How the fair allocation works
For restaurants in fair allocation mode, guests do not race for seats. Until the deadline (by default 18:00, two days before the dinner) they send up to 3 preferred times.
At the deadline the system shares the seats:
- guests who have not had an à-la-carte dinner yet go first;
- then guests who leave soonest;
- ties are broken by a random draw with a stored seed, so every run can be checked afterwards.
Guests who get no table go on the waiting list. When a table frees up, the first guest gets an offer by e-mail or notification and has a few minutes to accept.
Use instant mode for restaurants and activities with enough places: first come, first served.