Capacity Analysis - New Release Solves Online Reservation Blockers Faster
01/12/2025 by Sarah Sennett
Your revenue early warning system in Distil just got sharper with Capacity Analysis!
Ever noticed online reservations suddenly drying up at a peak time – even though tables should be filling up fast? When that happens, you know something’s blocking guests from booking but not always what or where to fix it.
Distil Diagnostics now has a clearer, better answer for you.
Introducing Capacity Analysis. It’s the latest upgrade to Availability Scanning in Distil Diagnostics, giving operators clear visibility into the exact settings holding back online reservations – so you can get tables selling again before revenue slips away.
Why Capacity Analysis matters
This release introduces a new Capacity Report: a clear, detailed breakdown of what’s consuming capacity at any moment for every site.
Distil Diagnostics is built to be your restaurant revenue optimisation system — surfacing opportunities in your forecast and highlighting where covers are being lost to capacity issues. Availability Scanning already keeps watch across every restaurant, party size and time slot for the next five weeks.
Capacity Analysis takes that one step further. Instead of just seeing when tables can’t be booked, you know why – all in one report. With that clarity, teams can move faster, keep more tables bookable, and protect revenue during busy periods.
What you’ll gain from the Capacity Report
- Clear visibility into the settings and conditions that cause availability blocks
- Faster investigation and resolution of booking gaps
- Granular capacity insights for every restaurant
- In-books covers, reservations, and revenue in tidy 15-minute intervals
- Smooth “scroll through time” navigation for spotting patterns quickly
How to open the Capacity Report
If you’re already a Distil Diagnostics customer, the new Capacity Report is live in your account.
- Login to Distil Diagnostics and pick a week from the horizontal date menu.
- Select Availability from the submenu.
- Click anywhere on a site’s timeline to see the party size and the availability block reason.
- On the right-hand side of the pop-up, hit the Capacity Report link. This opens the slide-out with the full breakdown.
If you’re not already a Distil Diagnostics customer, talk to us today about getting onboard!
How to turn Capacity Analysis insights into revenue
The report uses three key metrics to reveal what’s limiting bookability.
- Online Reservability % Consumed
- Flow Control % Consumed
- Table Occupancy % Consumed
Think of them as the levers shaping your online capacity – each reflects a different “pressure point” on your floor plan.
If you spot a time, say 6:30 pm, where no tables appear bookable but your total covers are showing as zero, that’s often a clue. Typically, it means a large party is scheduled and is being fully counted in pacing.
In the example shown, flow control shows 180%, which confirms the group has consumed the pacing allowance entirely.
A quick optimisation tip: If you switch on “Exclude party from pacing count” in OpenTable, you can free up smaller booking slots while keeping your true pace under control. Large parties rarely arrive in one big wave (especially when pre-orders are involved), so FOH can comfortably manage a few extra two-tops without adding pressure to the kitchen.
By turning Capacity Analysis insights into actions, you can capture reservations that would other be lost and turn that into revenue growth.
You can get more detail about the Capacity Report Release on the Distil Helpdesk.
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By Sarah Sennett
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