Google seems to be experimenting with an improved service that lets people enroll themselves and their entire family to restaurant waiting lists without needing to contact them. The waitlist feature, which is enabled by Duplex, might help hotel managements encountering increased guests as the Covid restrictions eases.
As the coronavirus looks to be subsiding in the United States, people are heading back to eateries, resulting in packed restaurant tables. Even when there was no pandemic, restaurants worked hard to manage call based reservations, which frequently resulted in erroneous wait times and massive queues. According to a study, 72 percent of guests reserve a table on the call rather than online, in person, or through a mobile app.
Businesses, on the side note have been known to mistake Duplex with programmed scam phone calls. In addition, an onslaught of Duplex calls concerning waiting status could put restaurants with minimal employees at risk of becoming overburdened.
Google Assistant's latest waiting feature for eateries in Google Maps and Google Search, reportedly appeared this week on Kyle Wiggers' smartphone. It appears as a “Request to Join Waitlist” option beneath listings in Maps and Search and allows users to select the number of people and acceptable waiting time if a restaurant has a waiting queue. Google Assistant Duplex tries to contact the eatery to enroll the group to the reservation using information provided by the customer's Google Account, notably their contact information.
Once the call is placed, Google Assistant sends text notifications showing if the call was completed or failed. Following approximately 30 minutes, Google Assistant informed visitors that it had been unable to get a table at restaurant. On visiting the restaurant, it was found out that the tables were not available due to closed kitchen.
A Google spokeswoman informed VentureBeat through email that company got nothing else to contribute at this moment when approached for response. According to the representative, they are always exploring various unique services that leverage Duplex technology, and therefore don't have a timeframe on when this particular feature will be offered to the larger Google Assistant consumers or if whether they will get the access or not.
Read next: Google share insights for publishers on decreasing rate of website traffic
As the coronavirus looks to be subsiding in the United States, people are heading back to eateries, resulting in packed restaurant tables. Even when there was no pandemic, restaurants worked hard to manage call based reservations, which frequently resulted in erroneous wait times and massive queues. According to a study, 72 percent of guests reserve a table on the call rather than online, in person, or through a mobile app.
Businesses, on the side note have been known to mistake Duplex with programmed scam phone calls. In addition, an onslaught of Duplex calls concerning waiting status could put restaurants with minimal employees at risk of becoming overburdened.
Google Assistant's latest waiting feature for eateries in Google Maps and Google Search, reportedly appeared this week on Kyle Wiggers' smartphone. It appears as a “Request to Join Waitlist” option beneath listings in Maps and Search and allows users to select the number of people and acceptable waiting time if a restaurant has a waiting queue. Google Assistant Duplex tries to contact the eatery to enroll the group to the reservation using information provided by the customer's Google Account, notably their contact information.
Once the call is placed, Google Assistant sends text notifications showing if the call was completed or failed. Following approximately 30 minutes, Google Assistant informed visitors that it had been unable to get a table at restaurant. On visiting the restaurant, it was found out that the tables were not available due to closed kitchen.
A Google spokeswoman informed VentureBeat through email that company got nothing else to contribute at this moment when approached for response. According to the representative, they are always exploring various unique services that leverage Duplex technology, and therefore don't have a timeframe on when this particular feature will be offered to the larger Google Assistant consumers or if whether they will get the access or not.
Read next: Google share insights for publishers on decreasing rate of website traffic
