Right now, just about every booking platform in Australia claims to have a CRM. If you open a guest profile on each system, however, you may notice that the majority of them contain little more than a name, a mobile number and the date of their last booking.
That's a reservation history, not a CRM. It can’t tell your team which guests spend the most, who comes back regularly, or who hasn’t visited your venue since last season.
You’ll knock up against those limits when you try to leverage that guest data. If you find that you can’t send an individual birthday offer without it going to a full generic list of customers, or that your best client is greeted like a stranger, it’s time to consider switching systems.
Ask yourself these four questions when comparing restaurant CRM software: Who owns the guest data, and what information is included? What does each booking cost? Which POS systems and booking channels connect? What marketing capabilities does the CRM have from the data it collects?
We used those criteria to compare six best restaurant CRM systems available to Australian operators today, plus the types of venues each one suits best.
- SevenRooms: a guest-centered CRM with reservations and marketing built into the same guest record.
- OpenTable: a reservations platform with a diner marketplace attached.
- ResDiary: a UK-built reservation and table management system that offers commission-free bookings.
- Now Book It: an Australian-founded reservations platform with table management and POS integrations.
- Obee: a Melbourne-based booking system for reservations, vouchers and events.
- me&u Connect: a guest data and CRM platform built for hospitality by Australian-founded me&u
The 6 best restaurant CRM software for Australia in 2026
1. SevenRooms
SevenRooms is a CRM, marketing and operations platform for restaurants and hotel F&B. Its CRM puts guests at the center of every operation, which distinguishes this software from booking-first systems.
With this tool, every reservation, waitlist entry and event booking is captured in the same guest profile. You can connect the system to a POS such as Lightspeed or Square, so that lifetime spend and order history are added to that profile alongside dining preferences, dietary notes and visit history.
It allows your team to add tags manually, while rules also set by you can automatically apply tags such as "positive reviewer" or “frequent diner”, among others.
Marketing initiatives are built around and use that same guest record, making it possible for customer retention campaigns to be launched from each of your guests' histories.
Email marketing handles campaigns and newsletters, while marketing automation sends messages triggered by guest behaviour, from a welcome series for first-timers to a win-back email at 60 or 90 days. Text marketing covers SMS.
After a guest visit, SevenRooms’ AI Feedback Summary turns guest feedback into a weekly summary of the themes your managers need to act on.
Bookings made directly with the restaurant are first-party, meaning the guest data belongs to the venue, with no external terms attached to it. SevenRooms is also part of DoorDash, so beyond direct bookings you can leverage the marketplace through DoorDash Reservations and other products like Direct Ordering to enrich CRM guest profiles.
Best for: restaurants, groups and hotel F&B venues that take reservations and want to market directly to their own guests from one guest profile and records.
Limitation: venues that don’t take reservations, such as quick-service restaurants, are unlikely to use the full depth of the CRM.
2. OpenTable
OpenTable is a reservations platform with a diner marketplace attached: a consumer app and website where diners browse and book restaurants across its network.
Behind their marketplace is a guest database with tags and notes, included in both of OpenTable’s Australia plans: Core and Pro. Its guest profiles bring each diner’s preferences, visit history and special occasions into one place. Rules can automatically tag your most frequent guests and biggest spenders, while an automated pre-shift report puts those insights in front of the floor team before service.
Marketing uses the same guest profiles. You can trigger automated email campaigns based on guest preferences or send one-time emails to specific segments, while the Pro plan adds more guest insights. Both plans list POS integration, so ask OpenTable how much spend and order data is added to each guest profile.
OpenTable’s marketplace reach is built into the pricing model. The subscription plans listed for Australia pair a monthly subscription with cover fees on some reservations, charged when diners find the venue through the OpenTable network. On both plans, bookings made through the restaurant’s own website, by phone or as walk-ins carry no cover fee.
Their terms of use changed in 2026. OpenTable's updated client agreement, effective 16 April, asks restaurants to make OpenTable their primary reservations system, or "system of record", and to make any availability they share on other platforms available on OpenTable too, as Restaurant Business reported.
OpenTable claims restaurants "remain free to use multiple solutions and still list availability on other platforms", according to Restaurant Dive. Even so, the main guest record sits inside a marketplace-first platform. Coverage so far has focused on US restaurants, so Australian operators should check how the terms apply to their own contract.
Best for: venues that rely on marketplace discovery to fill tables, such as new openings or restaurants in tourist precincts.
Limitation: cover fees on some reservations and a marketplace-first model that can limit the restaurant's influence on the guest relationship.
3. ResDiary
ResDiary is a reservation and table management system founded in 2004 and based in Glasgow, with a strong presence in Europe and Australia and New Zealand. The Access Group acquired it in 2023.
Its main pitch to Australian operators is their fee model: bookings are commission-free, with monthly plans tiered by booking volume rather than a charge per cover. The platform also includes reporting and analytics, plus feedback sentiment summaries. Bookings through Reserve with Google, Instagram and Facebook carry no commission.
Best for: multi-venue groups that want commission-free bookings and detailed reporting.
Limitation: guest profiles and marketing are lighter than a CRM-first platform, and pricing rises with booking volume, so busy venues pay more as they grow.
4. Now Book It
Now Book It is an Australian-founded reservations platform, owned by Canada's Valsoft since 2023. It covers reservations, table layouts, waitlisting and gift cards.
The CRM features connect to the POS. Through its Lightspeed integration, purchase history, visits and spend history are matched to each guest profile, giving the floor team guest information alongside the table plan.
Best for: independent venues and small groups that want table management, basic CRM features and POS integrations from an Australian-founded platform.
Limitation: the CRM is lighter than a CRM-first platform, so venues that want advanced segmentation or revenue attribution may need additional tools, which fragments guest data further.
5. Obee
Obee is a Melbourne-based booking system that handles reservations, vouchers and events for venues from small restaurants to multi-site franchises.
It also has a history with local media. Obee was one of the booking providers behind Broadsheet’s restaurant booking service when it launched in 2017. For guest data and marketing, Obee connects with tools such as me&u’s Connect.
Best for: venues that need reliable bookings, vouchers and events and are happy to run guest marketing through another tool.
Limitation: CRM and marketing features depend on integrations rather than being built into Obee itself.
6. me&u Connect
me&u Connect is the guest data and CRM platform from me&u, the Australian-founded hospitality ordering and marketing company headquartered in Melbourne. It connects with POS, booking, Wi-Fi and loyalty tools, combining data from those systems with me&u ordering data to create a single guest view.
That view is assembled from connected products and integrations, whereas SevenRooms builds reservations, CRM and marketing natively on one guest record.
Profiles capture guest behaviour such as last visit, visit frequency, order value, spend, birthdays and anniversaries. These profiles power email and SMS segmentation, while a journey builder sends automated messages based on guest interactions. Multi-venue groups can manage campaign approvals and use parent and child accounts across brands and regions.
me&u prices Connect by the number of contacts you can message, and states that unsubscribed profiles stay in the database at no extra cost. Guests who remain subscribed to either email or SMS would generally still count towards that total.
Best for: Venues already using me&u for ordering, plus multi-venue groups that want to manage guest marketing across brands and regions.
Limitation: Connect relies on booking and POS integrations for reservation and spend data, so the depth of each guest profile depends on the systems a venue connects. Venues using a less common POS should confirm it’s supported, and ask what setup is involved and whether visit and spend data can be imported another way..
Seven features to look for in a restaurant CRM
1. One guest profile across every channel
A guest who books in March, walks in on a night in June and buys a ticket to your wine dinner in August is still considered one guest. However, plenty of systems record those interactions as three separate entries: a booking, a waitlist name and an event sale.
Walk-ins are where the guest record breaks most often. 48% of Australian operators say collecting guest contact information is their biggest challenge in turning walk-ins into repeat guests, according to the SevenRooms 2026 Australian Holiday Revenue Guide.
Guests are largely willing to share their details: 82% of Australian consumers would give a restaurant their email or phone number after a walk-in. The opportunity is there, as long as your team has a simple way to capture it.
Good restaurant guest management software collects guest details at every point of entry, from the booking widget and waitlist to the event page, and adds them to the same customer profile. If you also sell through online ordering platforms, ask whether those guests are added to the same record or kept in a separate list.
Put a QR code at the host stand that lets walk-ins join the waitlist. They get a text when their table is ready, and you gain a contact you can invite back.
2. Segmentation and audience building
Sending every message to every guest teaches people to ignore (and potentially be annoyed by) you. A good restaurant CRM system should build audiences from specific guest behaviour, such as spending above your average bill, visiting frequently, attending a specific event or not booking for several months.
Membership programs can change behaviour, too. In McKinsey's Australian Consumer Loyalty Survey, 60% of Australian consumers said being a member of a loyalty program had changed their spending behaviour.
Be aware that customer loyalty programs only work when the right reward reaches the right guest. Your regulars list should update automatically as guests visit, spend and book, without anyone exporting and updating a spreadsheet.
3. Automated email and SMS
The most useful automated messages are triggered by something a guest does: booking for the first time, having a birthday next week or going 60 days without a visit. Set the trigger once, and the CRM sends the right message at the right time.
You should prioritize email as the most effective channel to connect with your clientele. 74% of Australian diners want to hear from restaurants by email, as the SevenRooms 2025 AU Restaurant Trends Report shows.
That preference is wasted if every guest gets the same monthly blast: the same report found that targeted, automated emails average a 56% open rate and drive 12x more revenue per email than generic mass sends.
Look for email marketing software that handles campaigns and newsletters, behavioural triggers that automate messages based on guest activity and SMS marketing for time-sensitive offers, such as a table that opens up tonight.
4. Reservations, waitlist and table management in the same system
When your CRM and your kitchen floor run on separate systems, important guest information can get lost between them. For instance, an allergy noted at booking may never reach the server, and a regular can end up at the bar because nobody at the host stand saw their guest tag.
With reservation management and table management on the same platform as the CRM, guest preferences are visible to the team before that guest arrives. One system also improves operational efficiency, as it leaves one list at the host stand rather than two systems for the team to reconcile during service.
The benefit is clearest when the venue is buzzing and every minute counts. Ask each vendor whether the floor team can see the guest profile from the same screen they use to seat guests.
5. POS integration and spend data
Without a POS connection, a guest profile may be limited to basic contact details. With one, details like their spend and order history can be added into a profile automatically after each visit.
Check that the CRM integrates with your restaurant POS system before you sign. Point-of-sale (POS) systems such as Lightspeed, Square or Toast are wired into restaurant operations, from the kitchen and the bar to payments. Your CRM should connect to the POS system you already use, not force you to change how the rest of your operation works.
6. Revenue attribution
Plenty of systems report opens and clicks on emails or messages. Fewer can connect an email to the booking it generated and the spend that followed. That’s the number that tells you whether the campaign actually worked or made money.
In the demo, ask the vendor to show the revenue generated by a past campaign, including how many covers it booked. If they can only show open and click rates, you don’t have campaign-level revenue attribution.
7. Data ownership and export
Restaurant customer database software is only as useful as your ability to keep and use the guest data you collect. Ask who owns the guest record, whether you can export it and what happens to it if you change platforms. Then read the contract carefully: check the data terms, export rights and whether marketplace bookings are covered by different terms from direct bookings.
Ask each vendor whether the CRM is built and supported by the same company as the reservation system. If it’s supplied by a partner, ask who handles support, product updates and your data.
Why SevenRooms is the strongest CRM for Australian restaurants
SevenRooms connects what you know about your guests with how you serve them and bring them back.
Guest profiles build automatically from reservations, walk-ins, events and integrated POS data, bringing visit history, preferences and spend into one place. Your team can see who visits regularly, what they tend to order and which details matter to their experience, without having to piece that information together across systems.
That depth makes the data useful beyond the dining room. With integrated marketing automation, you can use guest preferences, tags and visit history to reach people with relevant reasons to return. That might mean inviting wine enthusiasts to a winemaker dinner, following up after a first visit or reconnecting with regulars who haven’t booked in a while. Automated campaigns help your team maintain those relationships without manually building a new list for every send.
Because the reservation system, CRM and marketing tools work together, each visit adds context that can improve both service and future communications. Restaurants retain ownership of their first-party guest data, building a valuable database and direct relationships over time.
For Australian restaurants, that’s the strength of SevenRooms: detailed guest knowledge that your front-of-house and marketing teams can use every day to personalise hospitality and drive repeat business.
Get more from every guest with SevenRooms CRM
The difference between these systems comes down to what the guest profile contains and who owns the data. SevenRooms builds one profile from every booking and visit, adds spend when you connect your POS and keeps that data with the restaurant that earned the relationship.
Restaurant CRM software FAQs
What is a restaurant CRM?
A restaurant CRM (customer relationship management system) holds the guest profile record, not just the booking information. It brings visit history, dining preferences and spend together into one guest profile, so the restaurant can recognise the guest when they arrive and market to them afterwards.
Is a reservation system the same as a restaurant CRM?
No. A reservation system manages the booking, while a CRM builds a record of the guest relationship around it. Some platforms do both, while others focus on reservations and offer only basic CRM features.
How much does a restaurant CRM cost in Australia?
It depends on the venue and the plan. Most platforms charge a monthly subscription, but the real difference is what you pay on top of that. Some charge cover fees on certain reservations, usually bookings made through their marketplace, while others offer commission-free bookings for a flat subscription. Ask each vendor what a booking will cost you, not just what the monthly plan costs.
Can a restaurant use a general CRM like Mailchimp or HubSpot?
Yes, but with limits. General-purpose platforms can handle email and customer data well, but they aren’t built around restaurant bookings, table activity or cover-level spend. Without those integrations, the guest profile can end up being little more than contact information.
Which restaurant CRM suits a single-venue restaurant?
Size isn’t the deciding factor. A single-venue restaurant can benefit from a full CRM just as much as a group can. The bigger question is the data that’s captured from guests’ interactions with the venue: a restaurant that takes reservations needs a CRM that can connect guest data to bookings, while a counter-service venue with no reservations may only need email marketing.
Who owns the guest data in a restaurant CRM?
It depends on the platform and how the guest booked. Marketplace-first models can place different limits on the restaurant’s access to the guest data and relationship. Before signing, check the contract for who owns the guest records, whether you can export them and whether marketplace bookings are covered by different terms.
