The DesignMyNight alternative for UK independents.
Seatly is a flat-fee booking platform built specifically for UK independent restaurants. No per-cover fees. No marketplace coupling. No annual contracts. From £59 per month, fully white-label, monthly rolling.
What DesignMyNight actually is
DesignMyNight is two products under one roof. The consumer-facing site at designmynight.com is a discovery marketplace for bars, restaurants, pubs, and clubs across UK cities — diners browse it to plan a night out. Behind the scenes, restaurants and bars use Collins, the booking and enquiry-management software DesignMyNight launched in February 2014. Both products were acquired by The Access Group in 2017, and Collins is now sold as Access Collins Evo.
That is a different product class to Seatly. Collins is built around the bar and late-night venue audience, ships with a marketplace listing on DesignMyNight, and integrates into the broader Access hospitality stack (EPOS, payroll, finance). Seatly is a single-purpose restaurant booking platform with no consumer marketplace and no wider product suite to opt into.
Whether DesignMyNight or Seatly is the right answer depends on whether the marketplace coupling is paying its way for your venue.
Side-by-side comparison
DesignMyNight figures are taken from The Access Group's own Collins product page (April 2026). Some details — full tier table, setup fees, contract length — are gated behind a sales form. Where The Access Group doesn't publish a figure, the table notes that. Always verify current pricing directly with the provider.
| Seatly | DesignMyNight (Collins) | |
|---|---|---|
| Product class | Single-purpose booking platform | Booking software bundled with consumer marketplace |
| Monthly subscription | £59 to £129 flat | From £149 per site (Access Collins Evo) |
| Per-cover fees | £0 at every tier | £0 (no cover fees) |
| Setup fee | £0 for founding members | May apply (Access Group lists it as a possible cost) |
| Contract term | Monthly rolling, cancel anytime | Per individual partner agreement |
| Widget branding | White-label by default* | Restaurant brand on widget; DesignMyNight brand on marketplace |
| Consumer marketplace | None — your bookings, your traffic | DesignMyNight discovery site (UK + Australia cities) |
| Vendor focus | UK independent restaurants only | Bars, pubs, restaurants, clubs (broader hospitality) |
| Wider product suite | Booking-only — no upsell stack | Part of Access Group hospitality suite (EPOS, payroll, finance) |
| Data residency | London, UK | Not publicly specified |
| Setup | Paste one line of code | Sales process via Access Group |
The maths on a single-site independent
Both Seatly and Collins charge a flat subscription with no per-cover fees, so the comparison is straight subscription. Collins's published entry point is £149 per month per site. Seatly Professional is £89.
Access Collins Evo
£149
per month, per site (starting)
Subscription: from £149
Per-cover fees: £0
Setup, training, integrations: may apply
Seatly Professional
£89
per month
Subscription: £89
Per-cover fees: £0
Setup, training, integrations: £0 for founding members
Annual difference at the entry tier
£720
Per site, per year. Excluding any setup, training, or add-on fees that Access lists as possible additional costs.
Figures are illustrative. Collins entry-tier subscription is taken from The Access Group's published product page as of April 2026; the full tier table, contract terms, setup fees, and add-on costs are gated behind a sales form and not publicly disclosed. The annual gap above is monthly subscription only and may understate the real difference once setup, training, integration, and multi-site fees are factored in. Verify current pricing with The Access Group before deciding.
What you keep when you switch
- 01. Your customers. Every diner who books becomes a record in your database, not a third party's. Names, emails, booking history — yours to keep, export, or delete, with no marketplace having a parallel copy.
- 02. Your brand. The booking widget shows your colours, fonts, and restaurant name. No "Powered by" badge in the widget by default.*
- 03. Your traffic. Diners book directly on your website. There is no companion marketplace where competing venues are surfaced next to your booking flow.
- 04. A simpler stack. One product, one subscription, one vendor. No upsell path into EPOS, payroll, or wider Access Group products you have not asked for.
When DesignMyNight is still the right choice
We are not trying to talk every Collins customer out of their system. Some venues are paying for exactly what they get:
- • Bars and late-night venues whose audience actively browses DesignMyNight to plan an evening — the consumer marketplace is what you are paying for and it earns its keep there.
- • Multi-site operators already on Access for EPOS, payroll, or finance. Adding Collins to a vendor you already trust beats fragmenting across two providers, even at a higher per-site price.
- • Venues that need integrated ticketing alongside reservations. DesignMyNight's own ticketing product Tonic Ticketing covers that — Seatly does not.
For a single-site UK independent restaurant whose bookings come direct from their own website and word of mouth, Collins is feature-rich and priced for it. That is where Seatly fits cleanly.
Switching is straightforward
- 01. Check your contract. Collins terms are negotiated per partner — confirm your notice period before cancelling so you do not pay for a month you have already moved off.
- 02. Export your data. Ask Access to export your booking history and customer list — usually as a CSV.
- 03. Install the Seatly widget. An inline script tag on WordPress, Shopify, Squarespace Premium, and custom HTML sites. An iframe URL on Wix and other platforms that block third-party JavaScript. Either way, the widget is white-labelled to your restaurant brand.
- 04. Point new bookings at Seatly and let the last Collins bookings play out. No migration drama.
We are pre-launch and onboarding the first cohort of UK independents one at a time. If you are on Collins and ready to switch, get in touch and we will walk you through the handover personally.
Common questions
- What is the difference between DesignMyNight and Collins?
- Two products from the same company. DesignMyNight is the consumer-facing marketplace at designmynight.com — a discovery site for bars, restaurants, pubs, and clubs. Collins is the booking and enquiry-management software that restaurants and bars use behind the scenes; DesignMyNight launched Collins in February 2014. Both were acquired by The Access Group in 2017, and Collins is now sold as Access Collins Evo.
- How does Seatly compare to Collins on price?
- Access Collins Evo starts at £149 per month per site according to The Access Group's own product page, with possible additional charges for training, setup, integrations, and add-on features. Seatly is a flat £59 to £129 per month with no per-cover fees, no setup fee for founding members, and no add-on fees on the base tiers. For a single-site independent, Seatly Professional at £89 is the closest feature comparison. The gap on monthly subscription alone is around £60 per month before any extras. Specific Collins pricing beyond the entry tier is quote-based and not publicly disclosed, so verify directly with The Access Group.
- Does Seatly include a consumer marketplace?
- No, and that is intentional. DesignMyNight runs a discovery site that surfaces venues to diners — listing on it is part of what Collins customers pay for. Seatly is a pure white-label booking platform: there is no diner-facing Seatly marketplace and no other restaurants surfaced on your booking flow. If your business depends on inbound traffic from the DesignMyNight consumer site, that is a feature you would lose by switching. If most of your bookings come direct from your own website, the marketplace coupling is paid-for capacity you may not be using.
- Is there a contract?
- Not with Seatly — monthly rolling, cancel anytime, with data exportable on the way out. Collins contract terms are negotiated per individual partner agreement and are not publicly disclosed. Ask The Access Group for the specific term and notice period that applies to you before switching.
- When is DesignMyNight or Collins still the right choice?
- Bars, pubs, and late-night venues whose audience genuinely browses DesignMyNight. Multi-site operators already running on Access Group products (EPOS, payroll, finance) who want a unified vendor. Venues that need integrated ticketing alongside reservations via Tonic Ticketing. For a single-site UK independent restaurant booking locals through their own website, the Collins feature set is more than is needed.
A simpler stack, a flatter fee
We are onboarding UK independents into the first cohort right now. Tell us about your venue and we will walk you through a switch from Collins end-to-end.
* A note on Seatly branding. Seatly branding is optional and entirely your choice. A single toggle in your admin Settings controls whether a small "Powered by Seatly" line appears on your booking widget AND in confirmation, reminder, and cancellation emails. When enabled, you receive a tier-matched discount on your subscription (£5/month on Starter, £10/month on Professional, £15/month on Business). The toggle defaults to ON for Starter accounts and OFF for Professional and Business — you can change it whenever you like.