DesignMyNight and Access Collins · facts as of 16 October 2026
An alternative to Collins and DesignMyNight for restaurants that sell tables, not nights out
Two names, one owner. Access Collins is the software your team books in; DesignMyNight is the guide where diners find bars, pubs, restaurants and experiences. Before comparing anything, it helps to know which of the two you would be replacing.
The early-access list will be told the opening day first.
Untangling the two names
Access Collins: the venue side
The booking and table software, formerly called Collins by DesignMyNight. The Access Group sells it in the UK and Ireland as a monthly subscription per site, with a published starting price; setup or training, integrations and add-on features may cost extra.
DesignMyNight: the diners' side
A guide covering many UK cities and Dublin, where guests book tables and buy tickets, and where e-gift vouchers are sold. Venues get exposure there. Its footer says WFL Media Ltd is owned by The Access Group.
So a venue on Collins is buying two things: software, and a place in a shop window that sells more than dinner. Slotora is software only. Whether that is enough comes down to how much of your trade the window brings in, and how much of it is tables at all.
Access Collins and Slotora, compared
| Access Collins | Slotora for restaurants | |
|---|---|---|
| Being found by diners | Through DesignMyNight, the group's guide, in many UK cities and in Dublin.designmynight.com; Dublin page | No guide or listing. Guests reach your own booking page from your website and your profiles. |
| The price model | A monthly subscription per site, from a published starting price. Setup or training, integrations and add-on features may cost extra.Access Group booking software, UK and Ireland | Per location per month: £99 for the first 100 paying venues in the UK, £149 afterwards, plus VAT where applicable. Unlimited bookings, covers, tables, staff and devices are in that price. |
| The floor | A drag-and-drop floor layout and a live reservations dashboard.Access Group booking software, UK | Rooms drawn to scale in centimetres with four table shapes, the bar and the pillars in place; several rooms per venue, each with its own plan; a host-stand screen for the evening. |
| A queue at the door | A virtual queue that sends guests SMS updates.Access Group booking software, UK | A waiting list your staff keep, which guests can also join from a QR code at the door, with queue position and an honest wait estimate. No texts: the restaurant rings the guest. |
| Money at booking | Deposits and pre-orders when the guest books.Access Group booking software, UK | Deposits and card guarantees, through your own Stripe account once it is connected; no dishes chosen in advance at booking. |
| Phone and e-mail | AI phone booking and e-mail handling.Access Group booking software, UK | Phone bookings taken by the host, at the stand, against the real free times. |
| Other systems | An open API for tills, CRM and reporting tools; CRM and loyalty sit in a separate Customer Engagement Suite.Access Group booking software, UK | No connections to other systems. |
Stay with Collins and DesignMyNight if
- Your nights are sold to people browsing a guide for somewhere to go: DesignMyNight puts your tickets, experiences and packages in front of them, while Slotora's paid events take the ticket money from guests who come to your own page.
- A real share of your bookings comes from people browsing the guide for somewhere to go tonight.
- You queue guests at the door and want the queue to text them when their table is ready.
- You have guests choose their dishes when they book, or want your bookings to reach your till through an API.
What Slotora does for a restaurant that is mostly tables
A kitchen with its own hours, a terrace that opens in May, a room upstairs: the shape of a restaurant is in the settings, not in a workaround.
Services with their own calendar
A summer terrace service limited to its season, a late bar service that does not open the dining room, a service that runs past midnight, start times every 15 or 30 minutes.
The door, handled by people
Walk-ins seated in one tap on the best free table. When there is none, the waiting list gives a position and an estimate — guests can put themselves on it from a QR code — and the host takes the party off when it is seated or leaves.
Guests booking themselves
A booking page where the guest chooses party size, day, room and a free time, then gets a link to cancel, change the party size or move to another free time without an account.
Not part of Slotora
- No guide, listing or shop window for diners.
- No e-gift vouchers, loyalty or CRM campaigns. Events with a ticket and a door list, free or paid when booking, and private-dining enquiries, are in.
- No dishes chosen in advance at booking, and no link to the till you already have.
Questions about Collins and DesignMyNight
Can I bring my Access Collins bookings across?
Through a file, not a connection: pick Access Collins on Slotora's import screen, and it shows Access Collins' own export steps for its booking download; you check how the columns are matched and see a preview before anything is saved. No marketing consent is carried across from an Access Collins file.
Is DesignMyNight the same thing as Collins?
No, though both belong to The Access Group. DesignMyNight is the guide diners use; Access Collins, which used to be called Collins by DesignMyNight, is the software the venue uses.
If I leave Collins, will I disappear from DesignMyNight?
That is a question for The Access Group, and worth asking before you decide. Slotora runs no guide of its own, so it cannot replace the exposure.
Does Slotora work for a bar as well as a restaurant?
For the tables, yes: a bar with bookable tables, walk-ins and a late service is set up like any other room. Paid events with a ticket work too, through your own Stripe account once it is connected; what it lacks is a guide where people browse for a night out, which is where DesignMyNight is different.