Guests who mention a birthday or anniversary when booking have the date saved on their CRM profile. Three weeks before the next one, they receive a WhatsApp invitation with a celebration booking link, and the kitchen sees the occasion on the reservation.
Typical results
≈60/mo
Invitations sent without anyone writing them
≈5/mo
Extra celebration tables booked
3 weeks
Lead time before each birthday or anniversary
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
Regulars often tell the host that a booking is for a birthday or an anniversary, and the note lives on one reservation and then disappears. The owner knows these guests would come back for the next celebration, but nobody has time to keep a list or write invitations. Marketing goes out as one generic newsletter that few people open.
Before and after
Celebration tables from returning guests per month
5×Guest occasion dates kept on file
The automation
When a booking's occasion field says birthday or anniversary, the date is saved on the guest's profile in the restaurant's CRM along with their consent to be contacted. A scheduled job runs each morning and finds dates exactly three weeks away. Those guests get a short WhatsApp invitation with a booking link tagged celebration, so the reservation arrives marked and the kitchen can plan a dessert with a candle. A monthly summary shows invitations sent and tables booked from them.
How it works
- 01
Occasion captured at booking
Guests who mention a birthday or anniversary when booking have the date saved on their CRM profile.
- 02
Daily date check
A scheduled job each morning finds occasion dates exactly three weeks away.
- 03
WhatsApp invitation
Those guests get a short invitation with a booking link tagged celebration.
- 04
Marked reservation
Bookings from the link arrive tagged, so the kitchen can plan a dessert with a candle.
- 05
Monthly count
The owner sees how many invitations went out and how many tables were booked from them.
Starts from
- Bookings with an occasion
Delivers
- WhatsApp celebration invite
- Booking tagged celebration
- Monthly invites and bookings
The impact
About 8% of invited guests book a table, which adds roughly 5 planned celebration tables a month, often for larger parties. The invitations go out without anyone writing them, and returning guests arrive to a table already marked for the occasion.
Questions about this automation
How are the birthday and anniversary dates collected?
The online booking form gets an optional occasion field with a date, and the host fills in the same field for phone bookings. Each entry is saved on the guest's CRM profile together with consent to receive invitations, so the date stays on file after the reservation itself is over.
Can guests stop receiving the invitations?
Yes. Every invitation includes a short line to reply stop, which removes the occasion date and marks the profile as opted out in the CRM. Guests who did not give consent at booking are never messaged, and each guest gets at most one invitation per occasion each year.
What does the restaurant need to start?
A booking form or reservation system that can pass the occasion field to the CRM, a WhatsApp Business number and a short invitation in the restaurant's own voice. Simple automations like this are usually live within days, and past occasion notes can be imported to give the first months a head start.