Ever experience going to a popular restaurant only to find out that its full of people so you have to wait on the waiting bench to have your turn? There is a great business idea for the restaurant owner to have there guest need not get bored waiting for there turn. ReadyPing lets restaurants notify guests by text message when their table is ready. The system aims to improve on restaurant pagers, which require a substantial upfront investment plus maintenance costs and have a limited range. Restaurants don’t need to purchase new hardware to use ReadyPing; all that’s required is an internet connection and a computer. ReadyPing charges a flat monthly fee of USD 35, which includes sending an unlimited number of ‘pings’.
To use the system, the hosts enter the guest or party’s name, number of guests, and their mobile number. When their table is available, the host clicks a button to send a customizable text message. ReadyPing is currently only available in the United States, but i’m sure this will be a hit here in the Philippines with so many restaurants around the country, why not develop a system something like this for the Philippine market.
readyping uses SMTP gateways to send text messages for free. This means that when you enter a customer’s phone number, you also have to enter his cell phone carrier. Awesome. The service is not interactive. There’s no way for a customer to reply to the SMS. There’s no support for voice calls.
Check out QLess at http://waitinginlinesucks.com for a much more mature product offering. QLess is interactive, support both voice calls and SMS, provides customers with forecast wait times, and provides detailed analytics. It is also fully internationalized, and is available in the Philippines!
I was at a restaurant in NYC last week that used ReadyPing. It worked like a champ! Their phone number was on the text which was great because I needed about 5 more minutes and it was easier for me to call instead of texting back.
ReadyPing uses SMS short code messaging (the 5 or 6 digit codes you have undoubtedly seen) and supports nearly 30 mobile carriers in the U.S. There is no need to select a mobile carrier when a mobile number is entered into our system.
ReadyPing is much more than a text alert service; it is a powerful management tool. View overdue customers at a glance, keep track of reservations/appointments and determine the accuracy of their quote times – all from one simple and intuitive user interface. We work with a dozen different types of businesses including restaurants.
Our web-based software works with any web browser on any computer. The cost is $49 per month, per location. Each text message is $0.05 and they are offered in reloadable bundles. When the balance drops below a certain level, texts are automatically reloaded based on the chosen bundle. No leaving money on the table at the end of the month for unused texts. It’s a pay-as-you go model.
ReadyPing just won the 2010 MIT Whiteboard Challenge. Check out our news page at http://www.readyping.com/news to see what else we’ve been up to.
Negosyotext helps you locate a business and get the information you need straight to your mobile phone.
Hi,
Nice Blog! Thanks for this information….