Built for Thai businesses
Online restaurant booking in Thailand: 4 options compared
Booking widgets, LINE reservations, marketplaces and Google buttons: what each one costs, who keeps the guest list, and which model fits a Thai restaurant.
Comparison · 8 min read
Short answer first: for most Thai restaurants the best restaurant booking site is your own. You pay a fixed price once, every reservation arrives with zero commission, and the guest list stays in your hands. Marketplaces are faster to start but they take a cut of the first booking and keep the customer relationship, while Google's booking button is free and simply points at whichever option you choose. Here are the four options compared, with the only published fee numbers we could verify.
The four types of restaurant booking sites
Ask five people what a booking site is and you get five different answers, because the phrase covers four very different machines. Before comparing any price, it pays to know which one you are actually choosing.
Each type solves a different problem, and only two of them let you keep the guest. One runs on your own domain, one lives inside a chat app, one rents you an audience for a fee, and one is a pointer that links out to whichever of the first three you pick.
- Your own reservation widget: bookings happen on your domain, commission-free
- LINE booking: confirmations and reminders where Thai guests already chat
- Marketplace: you rent the audience and pay per new client
- Google booking button: free, but it only links wherever you point it
Option 1: booking on your own restaurant website
A dedicated restaurant website with online booking puts a reservation form on your own pages: the guest picks a slot, the confirmation goes out on LINE where 51 million Thais already talk every day, and a PromptPay deposit locks the table so a no-show costs the guest, not you.
The economics are the simple part. A restaurant site with menu, booking, Google Maps, reviews and bilingual structure fits the Commerce and Booking plan at 49,900 baht, a one-time price with the first year of care included; after twelve months care renews from 9,900 baht a year for hosting, SSL and backups. The site goes live in 2 to 4 days. Commission per reservation: zero, forever, and the guest emails and phone numbers stay in your own system.
- Commission per reservation: zero, ever
- Guest contacts and history stay in your system, not a platform's
- LINE confirmations plus PromptPay deposits cut no-shows
- 49,900 baht one-time including the first year of care, then from 9,900 a year
Option 2: booking through LINE
LINE is where 51 million Thais already talk every day, which is why reservations taken in LINE feel natural to Thai regulars: the guest messages you, you confirm, and the reminder lands in the same chat thread they already open forty times a day.
As a standalone channel, LINE booking works for small rooms that do not want a booking page at all, and starting costs nothing beyond LINE's own official account packages, which run from about 555 baht a month plus VAT. The weakness is structural: a conversation is not a calendar. Without a live availability view it is easy to double-book, and every confirmation is manual. Most restaurants end up pairing this with option 1: the calendar lives on the website, the relationship lives on LINE.
- Free to start; LINE official account packages from about 555 baht a month plus VAT
- Best for regulars and messaging-first guests
- No visual calendar: double-bookings are easy without one
Option 3: marketplaces and third-party platforms
Marketplaces are the fastest way to get reservations from strangers: you appear where diners already search and you pay when they deliver. The one published number we can point at comes from the beauty world: Fresha documents a 20% fee on the first booking from each new client it sends, and it keeps the customer relationship. GoWabi works the same way, and restaurant reservation platforms run on the same rent-the-audience model.
The real cost is not only the cut. The guest becomes the platform's guest: next month they book through the marketplace again, and your only route back to them is to pay. For a brand-new venue with zero awareness this can be a reasonable way to fill the first weeks. For a restaurant with regulars, it is usually the wrong trade.
- Typical model: a percentage of the first booking from each new client
- Documented example: Fresha takes about 20% on a new client's first booking
- The guest list belongs to the platform, not to you
Option 4: the Google booking button (free)
Your Google Business Profile can show a booking link, and just like registering the profile itself, adding it costs nothing. If somebody charges you to register your restaurant for Google bookings, they are selling what Google already gives away.
The button is only a pointer. It sends searchers to whichever of the three options above you link it to, which is exactly why it composes well: discovery from Google Maps and reviews, reservations collected on your own page with no commission. Keep your name, address and phone number identical between the profile and your site; that consistency is what makes both of them rank.
- The booking link is free; it just points at your own booking page
- Maps reviews do the selling before the click happens
- Same rule as the profile itself: never pay someone to register it for you
How to choose: the cost-per-reservation test
Take your average table value and run both models through it. On a marketplace charging 20% of a new client's first booking, a 1,000 baht table hands over 200 baht on booking number one, and the fee itself keeps that guest from ever becoming yours. On your own site the cost is a fixed build with a small annual care fee, so the effective cost per reservation falls toward zero as bookings grow.
Then ask three questions of any option: who owns the guest list after the booking, can the channel take a deposit to stop no-shows, and does it work for English-speaking tourists as well as Thai regulars? A bilingual page with a booking form, LINE confirmations and PromptPay deposits answers all three at once. Everything else is a variation of renting.
- Who owns the guest list after the booking?
- Can it take a PromptPay deposit to stop no-shows?
- Does it work for English-speaking tourists too?
Frequently asked questions
What is the best restaurant booking site in Thailand?
For most Thai restaurants, your own website plus LINE confirmations: reservations arrive commission-free, the guest list stays yours, and a PromptPay deposit cuts no-shows. Marketplaces make sense mainly when you are buying new customers you do not have yet.
Do booking marketplaces really charge 20%?
Fresha documents a 20% fee on the first booking from each new client it sends, and it keeps the customer relationship. Other platforms follow the same model with their own rates, so always ask what happens on booking number two and beyond.
How much does it cost to add online booking to my restaurant website?
With WebSiam, online table booking, LINE confirmations and PromptPay deposits are part of the Commerce and Booking plan at 49,900 baht one-time including the first year of care; care renews from 9,900 baht a year. The site goes live in 2 to 4 days.
Can I take restaurant bookings through LINE without a website?
Yes, small restaurants take bookings directly in LINE. The limits are manual work and no visual calendar, so double-bookings are easy. Most pair LINE with a booking page: the calendar lives on the site, the conversation lives on LINE.
Is the Google booking button free?
Yes. The booking link on your Google Business Profile is free to add, exactly like registering the profile itself. It is only a link, so it sends guests to whichever booking option you point it at.