For years, Quandoo has been one of the largest reservation platforms in the DACH region. With the official announcement that the service will be discontinued on December 31, 2026, thousands of restaurants now face a clear question: what happens to our bookings on January 1, 2027?
This article summarizes what is known, what you need to do by when, and the realistic options on the table.
The timeline: two key dates, one clear ending
The shutdown happens in two steps:
- September 30, 2026 — last reservation accepted via Quandoo. The platform stops taking new bookings on this day.
- December 31, 2026 — full shutdown. The restaurant back-office, the guest database and the booking API go offline.
Between those two dates you have a three-month window to wind down existing reservations, export guest data and switch to another solution. Restaurants that miss the window lose not only the booking channel but also the guest profiles stored in Quandoo.
What happens to your guest data?
Quandoo is bound by GDPR. The platform must hand you your own data in a structured, common, machine-readable format — typically as a CSV export. Based on current information you can export:
- Guest profiles (name, email, phone, allergies, notes)
- Active and past reservations
- Table and room configurations, to the extent you maintained them in Quandoo
What you cannot take with you: aggregated Quandoo reviews, platform-internal recommendation scores and the organic traffic that Quandoo listings generated on search engines. That reach disappears with the shutdown.
We recommend running the export before September 30, 2026 — even if you have not yet decided on a successor system. The CSV file can be safely stored offline until the migration happens.
Four realistic options for your restaurant
Option 1: Switch to an alternative
The obvious path: pick another reservation system and migrate the data over. Active in the DACH market are OpenTable, resmio, Zenchef, aleno and Tablario, among others. We list selection criteria below.
Option 2: Go phone-only
Sounds backward-looking, and it is. Smaller restaurants that used Quandoo passively sometimes decide to abandon online booking and rely on phone and walk-ins. The risk: according to Bitkom/Statista 8, 47–55 % of all restaurant reservations in Germany happen by phone — and a US study by Hostie AI / Reachify 1 shows that during service hours restaurants leave up to 43 % of incoming calls unanswered. Dropping the online channel without strengthening the phone channel leaves revenue on the table.
Option 3: Hybrid — online booking + AI phone agent
A combination: a reservation system with a web widget for online bookings plus an AI-powered phone agent that catches the calls service staff cannot answer. This addresses both main channels (phone 47 %, online 23 % via Google Reserve 7, 12 % direct website) at the same time.
Option 4: Wait and see
Not recommended. Restaurants that arrive at September 30, 2026 without a plan risk a hole in their booking flow over the Christmas season — exactly the highest-revenue period of the year.
What to look for when picking a successor
Before you commit, a short checklist:
- DACH market focus. Does the provider speak German (support, contracts, training)? Does it understand regional specifics like SEPA, German tipping culture or Austrian VAT setups?
- Migration service. Does the provider handle the move for you, or do you have to sort CSVs yourself? And how fast are you live?
- Channel integration. Do you only get a web widget, or are Google Reserve, Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook and walk-ins consolidated into a single calendar?
- AI Act compliance. From August 2, 2026, Article 50 of EU Regulation 2024/1689 applies. If you use AI components — for instance for phone answering — guests must be informed about the AI use. Vendors who do not address this create a compliance risk.
- Contract model. Cancellable monthly? Minimum term? Setup fees? Watch for lock-in effects, especially after the Quandoo experience.
Frequently asked questions
What happens to reservations already placed for January 2027 or later? Quandoo will keep data accessible until December 31, 2026. You should export reservations dated after the cutover before the shutdown and import them into your new system.
Do we have to pay double if we migrate earlier? Depends on your Quandoo contract. Many restaurants choose a parallel setup from summer 2026 onward, let Quandoo run passively and switch the new provider live once data has been transferred. Most alternatives offer a 30-day free trial, which keeps overlap costs minimal.
Do we need to inform our guests about the switch? Not legally required, but good practice. A short email — "From date we are reachable via new platform" — reduces confusion and turns the touchpoint into a brand-strengthening moment.
What to do this week
- Log into Quandoo and check which data exports are available today.
- Set two calendar reminders: September 1, 2026 (start migration) and September 25, 2026 (final data backup).
- Define your requirements catalog for a successor system — use the checklist above.
- Talk to two or three providers before deciding. Migration is a one-off; the contract will run with you for years.
If you want to evaluate Tablario as an option: we have optimized our migration process specifically for Quandoo, OpenTable, resmio, Zenchef, aleno, Synbook and EasyTable — most restaurants are live within 24 hours. We describe the process in the Quandoo → Tablario migration guide.
Sources: 1 Hostie AI / Reachify study, 2024 · 7 Google / Reserve with Google, 2025 · 8 Bitkom / Statista surveys, 2024 · 9 Quandoo.de official announcement, 2026 · EU AI Act Regulation 2024/1689.