Frequently asked questions

Lounge Links is a directory and website platform for bars, lounges, breweries, and similar venues. Patrons can browse venues, see what's open, check menus and events, and save favorites. Venue owners can list their bar and optionally get a full hosted website.

Once your venue is set up, your bar is automatically added to the Lounge Links directory — there's nothing separate to submit. Patrons can find you when they browse or filter by location, type, or features. Your events are automatically included on the main events page too, so people discover what's happening at your venue. Your bar is listed by default; if you ever want to hide it from the directory, you can toggle that off anytime from your dashboard.

Lounge Links uses magic-link sign-in. Enter your email and we send you a link — click it and you're signed in. There's no password to remember.

Email us at info@loungelinks.com and we'll get back to you. Both venues and patrons can also find detailed help pages inside their account.

No. Patron accounts are free.

Browse and favorite lounges to keep tabs on the places you love, save events you don't want to miss, reserve tickets for venue events, get reminder emails so you don't forget, manage your newsletter preferences, and view all your upcoming reservations in one place.

Favorites are bars you like — they appear in your account and help personalize what's shown to you. Saved events are individual events you've bookmarked to come back to. When you reserve a ticket for an event, it's automatically added to your saved events too, so you always have a quick reference.

Yes. The day before each event, you'll receive a reminder email with the time, location, and your reservation details. Reminders are sent during reasonable hours in the venue's local time zone, so you won't get a 4am notification for a show across the country.

Yes. From your account's Saved Events tab, tap the × on any upcoming reservation to cancel. This frees the spot for someone else and notifies the venue. Have multiple tickets and only need to cancel some? Use the stepper in the cancel dialog to pick how many.

Yes. Each account uses its own email address, so if you'd like both a bar owner account and a personal patron account, just sign up for each with a different email.

The Hosted Website plan gives your venue a complete, professional site — no coding needed. It includes a homepage hero, an About section, a genre and features list, an events calendar, a full menu, a photo gallery, and a contact section with your hours, address, and a map. You can also connect your own custom domain, take event reservations with built-in ticketing, and invite a manager to help. The Directory Listing plan is lighter — a branded card on the Lounge Links directory plus one upcoming event — and links visitors to your existing website or Facebook page.

Yes. On the Hosted plan, you can invite a manager with limited backend access — you control what they're allowed to edit, such as the menu or events.

Yes. Hosted plan venues can connect their own custom domain at no extra cost — just point your domain to us and your site lives at your own web address. Directory Listing venues link out to their existing website or Facebook page instead.

Custom domains are available on the Hosted Website plan. In your dashboard, go to the Custom Domain page and enter the domain you'd like to use. You'll be shown the DNS records to add at your domain registrar (wherever you bought your domain). Once those records are in place, the connection verifies automatically and your site goes live at your own web address. The Custom Domain page walks you through each step.

Hosted plan venues can take reservations and RSVPs for events directly on their site. When a patron reserves, they get a confirmation email with their reservation details and a QR code. At the door, check-in is fast — open the event's check-in page on your phone, then either scan a patron's QR code from their confirmation email or search by name. A running headcount and progress bar shows how close you are to a full house.

Yes. Unpaid reservations are clearly flagged either way you check guests in. If you scan a patron's QR code and they haven't paid yet, an alert pops up with a "Mark paid & check in" button — tap it after collecting cash and they're paid and checked in in one step. If you're searching by name, each unpaid row has an "Unpaid" tag with a green "Mark paid" button — tap to mark paid, then tap the row to check them in.

Yes — Lounge Links automatically sends each ticket holder a reminder email the day before their event, in your venue's local time zone. No setup required on your end.

You'll get an email notification with the patron's name, how many tickets they're returning, and the event details. The reservation is marked cancelled in your dashboard automatically, freeing the spot for someone else.

There are two paid plans for venue owners. The Directory Listing plan ($15/month or $165/year) places your venue on the Lounge Links directory. The Hosted Website plan ($25/month or $275/year) includes everything in the listing plan plus a complete hosted website with a photo gallery, menu, events calendar, contact form, and more.

Both paid plans start with a 14-day free trial, and no payment card is required to begin. You can build out your listing or site and see how it works before paying anything. After 14 days, continuing requires a paid subscription.

Subscriptions are billed monthly or annually through Stripe and renew automatically. You can cancel anytime — cancellation stops future billing, and your plan stays active through the end of the period you've already paid for. Payments are non-refundable, which is why the trial is there to evaluate first.