Group requests reach your sales contact already qualified.

A 25th birthday party, a seminar, a private hire on a Saturday night: Heep asks the guest the right questions, then sends a structured email to the person who decides on your side. Date, number of guests, budget, menu package: it is all already there.

Try for free How it works
Date, covers, budget and package qualifiedStructured email to your teamSalesforce and HubSpot on request
The problem

One badly handled private hire request is a whole evening booked somewhere else.

The request lands on WhatsApp at 10pm, on Instagram on a Sunday, by email between two services. The date is missing, or the headcount, or the budget. Your team replies three days later, with three questions. The guest has already signed with another venue.

01A group means dozens of covers in one go, often on a set menu: the stakes have nothing to do with a table for two.
02Group requests arrive through the same channels as everyday bookings, in among the questions about opening hours and parking.
03Heep spots them, asks your questions and hands a complete file to the right person. Your sales contact calls back a guest who is already qualified.
Illustration in the Heep palette on a pale lime background: an incoming request whose three fields are empty boxes, a dashed arrow leaving the frame, and a long table surrounded by twelve unoccupied seats.Saturday, 10:41 PM · “there would be 25 of us for a birthday”
How it works

How Heep does the work for you.

Three steps, nothing for your team to do.

Step 01

Heep spots the group request

You set a threshold per venue, 10 people for example. Below it, Heep books in your reservation software. Above it, or as soon as a guest mentions private hire, a seminar or an event, it switches to qualification mode.

Step 02

It asks the guest your questions

Date and time, number of guests, occasion, budget per person, preferred menu package, contact details. You choose the questions; Heep asks them in the guest's language, without pushing and without inventing an answer.

Step 03

Your team receives a complete file

Heep sends a clear email, field by field, to the address or role you name, different for each venue if needed. If you wish, the request is also created as a lead in Salesforce or HubSpot (connection on request). The guest knows your team will get back to them.

What Heep handles

Much more than an automatic reply.

Spot a group requestAbove your covers threshold, or as soon as the words private hire, seminar, birthday or wedding come up.
Qualify the date and headcountDate, time, number of people: the basis of any quote, captured in the very first exchange.
Ask your questionsBudget per person, menu package, occasion, allergies, special requirements: you write the list, Heep follows it.
Send a structured emailAn email you can read in ten seconds, field by field, to your sales contact or your floor manager.
Create a lead in your CRMSalesforce and HubSpot, on request: the request becomes an opportunity to follow up, with all its details.
Keep the guest warmHeep answers the usual questions while your team gets back to them: directions, menu, opening hours, room capacity.

Here is what a private hire request handled by Heep looks like. The first names and the venue are fictional; the flow is that of a real exchange.

Guest · WhatsApp · 10:41 PM : Good evening, there would be about twenty of us for a birthday, do you do that?

Heep : Good evening Camille, with pleasure. To pass your request on to our team, I need a few details. What date and time did you have in mind?

Guest : Saturday 18 October, in the evening. We will be 22, maybe 24.

Heep : Noted: Saturday 18 October for dinner, 22 to 24 people. Do you have a budget per person in mind, with or without drinks?

Guest : Around €60 without drinks. And we would like a slightly separate area if possible.

Heep : Perfect. I am passing all of this on to Julien, our events manager. He will get back to you about the menu proposal and the availability of the private area. Have a good evening, Camille.

Straight away, Julien receives an email with a clear subject line, “Group request · 22-24 guests · Sat. 18 Oct. dinner”, with each piece of information on its own line: date, time, headcount, occasion, budget, private area request, the guest's first name and number, a link to the conversation. All he has to do is call back.

Below your threshold, none of this happens: a group of 8 on a Tuesday lunchtime is booked straight into your software, like any other table.

Analytics · Groups & private hire

You can find every group request, and what became of it.

Every request passed on stays a conversation in your Heep inbox, with its full thread and the name of the person who took it over. The dashboard shows you the conversations taken over by your team and the bookings Heep wrote into your software, with their number of covers.

46group conversations · 30 days
29passed to your team
17group bookings written by Heep
1,180covers involved
CopilotTwo thirds of your requests for more than 20 people arrive in the evening after 9pm, on WhatsApp or Instagram. Your sales contact finds them the next morning, file already filled in.
Size of groups requested30 days
service peaksrest of the day
Full transparency

What Heep does, and what it does not.

We would rather tell you before the demo.

Qualified and passed on by Heep

  • Requests received on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email or after a missed call
  • Date, time, number of guests, occasion, budget, menu package, contact details
  • Summary email to the address or role of your choice, per venue
  • Lead created in Salesforce or HubSpot, on request
  • Answers to the usual questions while your team gets back to them, in the guest's language

Below your threshold, Heep takes the group booking like any other table, written into your software.

What stays in your hands

  • The quote, the price and the negotiation
  • The final confirmation of a private hire
  • The deposit: Heep takes no payment and asks for no prepayment
  • Writing a group above your threshold into your reservation software

Heep prepares the ground. The decision to accept a group, block off a room or offer a menu always rests with your team.

The way you work

Heep adapts to your restaurant, not the other way round.

Your threshold, per venue

8 people in a 30-cover bistro, 20 in a brasserie, no threshold at all in a venue that only does events: each venue has its own rule, changed in a single sentence.

To the right person

The floor manager for one venue, the group's sales contact for another, a shared events address: you decide who receives what.

Your questions, your tone

You dictate the list of questions and the way they are asked, in plain language, in Heep Copilot. Set menu above 15, private room available at lunch only: Heep applies your rules.

Frequently asked questions

The questions we hear most.

How does Heep recognise a group request?

From the number of people mentioned, compared with the threshold you set for each venue, and from the guest's words: private hire, seminar, birthday, wedding, company dinner. Whatever the channel, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, email or a message sent after a missed call, Heep then switches to your qualification questions rather than a standard booking.

What information does Heep collect?

By default: preferred date and time, number of guests, occasion, budget per person, menu package or menu in mind, name and contact details. You add or remove questions to suit your needs, allergies or the need for a private space, for example. If the guest does not know yet, Heep notes it as such: it never invents an answer.

Where does the request go once qualified?

Into a field-by-field email, sent to the address or role you have chosen for that venue. The full conversation stays visible in your Heep inbox, on the web and in the mobile app, and your team can take over at any time. If you work with Salesforce or HubSpot, the request can also be created as a lead in your CRM.

Can Heep send a quote or confirm the private hire?

No. Heep qualifies and passes on; it does not set prices, negotiate or confirm a private hire on your behalf. Nor does it ask for a prepayment or a deposit. The guest is told that your team will get back to them, and Heep keeps answering their everyday questions in the meantime.

How does the Salesforce or HubSpot connection work?

It is set up on request, by the Heep team with you: once access is configured, every qualified request creates a lead with the information gathered. There is no self-service setting for now. Using another CRM? Tell us in the demo and we will tell you honestly what is possible.

Does it work without reservation software?

Yes. Many events venues have no Zenchef or SevenRooms: Heep qualifies the request and emails it to your team in exactly the same way. The reservation software is only used for groups below your threshold, which Heep books on its own.

Does Heep connect to my CRM?

For group and private-hire enquiries, Heep asks the right questions (date, number of guests, budget, type of event) then sends a structured email to your sales contact. Nothing to re-key.

Creating the lead automatically in Salesforce or HubSpot is set up on request, with our team. Raise it during the demo: we will tell you what is feasible for your setup.

Go further

One feature among others.

Bookings in your softwareTaken by message, written into Zenchef, SevenRooms, TheFork and the restDiscover EmailHeep reads, sorts and answers your restaurant's inboxDiscover Multi-venueOne assistant for every venue, with rules of its own for eachDiscover
Free trial

Try Heep on your own restaurant.

Heep writes to you on WhatsApp exactly as it would write to your guests, with your hours and your rules. You judge it on the evidence, then start whenever you are ready.

  • 500 free messages, no commitment
  • Bookings written into Zenchef, SevenRooms or TheFork
  • Our team stays with you until you are live
Get a demo on your own WhatsAppOne message from Heep, as if you were a guest
One message only. No sales follow-up without your say-so.Would you rather see it with the team? Book a slot
Here we go!

Heep will message you on WhatsApp in a moment. Reply to it like a guest would.