Niu by Vikings launches real-time online restaurant reservation service

MANILA, Philippines – Niu by Vikings and Govago’s  ResDiary, are introducing the first complete online booking system that allows restaurants to get closer to their diners  and manage tables more effectively.

According to Niu Marketing Head Charles Stewart Lee, “Niu” means nine in the Viking language and is a significant number in Norse mythology. Niu interestingly has nine different stations of with a variety of meals ranging from Japanese, Chinese, Pan Asian,Grill, Carving, and Pastry to name a few.

With the landmark partnership, Resdiary will allow Niu to more efficiently accommodate customers, manage its reservations and maximize engagement with its diners resulting to only satisfied customers.

Serving more than 4,500 restaurants in 17 countries, Resdiary eliminates the current pen and paper reservation making reservations faster and more organized.

Govago President Dennis Ng said that 100% of restaurants in the country still make reservations by writing down names, not even getting email addresses or telephone numbers. 

“I think the restaurants here in the Philippines are still stuck in the dark ages to a large extent. I think Filipinos has evolved and grown and has become a bit more digitized over the past two, three years, Airlines and hotel bookings have been successful,

but the vast majority of restaurants in the Philippines are still using a pen and paper diary to manage their bookings and that’s not what happens in the UK, Australia or the US markets, so there’s a long way to go in the Filipino market to get the restaurant industry in-line with the rest of the  world.” 

Ng says ResDiary is looking to change the old-fashioned way of getting reservations making managing restaurant much easier for both the customer and Niu by Vikings. “Our goal is to digitize the restaurant industry, and allow them to be connected online... If a restaurant is managing all their reservations through an online diary whether from their website or social media or on a mobile device, they can instantly and  in real-time check availability.

ResDiary manages the entire reservation process for you ... It’s  connecting the entire consumer journey to allow them to  book  at a time that fits them and in a manner that suits them,  but most  importantly it allows restaurants to yield manage and  maximize their  bookings.”

The newly launched partnership between Niu and Resdiary will allow floor staff to more efficiently manage tables with the help of a table graphic, while also sharing information about their customers’

dining preferences.  “With ResDiary, there will be a bunch of features that Niu will immediately get access to,” said Ng. One of the features is the booking widget that can be added to the restaurant's website, Facebook page and twitter account.

“That will mean that when a customer’s calling, the restaurant instantly has the full background knowledge of the customer.

They’ll know that this person has been in the restaurant three times in the past twelve months; they’ll know that she prefers a bottle of red and her favorite table is table 10. So hotels have done this brilliantly; you start to get access to a way to deliver a better customer experience.”

Niu by Vikings is located on the 6th floor of SM Aura  Premier-- open every day from 11:00 am to 2:30 pm for lunch and from 5:30 pm to 10:00 pm for dinner.

Govago meanwhile plans to aggressively expand Resdiary in the Philippines targeting about 300 local restaurants by end of 2015.