: some platforms have their terms guarantee them the right to use guest notes to train their AI.
Can I get back in touch with guests after their visit?
Yes. After the visit, aleno automatically sends a review email and, to guests who have consented to the newsletter, an invitation to come back. Guest lists by tags, visits or newsletter status form the basis for campaigns, the Mailchimp integration syncs your newsletter list, and cross-selling in the confirmation and reminder promotes events, menus and vouchers.
Is there a minimum contract term or a free trial?
The term is flexible and there are no lock-in contracts. There is no free trial: you are buying software that runs productively from day one. Beforehand, we show you aleno in a demo using your business, and after you buy, we set it up together with you.
Is aleno suitable for hotels with several outlets?
Yes. Breakfast, restaurants, bar and banqueting run in one system with their own rules per shift and shared guest knowledge. With the PMS integration, room, stay and package appear on the reservation, and the PMS automation creates reservations for half board and full board automatically. Connected systems include Apaleo, ASA, Mews, Oracle OPERA, protel and Shiji Daylight.
Is aleno suitable for restaurant groups?
Yes. Several businesses run under one login with a shared guest database. If one restaurant is full, the widget shows free times at the group’s other restaurants, and reservations can be moved between restaurants.
Which systems does aleno integrate with?
Through the aleno Marketplace with 41 partners, including PMS such as Apaleo, Mews, protel and Oracle OPERA, POS systems such as Lightspeed, Hypersoft and helloTESS!, payment providers such as Stripe, Datatrans, Wallee and TWINT, plus Reserve with Google, Mailchimp, re:spondelligent and Assistent.ai. For everything else, there is an open GraphQL API.
Is aleno GDPR compliant?
aleno helps businesses comply with the GDPR and the Swiss Federal Act on Data Protection (FADP), for example with retention periods, deletion with anonymisation and consent in the widget. The data is stored on servers in Europe. Card data is processed exclusively by certified, PCI-compliant payment providers.
Is the booking widget accessible?
Yes. The widget can be operated by keyboard, works with screen readers and is built to WCAG 2.2 Level AA. This means it meets the requirements of the European Accessibility Act. If you use your own colours, it is up to you to ensure sufficient contrast.
Can guests also book by phone around the clock?
Yes, through the partner Assistent.ai: an AI phone assistant answers calls, checks availability and books directly in aleno. When your team answers the phone themselves, Call to Book shows known callers with their profile, for Mitel and Wildix phone systems.
Does aleno work on tablets and smartphones?
Yes. aleno runs in the browser without dedicated hardware and can be installed as an app on the home screen on iOS and Android. Settings are best done on a computer, and the evening service on a tablet.
Take back your guests.
No commission, in your brand, with all guest data in your hands. See in a demo what aleno looks like in your business, with your room, your shifts and your design.