Booking system with marketing built in: do you need a separate CRM?
A booking system manages reservations and service; a separate marketing platform manages guest audiences and campaigns. A booking system with marketing built in joins those jobs around one guest record. nollie starts from £99 a month, no per-cover fees for eligible UK venues. The choice depends on your workflow, the connections you need and whether you can follow a campaign through to a booking.
By Jordan Foord, Founder & CEO of nollie
nollie makes a competing product. Read this the way you would read anything written by a rival.
Three ways to look at the work
Start with the work your team needs to do, rather than the label on the software. A diary, a CRM and a marketing tool can overlap. Some booking suppliers include marketing; some separate platforms can connect bookings and campaign reporting. The table describes the jobs to evaluate, not a claim that every product in a category includes or lacks a feature.
| What a booking diary does | What a separate marketing platform does | What joining the two can enable |
|---|---|---|
| Records reservations, party sizes and service times. | Organises guest audiences for campaigns. | The same guest record can connect a reservation with the audience used for marketing. |
| Keeps visit history and the notes available to the floor team. | Uses the available guest data to choose who receives a message. | Visit history can inform a relevant audience without re-entering the same information. |
| Provides the journey for a guest to reserve a table. | Creates and sends a reason to return. | A campaign can lead into the booking journey, with the resulting reservation linked back to it. |
| Records bookings and the covers attached to them. | Reports message engagement and any connected outcomes. | Reporting can follow a campaign through bookings, covers and recorded revenue. |
| Supports the team responsible for the next service. | Supports the person responsible for the next campaign. | Shared records can reduce handovers, provided the workflow fits both people. |
One guest record, from booking to return visit
A useful guest record helps the team recognise a returning guest and choose a relevant reason for them to come back. It needs more than an email address. Visit history, recorded preferences and spend can all add context, where that information is available. Ask which system holds each detail and how a change reaches the people who use it.
In the UK, bookings taken on nollie and guest marketing share one guest record. nollie also connects to the venue’s point of sale and website. The booking, the guest profile and the campaign belong to the same workflow, rather than requiring the operator to treat each as a separate exercise. See the bookings overview for the service side of that workflow.
A shared record is useful only if it supports the actual task. In a demonstration, follow a returning guest from their reservation to the information the floor team can see, then to the audience a campaign would use. If you already have separate tools, ask for the same demonstration across their connection. Do not assume a shared login or an integration logo proves the information stays current.
Measure what happened after the message
Opens and clicks help explain how people respond to an email. They do not tell the whole story of what happened in the dining room. For that, ask to see the bookings attributed to a campaign, the covers those bookings represent and the revenue recorded against them. A booking for two and a booking for eight should not disappear into the same unqualified count.
nollie reports campaigns in bookings, covers and revenue. In a demo, ask the team to explain the attribution window, where the revenue comes from and how changed or cancelled bookings appear. Those are evaluation questions, not assumptions about the answer. Use the same questions with another supplier, whether its marketing is built in or connected from elsewhere.
Attribution also needs careful interpretation. A recorded connection between a message and a booking is useful evidence, but it is not proof that every guest would otherwise have stayed away. Compare campaign results with the purpose of the message and your own service context before treating them as additional demand.
“One email. 8,961 guests reached, 47% opened, 41 bookings, £8,000 in tracked revenue. nollie doesn’t just send campaigns: it shows you the covers they put in seats.”
This is one reported customer campaign, reproduced from our customer evidence. It illustrates the kind of outcome report an operator can examine. It is not a benchmark, a forecast for your venue or a promise that a combined system will produce the same result.
When two systems are the right choice
Keep two systems on the shortlist when your team likes its existing service workflow and the separate marketing tool does a job it values. If the connection supplies the data you need, somebody owns its upkeep and you can trace outcomes reliably, a replacement may not improve the working day. Familiar processes have value.
A separate tool may also suit a group with an established marketing process that needs to work across its wider business. Establish the actual requirements first: which venues need which records, who sends campaigns and who checks the results. Then ask every supplier to show the required workflow. This is not a claim that any particular product supports every group arrangement.
Consider bookings and marketing together when repeated handovers, separate lists or unclear campaign outcomes are creating work. Judge the benefit against the cost of changing systems and training the team. The number of products is not the deciding factor; what matters is whether the people doing the work can complete it clearly.
Take your own service into the demonstration
For an independent venue, choose one busy sitting and one quieter service. Ask the person running the floor to make a booking change and find the relevant guest notes. Then ask the person sending campaigns to choose an audience and explain the result they would report back. If that is the same person, check that both tasks fit the time they actually have between services.
For a small group, bring more than the busiest site’s requirements. Check how each venue’s records, responsibilities and reports would be handled. Ask what needs setting up for a second site and request a demonstration of the arrangement being quoted. Keep unanswered questions visible; a missing answer is a reason to ask again, not evidence that a supplier cannot provide the feature.
Email campaigns are included in every UK plan. SMS is an optional paid add-on at £39 a month; it is not included in the plan price. The separate one-off setup fee is £129.
nollie’s UK plans differ by monthly cover limit and price. Compare the plans, allowances and add-ons against your total covers, and request enterprise pricing for a group. With separate tools, list both subscriptions and any connection costs in the same comparison. Check your offered agreement and the UK subscription terms separately.
Questions operators ask
Do I need a CRM as well as a restaurant booking system?
You need useful guest records and a way to put them to work; that does not necessarily mean buying another product. Check what your booking system already includes and how the team uses it. In the UK, nollie includes guest records and email marketing in its booking system. A separate CRM can still fit a venue with a workflow it wants to keep.
Is marketing built in always better than two connected systems?
No. Two systems can be a good fit when they do the jobs your team needs and their connection keeps the right data current. A combined system is worth considering when shared guest records and fewer handovers would improve the workflow. Ask each supplier to demonstrate the whole journey; a product category alone does not prove the result.
What should campaign attribution show?
Ask how a campaign is linked to a booking, how many covers that booking represents and how revenue is recorded. Check the reporting window and how cancellations or changes appear. Opens and clicks describe engagement with a message; bookings, covers and revenue describe later outcomes. An attributed booking does not on its own prove the guest would never have returned without the campaign.
Are email and SMS included in nollie’s UK plans?
Email campaigns are included in every UK plan. SMS is an optional paid add-on at £39 a month; it is not included in the plan price. The separate one-off setup fee is £129.
Can I keep my existing booking system with nollie?
In the UK, nollie takes the bookings itself. During a switch, it imports booking and guest history and the venue can run both systems in parallel before cutting over. Australia, New Zealand and Singapore are CRM-only markets, where nollie connects to the venue’s existing booking system on an ongoing basis. POS and website connections continue in every market.
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For eligible UK restaurants, pubs, cafes and bars.