Setting up Distil Diagnostics

Distil Diagnostics connects directly with the data in your OpenTable for Restaurants account to give you a clear view of what's coming and where to focus. By combining reservation, operational and revenue data (if available) across the group, it helps you stay ahead of revenue risks and capitalise on opportunities. 

When you’re ready to set up your Distil Diagnostics account, you will need:

• Account login to your OpenTable for Restaurants account
• Permission to set up new Integrations from your OpenTable account
• Minimum and maximum party sizes available to book online across your organisation 
• Sales targets for each restaurant in your group for the next 12 months.

Connect Distil with OpenTable

The quickest way to connect Distil Diagnostics to OpenTable is via the OpenTable Integrations directory.

• Login to your OpenTable for Restaurants account, and select 'Integrations' from the menu. 
• Choose the 'Data and Analytics' category and you'll find the Distil.ai tile. 
• Follow the setup process or follow this step-by-step guide.

Once connected, you can login to the Distil platform and complete your account creation by setting up your two factor authentication. 

When you’ve successfully logged in, go to the Group Diagnostics tab to book your onboarding call with the Distil team. This will confirm your integration and Distil account package.

Once your account is created in Distil, you'll be able to onboard restaurants from your group in OpenTable into Distil Diagnostics. At that point, you can book a free Onboarding Call with one of our product experts, and we will take you through the final stages of getting started with Distil Diagnostics.

Configure your Distil Diagnostics account

To align the Forecast and Availability Scan with your group’s unique requirements, a small set of configuration values must be entered during initial Distil Diagnostics setup:

1. Minimum and maximum online reservable party sizes
2. Your own sales targets - known as Expectations in Distil

1. Enter your Party Size settings

The first settings to review are Minimum & Maximum Party Size Online Reservable.

This setting defines which bookings are treated as À la carte (ALC) covers and which qualify as groups.

ALC covers feed directly into:

• Your ALC Forecast

• Your Availability Scan range

Bookings above your selected maximum party size are treated as Group (GRP) bookings and are excluded from ALC forecasting.

Your Group (GRP) cover forecast will include covers above the maximum party size. However, the GRP forecast is calculated differently from the ALC forecast.

While ALC forecasting incorporates demand signals and AI-driven modelling, Group bookings are less predictable. For this reason, the GRP expected covers are based on historical Group booking data only, using performance from the same period last year to create a baseline "forecast".

For more detailed guidance, you can access the full Distil Diagnostics articles here.

2. Set your Expectations (Targets)

Targets in Distil are called Expectations, and they are the equivalent of your group’s own sales targets. They are used in Distil Diagnostics to compare against your organisation's own Distil's performance forecast.

Read more about Expectations in Distil Diagnostics

Weekly Cover Distribution

• This view shows the percentage distribution of your total weekly expected covers across each day, with the weekly total adding up to 100%.

Typical Daily Breakdown

• Your typical daily percentage split between À la carte (ALC) and Group (GRP) bookings.

Cover Expectation

• Your expected daily cover numbers and how they are split between ALC and GRP.

You will need to customise your monthly Expectations per restaurant, per service and per month during onboarding. These Expectations last for the current financial year and can be edited at any time. 

We’ll ask you to re-define them when the next financial year comes around.

Learn more about ALC and GRP definitions in the Enter your Party Size settings section.

3. Review your Forecast

This section focuses on how you are tracking against your weekly cover expectation.

ALC Forecast

The ALC Forecast uses demand signals and AI-driven modelling to project covers.
This view provides a daily breakdown of:

• How your In-Books covers are progressing compared to the ALC Forecast
• How the ALC Forecast is performing against your ALC Expectation

GRP Covers

The Group Covers section shows the daily breakdown of confirmed and unconfirmed large party (GRP) bookings currently in the books.

These figures are compared against your GRP Expectation, allowing you to assess performance relative to historical cover patterns.
Learn more about the ALC Forecast.